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REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 OCCASIONED BY 
 
 Mr. BURKE'S LETTER. 
 
 [Price OneShillingJ 
 
 pr 
 

 REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 CONVERSATIONS 
 
 OCCASIONED BY 
 
 Mr. BURKE's letter. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 PROFESSOR ON THE CONTINENT. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 rRINTED FOR GEORGE CAWTHORNE, BRITISH LIBRARr, 
 STRAND. 
 
 1796. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/remarksonconversOObeck 
 
REMARKS, &c. 
 
 M. 
 
 R. Burke's pamphlet, my dear friend, 
 has at length appeared. You received it by 
 the laft packet. Your curiofity has for 
 weeks been on tip-toe — and our anxiety on 
 this fide of the water has, at leaft, kept pace 
 with every tremor of expedlation that can 
 pofTibly have palpitated on the oppofitc 
 fliore. Within this metropolis, and pro- 
 bably within the range of our empire, the 
 attention of every circle, whether fafhion- 
 able, commercial, or literary, is at prefent 
 drawn by irrefiftible attraction to the ex- 
 amination of *' A Letter to a Noble Lord." 
 B To 
 
( 2 ) 
 
 To a ftudious obferver of human nature, 
 the contraft of opinions, diametrically, on 
 this fubjecft, at variance with each other, 
 fuggefts ample materials for reflexion. 
 
 It will be a fource of fome aftonifhment 
 to fuch as have not accurately afcertained 
 the force of firfl: principles, to fuch as have 
 not examined the main movers of vaft ma- 
 chines, to fee how enormous a body has 
 been actuated by a fmgle wheel. Effects 
 the mod varioufly diverfified have been 
 produced from the fame caufe. A fteel of 
 imperceptible elafticity has given motion to 
 the mofc complicated and mofl: unwieldy 
 of engines. The rotation ftill continues in 
 a kind of " concordia difcors." 
 
 Edmund Burke is again upon the llage. 
 In his piefent fituation, he refembles no- 
 thing in nature but the Houfe of Commons, 
 where all parties go in at the fame door, 
 and buifet each other till they are black in 
 the mouth. His book has agitated the 
 public mind, and the name of the author 
 
 appears 
 
( 3 ) 
 
 appears to be the pivot on which the far 
 greater mafs of opinion at prefent turns. 
 The unqualified praifes of many are heaped 
 on the pamphlet, from no other motive 
 than fuch as is conne6led with the fignature 
 annexed ; and the difapprobation of not a 
 few might eafily be traced to the fame ori- 
 gin. I have iiftened, with fxlent wonder, 
 to the bold declamation, and vague philip- 
 pics, of thofe who had never given them- 
 felves the trouble, or rather indulged in the 
 luxury, of perufing the work. You know, 
 my friend, that fuch things are. Critics 
 have expatiated on the other fide with jufl: 
 as much " connoiiTancede caufe." All this 
 is, I own, provoking — but patience is a 
 neceffary virtue in our earthly peregrina- 
 tions. 
 
 My fubjed:, and it has my befl thanks, 
 is not fo formal as to infift upon method 
 and arrangement. I obey your injunctions, 
 and communicate my remarks. They will 
 be confined to converfations in which I 
 have borne a part ; or to which I have been 
 B 2 doomed 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 doomed to the drudgery of llftcning. You 
 \vill have the goodnefs to bear in your re- 
 colkdlion, that 1 profefs myfelf the advo- 
 cate of the defendant. He ftands, as he 
 himfelf tells you, on his deliveranee — and 
 from you and the reft of his judges he 
 claims nothing but juftice. You may refufe, 
 if you think lit, even to temper it with 
 mercy — from me he fhall receive the warm 
 effufions of predilection. I make a public 
 avowal of my prejudice in his favour. — 
 The author of the Sublime and Beautiful is 
 at the bar. I renounce the praife of im- 
 partiality ; I beg that you will liften to me 
 with fufpicion. " Audi alteram partem." — 
 You have many correfpondents in this 
 country. 
 
 *'\Vhen G r eek meetsGreek,dien comes the tug of war !" 
 
 And fuch is at prelent the cafe. I have 
 heard much good fenfe, found argument, 
 and refined pleafantry, on both fides of 
 tlie queft'ion. — I almofl: fear indeed that 
 the '' NoV have had it. — But wit is not the 
 tefi: of truth — its touchftone is difficult to 
 
 find. 
 
( 5 ) 
 find. Men of equal parts and equaj inte- 
 grity have drawn oppofite conclufions from 
 the fame premifes. We have not a mathe- 
 matical propofition to v^'ork upon. Their 
 judgments were contradictory, but they 
 came from the fame pure fource of honour 
 and of fenfe : they are lines drawn from the 
 fame central point, but leading to different 
 parts of that vaft periphery which conftitutes 
 the circle of opinions. 
 
 Perfons of a different defcription have 
 entered the lifts, or rather have all drawn 
 themfelves up, on the fame fide, in battle 
 array. Every clafs of varied puppyifm has 
 taken arms agaihfl: the veteran. He is af- 
 failed at once by the fluggifh and the flip- 
 pant. The former croak forth their ver- 
 bofe dilTonance, and the latter emit intempe* 
 rate falUes which flafli in the pan. Heads 
 that have hitherto difpenfed with the fatigue 
 of forming judgments, feem of opinion that 
 it is time to begin to think. They aifume 
 an " air reveur," and do their beft to con- 
 pe<3t ideas. The opportunity was a good 
 ^ 3 one, 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 one, but their " coup d'eflai" has not been a 
 *'coup de maitre." They have perked in the 
 beam, and their vifion is darkened. They 
 gazed for fpecks on the fun, and their eyes 
 have been dazzled into obfcurity. A peri- 
 ftaltic motion has taken place in their brain; 
 and their mouths have voided fomething hke 
 that which it naturally produces elfewhere. 
 The dunces have be<;un to be pert. Their 
 lead has difappeared — they have vitrified their 
 heavinefs — and a kind of mental litharge has 
 been produced. The recrement is bafe, mod 
 bafe. All the vvorld feem rufhing to the attack 
 — crowd follows crowd. The word " Crop" 
 lias brought hofls into the field, — and an in- 
 cidental expreffion, of no mom.ent, has been 
 twifted and twirled, and at lad interpreted 
 into a general attack upon the fraternity. 
 But I believe that the author of fo many 
 immortal works has paid but little attention 
 to the external decorations of other people's 
 heads. They are free to follow the fafhion 
 of the day. As a badge of party, the cur- 
 tailment may perhaps be an objed: of dif- 
 approbation ; — but the adoption or rejection 
 
 of 
 
{ 7 ) 
 
 of new modes, abRradiedly confidered, is a 
 circumftance too infignificant for the notice 
 of a philofopher. The thing is innocent ; 
 and, fhould the fancy become general, will 
 not be without its convenience. But I have 
 known more time ineffedlually confumed in 
 attempts to torture the ftubble of thefe mo- 
 dern innovators, into fomething bordering 
 on the femblance of nature, than would 
 have been required, in days that are gone, 
 to complete the toilet of a finiflied Parifian. 
 I have aflifted at both.-^But, all crops are 
 not Anti-Burkites : — among thefe members 
 of capillary circumcifion, I have found warm 
 admirers and (launch friends of the accufed. 
 This dorfal cutting ofl' of fuperfluities is not 
 univerfally a party diftindion. And what if 
 it were ? — Genius is of no fed: — the weight 
 of political differences is lighter than a ftraw, 
 when balanced againft merit. — Pitt or Fox, 
 Loughborough or Thurlow, Scott or Erfkine, 
 the Abbe Sieyes or Edmund Burke, 
 
 " Tros Tyriufve mlhi nullo difcrimine agetur." 
 
 But I wilh to Heaven that all would ad 
 B 4 an 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 an open part — that thofe who fpeak at 
 all, would fpeak out. I have met with 
 many fubderiforious broachers of opini- 
 ons — I believe the word is Englifh-— There 
 are numbers whofe expreffions are fo 
 cautioufly ambiguous, that their meaning is 
 at the bottom of a well. There are not a 
 few who admire the prodigy of intelle(St in 
 my client — men exift who can fimply ad- 
 mire fuch thing?. Thefe half-formed wit- 
 lings dwell, with delight, upon the eccen- 
 tricity of his fancy ; — they expatiate, " con 
 amore," on the wanderings of his imagina- 
 tion. They give him credit for much — but I 
 hate their complimentary gifts — 
 
 " TImeo Danaos, et dona ferentes — *' 
 
 I wiih they would join the oppofite party. 
 Thefe fnake? in the grafs — for the wordmuft 
 out — fix upon a faftnefs ; and thence, by the 
 heavinefs of their hearts, or of their heads, 
 or of both united, they draw up the fpiral 
 fluggiihnefs of their lazy, unwieldy, flow, 
 lubbering length of tail — and, at the final 
 
 Qon- 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 confummation of all thin2;s, out comes the 
 fling. An infinity of time-fervers have 
 affented with civil leer — fome have damned 
 with faint praife — others have jufl hinted 
 a fault, and hefitated diflike — not a few- 
 are gaping with open mouth?, to fwal- 
 low the opinion of the majority and foift it 
 as their own : they forget that his praife is 
 lofl, who waits till all commend. 
 
 But the lower circles, my dear friend, 
 have daflied into criticifms, as well as their 
 betters. — There is fomething ridiculous, jufl 
 at prefent, in quoting the authority of a 
 hair-drefler — but mine has told me, and he 
 is a thoroughly honefl fellow — that barbers' 
 fhops and cellar clubs have taken up the 
 bufmefs. I verily believe that they are jufl 
 as competent to judge, as nine-tenth/ of the 
 drawing-room orators. But in tha'c cafe, it is 
 a hollow thing. I find that it there goes to a 
 man a'^ainfl us. You know my opinion on 
 the fubjed of Equality. Regarded as a letter, 
 my flation is fomewhere about the middle of 
 the alphabet. I feel a fatisfadion in fancying 
 
 myfelf 
 
{ lo ) 
 
 myfelf placed there as a kind of middle 
 term — and in thinking, that, as fach, I 
 combine the nature of the two extremes. 
 I am bound therefore to look down upon 
 the X*s and the Y's and the Z's with the 
 fame quantity, though certainly with a dif- 
 ferent kind of refpcd, from that with 
 which I look up to the A's and to the B's 
 and to the C's. — I claim kindred with both 
 — but *' ne futor ultra crepidam" — let the 
 barber fhave on. 
 
 General invedive has, in a few inflances, 
 attempted to particularize, to fpecificate itfelf 
 — and fomething like a fliew of charges has 
 been brought againfl; Burke, 
 
 I have heard, and you, my friend, will 
 /liudder when you read it — I have heard 
 the fine, the eloquent expreffion of parental 
 wailings, derided, and fcoffed, and iligma- 
 tized as ftage trick, and as whining cant. 
 I have watched the malignant fmile, 
 and have traced it to a cankered heart. 
 Let thofe who laugh, enjoy their triumph. 
 ^ Thank 
 
( II ) 
 
 Thank God ! 1 have no relifh for fuch 
 joys. The good old man is not to be told, 
 that the nerves of a nation's heart vibrated 
 in unifon with his own. While his tears 
 trickled for a fon, the people wept for the 
 father. Had I known the venerable fage, 
 he fhould have experienced in his hour of 
 agony, how fweeter than the fweeteft min- 
 ftrelfy is the figh of a fympathizing friend. 
 
 • The fin^luary of grief is a holy of 
 
 holies. — There is fomething facred in the 
 forrows of a mourner — fomething which the 
 pride of philofophy has, in vain, attempted 
 to defpife ; and which impiety has fcarcely 
 had the hardihood to ridicule. The houfe 
 of mourning is guarded by every prejudice 
 connected with virtue. It is proteded by 
 the hoft of our fineft feelings. Its gar- 
 rifon is in the fouls of all the benevolent. 
 It is a fable tower upon a rock of adamant. 
 — Turbulence of grief may riot v»'ithin its 
 bounds — or the fadder ftillnefs of melan- 
 choly may dampen its recefTes with the dews 
 of death. — But no florms affail its battle- 
 jnents from without. The billows of the 
 
 ocean 
 
( li ) 
 
 ocean forget their fury at Its bafe — and the 
 thunders of Heaven refpe6i; its impaffive 
 walls. Let us turn, my friend, from this 
 execrable charge — it has a found that grates 
 
 harflily on the ear. --Were I left to a 
 
 mere feledlion of infamy, and condemned 
 to the unavoidable ignominy of appearing 
 before the judgment feat of pofterity, either 
 as the murderer of my own father, or as 
 the deliberate, calm derider of tears fuch as 
 parents fhed, I folemnly proteft that I be- 
 lieve I fhould hefitate at the alternative. 
 
 The tendernefs of this worthy man's feel- 
 ings affords another footftone for his accu- 
 fers. An old ftory is vamped up afrefh ; and 
 1 thank them, that they have done it — they 
 had better have been filent. His eyes have 
 moiftened at the fufferings of a woman ! — 
 Behold his crime. He had feen the faireft 
 of her fex in the luxuriant dawn of beauty, 
 joy and youth. His imagination warmed 
 at the recolledion. He viewed the fatal 
 reverfe — and wrote from the heart. The 
 tears that fell were overflowings of the milk 
 
 of 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 of human kindnefs. I faw her when the 
 luftre of her diadem was beginning to fade — 
 but its gems dill fhone with an autumn ray. 
 I remember the air of dignified forrow which 
 mellowed too haftily the lilies on her cheek. 
 Shamefully has this unfortunate Queen been 
 traduced. Nine-tenths of the fcandalous 
 tales which malice has induflrioufly circu- 
 lated, are as falfe, and as unfounded, as that 
 laft impious charge to which the mother re- 
 plied with all the majefty of offended nature. 
 Sne was gay and unthinking. Tranfplanted 
 from the cold regions of her mother's cham- 
 ber, when fcarce the baby blufh had left her 
 cheek — at the very moment when paffions 
 began to be ftrong, and ere reafon had yet had 
 time to ccafe to be weak, fhe was placed at once 
 in the Verfailles hot-bed of vice — in a court 
 where immorality wasfaQiion, and where a 
 ftrumpet prefided. What, in fuch a fituation, 
 fome people may fancy themfelves entitled 
 to expert from a girl of fifteen, I know not — 
 But this I know, and feel, and own — that 
 againfl: temptations fo varied and alluring, 
 the ftrength of man, in the full meridian of 
 
 his 
 
{ n ) 
 
 his reafon, would have proved but weak- 
 nefs. 
 
 " His faltem accumulem donis, et fungar inani 
 " Munere." 
 
 Chivalry and dotage, are the catch-word.— 
 They are at him again. He has the mlf- 
 fortune not to be one of the fafhionable Hot- 
 tentots of the day. I feel, my friend, a glow 
 of more than common fatisfadlion, when I 
 hear that this hoary veteran in philofophy 
 and in politics is the warm champion of an 
 injured and infulted fex. That they fhould 
 want one is matter of furprife. Men be- 
 come monfters in proportion as they ceafe 
 to adore them. I am forry to remark that 
 they are daily lofing their influence among 
 us. There are men in whom they feem to 
 excite nothing but the grofler appetites. 
 The refined fentiment which flood at the 
 very entrance of our hearts, and beckoned 
 to the fex, to enter and triumph, is dying 
 fad away — its exiftence is clalTed among 
 the wcaknefles. Heaven forbid that I 
 
 fliould 
 
( 'J? ) 
 
 fliould ever become ftrong ! The Britilh 
 charadier is undergoing a revolution. Po- 
 litenels is not the order of the day. Atten- 
 tion to the fex will foon be an introduction 
 to the Revolutionary Tribunal. The com- 
 parifon of a rough diamond has done much 
 harm. Men are not internally folid, in 
 proportion to the afperity of their outfide. 
 The milder virtues are connedled with thofe 
 of a higher ftamp. They thrive in the 
 fame foil, and twine together round our 
 heart-firings. But the age of chivalry is gone, 
 and the triumph of beauty is no more. The 
 ornaments of creation, the perfedions of 
 nature, are driven contumeUoufly into the 
 back ground. They enter fociety upon fuf- 
 ferance — they no longer give, they receive 
 the law. The dignity and delicacy of their 
 fex is infulted. They are deemed unfit for 
 rational converfation. They mufl; liften to 
 the grofs anecdotes of the chace, the tavern, 
 and the gaming-table — they mufl: confent 
 to be initiated in the myfteries of the ftew 
 and the watch-houfe. The beaflly law 
 which drives them from the deflert, conti- 
 nues 
 
( i6 ) 
 
 nues to difgrace even our befl: tables. I 
 have feen them attacked in the ftrong hold 
 of their modefly, and driven from their 
 chairs by allufion to indelicate toafts. I 
 remember, my friend, with rapturous re- 
 gret, the circles of a different defcription, 
 where the glafs circulated with glee, and 
 where the charms of female converfation 
 added a relifli to our Burgundy. We arc 
 finking faft into fomething worfe than Van- 
 dalifm — and nothing but a vaft effort of the 
 whole fex, united in one general exertion, 
 can refcue us from perdition. They are 
 emiflaries from Heaven to humanize and 
 polifh us. In their fociety we acquire vir- 
 tues unattainable by any other means. As 
 the magnet, without taking from its own 
 force, can communicate to other bodies the 
 power of attraction, fo the female fex, with- 
 out any diminution of its own excellence, 
 can impart to ours that fenfibility of heart, 
 and elegance of fentiment, which give fo 
 inexpreffible a zeft to philofophy and fci- 
 ence. This truth has been beautifully ex- 
 emplified by Dryden, in the tale of Cymon 
 
 and 
 
( i7 ) 
 
 and Iphigenia, which he improved from 
 feociace. — In Cymon is reprefented a being 
 nearly immerfed in idiotifm — till, ftruck 
 with the charms of Iphigenia, his ideas be- 
 gan gradually to expand, and the rays of 
 her beauty Hill operating upon his foul, he 
 tvas at length refined into man, 
 
 Thefe are thy powers, 
 
 O faireil of creation, laft and bed 
 Of all God's works ! — creature, in whom excell'd 
 Whatever can to fight, or thought, be form'd 
 Holy, dlvinCj good, amiable, or fvveet ! 
 
 The fenfibllity of Burke, reftrained and 
 limited, and concentrated, for a moment, in 
 himfelf, fupplies the bafis of a third charge. 
 Thofe fine feelings, which have long been 
 accullomed to expand in univerfal admira- 
 tion of talents and genius — which have 
 ranged the habitable globe, in queft of pro- 
 vender, have been at length compelled, by 
 the firft law of nature, to turn and feed at 
 home. He has been called upon to defend 
 himfelf againfl a charge which implicated^ 
 C at 
 
( >8 ) 
 
 at once, his own honour and that of his 
 benefador. He repels his accufers by al- 
 ferting his pretenfions. He writes with all 
 the dignity of confcious fuperiority — but I 
 trace no veftige of vain boaft or ofientation. 
 I take it that he has too much pride to har- 
 bour vanity; — and yet the dunces have got 
 hold of the word, and bandy it about from 
 pillar to poft. 
 
 I have nothing to do with his politics, or 
 his exertions as a fenator ; — to thofe points 
 he has himfelf fpoken. — But I v»ill alTert, 
 that, confidered fimply as a man of letters, 
 as a labourer in the vale of fcience, he de- 
 ferves his penfion, and more than his pen- 
 fion. It is not within my intention, or with- 
 in my power, to calculate the piles which he 
 has heaped, and added to the mafs of our 
 national honour — he has doubled its 
 former bulk. His hand fixed the ftand- 
 ard ftamp upon our literary pre-eminence 
 among nations. He has gained the fanction 
 of the world to the aggrandizement of our 
 claims as a wife and enlightened people. 
 
 6 I know 
 
( '9 ) 
 
 I know from experience, that there is 
 fcarcely a corner in the fouthern divifions 
 of Europe, and the fame is I believe the cafe 
 iti the northern, where his name does not 
 immediately excite the idea of acquifitions, 
 more almoft than human. He ftands on 
 the pinnacle of wifdom, and wields with fa- 
 cility and grace a more mighty feledion of 
 knowledge than ever was accumulated by 
 man. He pofTefles powers, the bare con- 
 ception of whofe exiftence is a ftretch of 
 imagination — fomething beyond the grafp 
 of common intelledt. I am no advocate for 
 lavifh or indifcriminate profufion of the 
 public money — but to one fo diftinguifhed, 
 I fhould blulh that the drofs of exchequers 
 were meted out with a thrifty hand. 
 
 Prodigality, in the remuneration of ta- 
 lents, is not the vice of the prefent Admini- 
 ftration. They have erred in the oppofite 
 extreme. 1 lay their party writers out of 
 the queftion — But on this fubjed:, more 
 elfewhere. Excepting in the diftribution of 
 ecclefiaflical honours, we have feen of late 
 C 2 but 
 
{ 20 ) 
 
 but few piovifions made for men of letters. 
 They have been left to flarve ; or to fatten 
 on the marl of their own genius. They 
 have lived like the Marmot in winter. 
 
 The democratical tendency of theLetter to 
 a Noble Lord is an ariftocratical argument 
 in the mouth of fome of the topfy-turvy 
 Jacobins. The fpirt was I believe firft 
 broached among the journalifts ; — and the 
 idea has been fmce adopted by all thofe 
 clafles of retail dealers in fecond hand wit, 
 who wind up their daily judgment by the 
 key of their party paper. This feems, I 
 think, to be the charge on which they fix 
 their main hope. This they take to be 
 their vantage ground — and hence they are 
 preparing to direct the fire of their heavieft 
 artillery. — But did thefe drillers and em- 
 battlers of mobs imagine, before Mr. Burke 
 had publifhed his letter, that he was more 
 profoundly ignorant of hiftory than any 
 other man in the kingdom, not even except-* 
 ing themfelves ? Did they really conceive 
 that he was totally unacquainted with the 
 
 abomi- 
 
( *• ) 
 
 abominable perverfions of kingly authority, 
 in all ages and all countries ? that he was 
 to learn from them, — that power is a dan- 
 gerous truft — that it is liable to abufe — 
 that things are not changed by names — 
 that Henry the King was as bad a man, 
 and as villanous a defpot, as Cromwell the 
 Protedlor — that Rufl'el was as dirty a tool 
 as Bradfhaw — that there may have been 
 rogues among the predecefTors of a virtuous 
 Prince — or that fome among the ancef- 
 tcrs of an honourable man (for fuch I am 
 bound to believe the Puke of Bedford) 
 were probably no better than finners ? 
 
 Thefe people are really lefs enlightened 
 than I conceived them to be. 
 
 The old threadbare, naplefs tale of incon- 
 fiftency is again ripped up, and brought into 
 play. On this fubjedt, our ears had, I 
 thought, been dinned long enough, with the 
 monotonous howl of vague declaimerf, and 
 puerile profeiTors of new-fangled logick. 
 Such lumps had, ages ago, been crammed 
 C 3 down 
 
{ 22 ) 
 
 down our throats, that the flomach had 
 naufeated, and the power of ingurgitation 
 ceafed — but they are at it again, thefe moun- 
 tebanks of the purHeus of Bedlam. — The 
 quacks are incapable of comprehending the 
 fyftem of " contra-indicants." — They are at 
 a lofs to conceive, how that application can 
 be injudicious to-day, which yeflerday was 
 prefcribed ; and which to-morrow ma.y 
 again become necefl^ry. 
 
 Thefe State Phyficians are not qualified 
 to aflift at confultations. 
 
 The wranglers cannot furely hope to draw 
 him into controverfy. The bird of Jove 
 will fcorn to ftoop from empyreal heights, 
 and pounce at reptiles. His talons muft 
 not be polluted with the flime of grubs. 
 
 The undiminifhed violence of this fturdy 
 hero's averfion to the French Revolution, 
 has been another fubjedt of very ftrong, 
 very difFufe, and highly varied argument. 
 Byfonae it has been dignified with thenam.e 
 
 of 
 
( ^J ) 
 
 of virtuous perfeverance — by others it has 
 been degraded into criminal pertinacity. 
 
 On ideas refpe^ling the origin of this 
 great ftruggle, I had not the happinefs of 
 finding that mv judgment was fanftioned 
 by the approbation of Mr. Burke. We 
 were for a while antipodes to each other— 
 or, to fpeak more modeftly, where he was 
 a zenith, I appeared as the nadir. There 
 was indeed a period in its hiftory, and that 
 of nofliort duration, when even his own 
 eloquence muft have proved inadequate to 
 the exprefTion of all the horror which I 
 felt. But thofe are days which I hope are 
 gone. When lad I faw this people, at the 
 outfet of their Revolution, I believe, and 
 am fully perfuaded, that the general mafs 
 was found in mind. They were aduated, 
 I think, by the honeft ambilion of following 
 an example which we had given them a 
 century before. Such at leaft w^as then the 
 opinion which I had, not haftily, formed. 
 I own that they had my heft wifhes. They 
 profeiTed, for our Conftitution, a fondnefs 
 C 4 amount- 
 
(' 24 ) 
 
 amounting to the tenderefl: enthufiafm. 
 We were then the " fils aines de la liberie.'* 
 — As fuch I have been greeted and ftunned 
 into deafnefs along the Boulevards, and on 
 the Pont Neuf. I declined the hug of 
 fraternization, but my heart yearned towards 
 them — I looked upon them with a brother's 
 eye. I hoped that Heaven would fmile 
 upon their efforts. The fword of glory 
 unfheathed itfelf to my view ; and the 
 hands that grafped it were not yet polluted 
 with the blood of innocence. I marked 
 the progrefs of paffion^-and I foon began 
 to tremble for my favourite caufe. 
 
 Empiricifm becamq the order of the day. 
 The people were cajoled into a fondnefs for 
 wild experiment. Some, and indeed not a 
 few, bent their necks to dangerous opera- 
 tions. From thefe has fprung the fource of 
 evil. A pifton was introduced into the car 
 vity of their ftomach, and the marrow of 
 their hearts was fucked away. Their very 
 fouls were materialized into a caput mor- 
 tuum. An ofFenfive ftate of corporal and 
 7 mental 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 mj£ntal iHitiidlty fucceeded — one vaft pha- 
 gedenous ulcer covered their limbs — their 
 bodies broke out into fores — and the puf- 
 tules afforded matter for a general inocula- 
 tion. The word of venoms became their 
 natural food — it feafoned their difhes — it 
 mantled in their goblets— it vras mingled 
 with the diet that nourifhed their children — 
 the fuckling imbibed it at the breail: — the 
 ovary of future mothers was re- opened, and 
 the feeds of germing animation were fatu- 
 rated with the poifon. The difeafe became 
 endemial ; and few efcaped the contagion. 
 The flaver frothed at the mouth of the rabble 
 — and favourite writers dipped their pen in 
 thepituitous faliva. They vomited forth their 
 crude lumps of indigeflion — and fomething 
 filthier than the banquet of a Weftphalian 
 fly was the repaft of their midnight orgies. 
 I have been within the influence of their 
 nidorofities. I was not a (Iranger in the 
 circles of Reincy and Mouffeaux — I wit-; 
 neffed the firfl: plottings of the dirty bufniefs 
 which was afterwards matured into its 
 fetid confummation at the Palais Royal. A 
 
 general 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 general cyaanthropy prevailed. — Man ran 
 about, and bit at man. Morals perlflied 
 in the wreck of religion. The right line 
 of ethics was tvvifted into every variety of 
 unnatural incurvation. Their metaphyfi- 
 clans ftarted dodrinesfubverfive of the order 
 of nature. They have not increafed, they 
 have damped the energy of the fpecies. — 
 They have not invigorated — they have ener- 
 vated, they have eunuchated mankind. The 
 means were well proportioned to the end. — 
 They embodied profanenefs — confolidated 
 impicty^ — unfettered licentioufnefs — 
 
 Cried havoc, and let flip the dogs of war. 
 
 The arch monfter of Jacobinifm perifhed 
 with Robefpierre — but, briftles were pluck- 
 ed, I fear, from the fpine of the morkin. 
 They have been tranfplanted and engrafted, 
 and feem preparing to fprout again upon the 
 brawn of the favages who furvived. 
 
 Mr. Burke's violence may perhaps have 
 been awakened, fuppofing the lion ever to 
 
 have 
 
( 27 ) 
 
 have flept, by fome recent tranfa^tions at 
 home. My friend, there is foul play going 
 on. Treafon has ftalked a little too tri- 
 umphantly of late — fhe has already had her 
 ovations. A part of the nation is indifpofed. 
 It feems aifeded with a kind of lienterick 
 complaint. It has loft its power of digef- 
 tion — it refufc^s, it loathes its natural food. 
 Its new unlegalized caterers have played 
 fome vile trick. Would, that they had not 
 volunteered their fervice ! Thefe runts of 
 inofficial purveyors fcuddle over the ground; 
 and joftle honeft people out of the path, 
 with an air of as much bufy confequence, as 
 if the exiftence of the people depended 
 upon their expedition. — But we foon fee 
 them return, not with wholefome loads of 
 old Englifh fare, but with new French 
 kickftiaw ragouts, that tickle the palate and 
 burn up the inteftines. 
 
 A fight like this may roufe the indigna- 
 tion of a cooler and lefs empaffioned man 
 than the author of Some Modern Phi- 
 lippics. 
 
 We 
 
( 28 ) 
 
 We live in perilous and portentous times. 
 Such men as Burke are bound to exert 
 their talents, and devote them to the fervice 
 of the public. We have on both fides of the 
 houfe, both within and without its walls, a 
 rare aflemblage of men diftingui(hed by 
 very fuperior acquifitions. I believe their 
 patriotifm to be equally pure — and that 
 their difference of opinion is confined to 
 the means of faving the commonwealth. 
 They have, I truft, the fame objedl in 
 view. 
 
 The various claOes of fociety have at this 
 particular jun^^ure moft difficult tafias an- 
 nexed to their refpedive flations. At the 
 prefent critical period it becomes, more 
 perhaps than it has been at any other, the 
 cffential duty of magiftrates, to be firm but 
 not to harafs — to hold the reins of govern- 
 ment with a fteady, but not with a galling 
 hand. 
 
 It is the duty of the people intrepidly to 
 affert their claims j and not to fufier them- 
 
 fclves 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 felves to be talked out of their rights. Thcfe 
 rights have a double reference — as they re- 
 late to their governors — and as they recur 
 back upon themfelves. 
 
 The rights which they claim from the for- 
 mer, are protedion in the full, unequivocal, 
 unreftrained exercife of civil and religious 
 liberty — and therein, of all the privileges of 
 man, regarded as a fecial being. 
 
 From themfelves, or, to fpeak more intel- 
 ligibly, from the mafs of the people, each 
 individual claims as his right, the undifturb- 
 ed enjoyment of domeftic peace and inter- 
 nal tranquillity — of fecurity from maflacres 
 and pillage — of exemption from the horrors 
 of inteftine broils. He claims the right of 
 adoring his Creator, and refpeding the 
 laws — he claims the great, the important 
 right of not being again driven back into a 
 ftate of nature. 
 
 The tool of a tyrant, and the fower 
 
 of 
 
( 3<5 ) 
 
 of fedltion, are foes alike to the Ria'Hts of 
 Man. 
 
 But It Is time, my friend, to concIaJe, 
 My remarks have been defultory, like the 
 converfations on which they have turned. 
 They have not been free from prejudice, or 
 perhaps from precipitation. I have cautiouf- 
 ly abftained, in my inve£lives, from every 
 thing bordering on perfonaiity.— -It is a rule 
 from which I never deviate, either in fpeak- 
 ing, or in writing. When great men are 
 in queftion, it is dlflicult to reafon with calm- 
 nefs-— to me it is impolTible — but I do not 
 conceive myfelf to be raih, or intemperate. 
 My warmth is, 1 believe, in general on the 
 fide of virtue. I am animated, I truft, by a 
 legitimate flame — and my enthufiafm is, [ 
 hope, not that of an abfolutely unlettered 
 mind. 
 
 My next will have no reference to the 
 prefent fubjed. As far as title pages juf- 
 tify conjecture, it may probably contain 
 
 an 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 an at'tempt to reply to feme " Thoughts 
 on the Profpcd of a Regicide Peace." — 
 Adieu, 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, 
 March ly 179^* 
 
 1 I N I S. 
 
^ 
 
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