/ d ',K e c vf use ' true as the doctor's counsel assert it ; that is.

(with the

restriction i with an exception of cases of necessity : and it was

of necessi- * J '

ty) it was ( no f. repealed because it was false understanding

prevent < jf with that restriction ; but it was repealed be-
false inter-
pretations. < cause it might be interpreted in an unconfined

1 sense, and exclusive of that restriction ; and, be-
' ing so understood, would reflect on the justice
1 of the Revolution : and this the legislature had at
' heart, and were very jealous of; and, by this repeal
1 of that declaration, gave a parliamentary or legis-
' lative admonition, against asserting this doctrine
' of non-resistance in an unlimited sense?
General ' Though the general doctrine of non-resistance,
the doctrine of the church of England, as stated
i n ner homilies or elsewhere delivered, by which
bound "o 0t * the general duty of subjects to the higher powers
d%theex- is taught, be owned to be, as unquestionably it

ceptiona. <

IS,



TO THE OLD WHIGS. 179

is, a godly and wholesome doctrine ; though this
general doctrine has been constantly inculcated
by the reverend fathers of the church, dead and
living, and preached by them as a preservative
against the popish doctrine of deposing princes,
and as the ordinary rule of obedience ; and
though the same doctrine has been preached,
maintained, and avowed by our most orthodox
and able divines from the time of the Refor-
mation ; and how innocent a man Dr. Sacheverel
had been, if with an honest and well-meant zeal,
he had preached the same doctrine in the same
general terms in which he found it delivered by
the apostles of Christ, as taught by the homilies,
and the reverend fathers of our church, and, in
imitation of those great examples, had only
pressed the general duty of obedience, and the
illegality of resistance, without taking notice of
any exception.'



Another of the managers for the house of com-
mons, Sir John Holland, was not less careful in
guarding against a confusion of the principles of
the Revolution, with any loose, general doctrines
of a right in the individual, or even in the people,
to undertake for themselves, on any prevalent, tem-
porary opinions of convenience or improvement,
jf 2 any



180



APPEAL FROM THE NEW



any fundamental change in the constitution, or to
fabricate a new government for themselves, and
thereby to disturb the publick peace, and to un-
settle the ancient constitution of this kingdom.



Submission
to the sove-
reign a con-
scientious
duty, ex-
cept in
rases of ne-
cessity.



Right of re-
sistance
how to be
understood.



SIR JOHN HOLLAND.

' The commons would not be understood, as if
they were pleading for a licentious resistance; as
if subjects were left to their good-will and plea-
sure, when they are to obey, and when to resist.
No, my lords, they know they are obliged by all
the ties of social creatures and Christians, for
wrath and conscience sake, to submit to their
sovereign. The commons do not abet humour-
some factious arms: they aver them to be rebel-
lious. But yet they maintain, that that resistance
at the Revolution, which was so necessary, was
lawful and just from that necessity.
' These general rules of obedience may, upon a
real necessity, admit a lawful exception ; and such
a necessary exception we assert the Revolution to
be.

' 'Tis with this view of necessity only, absolute
necessity of preserving our laws, liberties, and re-
ligion ; 'tis with this limitation that we desire to
be understood, when any of us speak of resistance
in general. The necessity of the resistance at the

' Revolution,



TO fHE OLD WHIGS. 181

Revolution was at that time obvious to every
man.'



I shall conclude these extracts with a reference
to the Prince of Orange's declaration, in which
he gives the nation the fullest assurance that, in
his enterprise, he was far from the intention of in-
troducing any change whatever in the funda-
mental law and constitution of the state. He
considered the object of his enterprise, not to be a
precedent for further revolutions, but that it was
the great end of his expedition to make such re-
volutions, so far as human power and wisdom-
could provide, unnecessary.

Extract from the Prince of Orange s
Declaration.

1 All magistrates, who have been unjustly turned

* out, shall forthwith resume their former em-
1 ployments, as well as all the boroughs of England
' shall return again to their ancient prescriptions,
1 and charters: and more particularly, that the
i ancient charter of the great and famous city of
' London shall be again in force. And that the
' writs for the members of parliament shall be ad-
' dressed to the proper officers according to law

* and custom.''

N 3 * And



182 APPEAL FROM THE NEW

1 And for the doing of all other things, which
' the two houses of parliament shall find necessary
' for the peace, honour, and safety of the nation,
' so that there may be no danger of the nations
1 falling, at any time hereafter, under arbitrary

* government.'

Extract from the Prince of Orange's
additional Declaration.

' We are confident that no persons can have
' such hard thoughts of us, as to imagine that we
' have any other design in this undertaking, than
' to procure a settlement of the religion, and of the
' liberties and properties of the subjects, upon so
1 sure a foundation, that there may be no danger
1 of the nations relapsing into the like miseries at
' any time hereafter. And, as the forces that we
' have brought along with us are utterly dispropor-
' tioned to that wicked design of conquering the na-

* tion, if we were capable of intending it; so the

nobility and . . .

gentry well ' great numbers of the principal nobility and gen-

affected to 7

the church ' try, that are men of eminent quality and estates,

and crown, , ..-, 7 7 z ^ 7 />

security and persons of known integrity and zeal, both, jor

dSigu oV e ' the religion and government of England, many of

'' ' them also being distinguished by their constant

' fidelity to the Crown, who do both accompany us

' in this expedition, and have earnestly solicited us

* to it, will cover us from all such malicions in-

' sinuations.'

In



TO THE OLD WHIGS. 183

In the spirit, and, upon one occasion, in the
words *, of this declaration, the statutes passed in
that reign made such provisions for preventing
these dangers, that scarcely any thing short of
combination of king, lords, and commons, for the
destruction of the liberties of the nation, can in
any probability make us liable to similar perils.
In that dreadful, and, I hope, not to be looked-
for case, any opinion of a right to make revolu-
tions, grounded on this precedent, would be but
a poor resource. Dreadful indeed would be our
situation.

These are the doctrines held by the whigs of the
Revolution, delivered with as much solemnity, and
as authentically at least, as any political dogmas
were ever promulgated from the beginning of the
world. If there be any difference between their
tenets and those of Mr. Burke it is, that the old
whigs oppose themselves still more strongly than
he does against the doctrines which are now pro-
pagated with so much industry by those who
would be thought their successors.

It will be said perhaps, .that the old whigs, in
order to guard themselves against popular odium,
pretended to assert tenets contrary to those which
they secretly held. This, if true, would prove,
what Mr. Burke has uniformly asserted, that the
extravagant doctrines which he meant to expose,
* Declaration of Right.

N 4 were



184- APPEAL FROM THE NEW

were disagreeable to the body of the people ; who,
though they perfectly abhor a despotick govern-
ment, certainly approached more nearly to the
love of mitigated monarchy, than to any thing
which bears the appearance even of the best re-
publick. But if these old whigs deceived the
people, their conduct was unaccountable indeed.
They exposed their power, as every one conver-
sant in history knows, to the greatest peril, for the
propagation of opinions which, on this hypothesis,
they did not hold. It is a new kind of martyr-
dom. This supposition does as little credit to
their integrity as their wisdom : it makes them at
once hypocrites and fools. I think of those great
men very differently. I hold them to have been,
what the world thought them, men of deep un-
derstanding, open sincerity, and clear honour.
However, be that matter as it may, what these
old whigs pretended to be, Mr. Burke is. This
is enough for him.

I do indeed admit, that, though Mr. Burke has
proved that his opinions were those of the old
whig party, solemnly declared by one house, in
effect and substance by both houses of parliament,
this testimony standing by itself will form no pro-
per defence for his opinions, if he and the old
whigs were both of them in the wrong. But it
is his present concern, not to vindicate these old
whigs, but to shew his agreement with them.

Pie



TO THE OLD WHIG 5. 185

He appeals to them as judges : he does not vindi-
cate them as culprits. It is current that these old
politicians knew little of the rights of men ; that
they lost their way by groping about in the dark,
and fumbling among rotten parchments and musty
records. Great lights they say are lately obtained
in the world ; and Mr. Burke, instead of shrowd-
ing himself in exploded ignorance, ought to have
taken advantage of the blaze of illumination which
has been spread about him. It may be so. The
enthusiasts of this time, it seems, like their prede-
cessors in another faction of fanaticism, deal in
lights. Hudibras pleasantly says of them, they

" Have lights, where better eyes are blind,
" As pigs are said to see the wind"

The author of the Reflections has heard a
great deal concerning the modern lights ; but he
has not yet had the good fortune to see much of
them. He has read more than he can justify to
any thing but the spirit of curiosity, of the works
of these illuminators of the world. He has learn-
ed nothing from the far greater number of them,
than a full certainty of their shallowness, levity,
pride, petulance, presumption, and ignorance.
Where the old authors whom he has read, and
the old men whom he has conversed with, have
left him in the dark, he is in the dark still. If

others,



186 APPEAL FROM THE NEW V

others, however, have obtained any of this extra-
ordinary light, they will use it to guide them in
their researches and their conduct. I have only to
wish, that the nation may be as happy and as pros-
perous under the influence of the new light, as it
has been in the sober shade of the old obscurity.
As to the rest, it will be difficult for the author of
the Reflections to conform to the principles of the
avowed leaders of the party, until they appear
otherwise than negatively. All we can gather
from them is this, that their principles are diame-
trically opposite to his. This is all that we know
from authority. Their negative declaration obliges
me to have recourse to the books which contain
positive doctrines. They are indeed, to those Mr.
Burke holds, diametrically opposite ; and if it be
true, (as the oracles of the party have said, I hope
hastily) that their opinions differ so widely, it
should seem they are the most likely to form the
creed of the modern whigs.

I have stated what were the avowed sentiments
of the old whigs, not in the way of argument, but
narratively. It is but fair to set before the reader,
in the same simple manner, the sentiments of the
modern, to which they spare neither pains nor ex-
pense to make proselytes. I choose them from the
books upon which most of that industry and ex-
penditure in circulation have been employed ; I
choose them not from those who speak with a

politick



TO THE OLD WHIGS. 187

politick obscurity ; not from those who only contro-
vert the opinions of the old whigs, without ad-
vancing any of their own, but from those who
speak plainly and affirmatively. The whig reader
may make his choice between the two doctrines.

The doctrine then propagated by these socie-
ties, which gentlemen think they ought to be very
tender in discouraging, as nearly as possible in their
own words, is as follows : that in Great Britain
we are not only without a good constitution, but
that we have " no constitution." That, " though
" it is much talked about, no such thing as a con-
" stitution exists or ever did exist ; and conse-
" quently that the people have a constitution yet to
" form ; that since William the Conquerer, the
" country has never yet regenerated itself, and is
" therefore without a constitution. That where
" it cannot be produced in a visible form there is
" none. That a constitution is a thing antecedent
" to government; and that the constitution of a
" country is not the act of its government, but of
" a people constituting a government. That every
" thing in the English government is the reverse of
" what it ought to be, and what it is said to be in
" England. That the right of war and peace re-
" sides in a metaphor shewn at the Tower, for
" sixpence or a shilling a piece. That it signifies
" not where the right resides, whether in the
" Crown or in parliament. War is the common

** harvest



188 APPEAL FROM THE NEW

" harvest of those who participate in the division
" and expenditure of publick money. That the
" portion of liberty enjoyed in England is just
" enough to enslave a country more productively
" than by despotism."

So far as to the general state of the British con-
stitution. As to our house of lords, the chief
virtual representatives of our aristocracy, the great
ground and pillar of security to the landed in-
terest, and that main link by which it is con-
nected with the law and the Crown, these worthy
societies are pleased to tell us, that, " whether we
" view aristocracy before, or behind, or sideways,
" or any way else, domestically or publickly, it is
" still a monster. That aristocracy in France had
" one feature less in its countenance than what it
l( has in some other countries; it did not com-
" pose a body of hereditary legislators. It was
11 not a corporation of aristocracy ;" for such it
seems that profound legislator M. de la Fayette
describes the house of peers. " That it is kept
" up by family tyranny and injustice that there
" is an unnatural unfitness in aristocracy to be
" legislators for a nation that their ideas of distri-
" butive justice are corrupted at the very source;
" they begin life by trampling on all their younger
" brothers and sisters, and relations of every kind,
" and are taught and educated so to do. That
" the idea of an hereditary legislator is as absurd

" as



TO THE OLD WHFGS. 189

" as an hereditary mathematician. That a body
" holding themselves unaccountable to any body
" ought to be trusted by no body that it is con-
" tinuing the uncivilized principles of govern-
" ments founded in conquest, and the base idea
" of man having a property in man, and govern-
" ing him by a personal right that aristocracy
" has a tendency to degenerate the human
" species," &c. &c.

As to our law of primogeniture, which with
few and inconsiderable exceptions is the standing
law of all our landed inheritance, and which with-
out question has a tendency, and I think a most
happy tendency, to preserve a character of conse-
quence, weight, and prevalent influence over
others in the whole body of the landed interest,
they call loudly for its destruction. They do this
for political reasons that are very manifest. They
have the confidence to say, "that it is a law against
" every law of nature, and nature herself calls for
" its destruction. Establish family justice, and
<l aristocracy falls. By the aristocratical law of
" primogenitureship, in a family of six children,
" five are exposed. Aristocracy has never but
" one child. The rest are begotten to be de-
" voured. They are thrown to the cannibal for

' prey, and the natural parent prepares the tin-

" natural repast."

As to the house of commons, they treat it far

worse



190 APPEAL FROM THE NEW

worse than the house of lords or the Crown hav
been ever treated. Perhaps they thought they had
a greater right to take this amicable freedom with
those of their own family. For many years it has
been the perpetual theme of their invectives.
" Mockery, insult, usurpation," are amongst the
best names they bestow upon it. They damn it
in the mass, by declaring " that it does not arise
" out of the inherent rights of the people, as the
" National Assembly does in France, and whose
" name designates its original."

Of the charters and corporations, to whose
rights, a few years ago, these gentlemen were so
tremblingly alive, they say, " that when the people
" of England come to reflect upon them, they
" will, like France, annihilate those badges of op-
" pression, those traces of a conquered nation."

As to our monarchy, they had formerly been
more tender of that branch of the constitution,
and for a good reason. The laws had guarded
against all seditious attacks upon it, with a greater
decree of strictness and severity. The tone of

O J

these gentlemen is totally altered since the French
Revolution. They now declaim as vehemently
against the monarchy, as on former occasions they
treacherously flattered and soothed it.

" When we survey the wretched condition of
" man under the monarchical and hereditary sys-
" terns of government, dragged from his home

" by



TO THE OLD WHIGS. 191

" by one power, or driven by another, and im-
" poverished by taxes more than by enemies, it
" becomes evident that those systems are bad, and
" that a general revolution in the principle and
" construction of government is necessary.

" What is government more than the manage-
" ment of the affairs of a nation ? It is not, and
" from its nature cannot be, the property of any
" particular man or family, but of the whole com-
" munity, at whose expense it is supported ; and
" though by force or contrivance it has been
" usurped into an inheritance, the usurpation can-
" not alter the right of things. Sovereignty, as
" a matter of right, appertains to the nation only,
" and not to any individual ; and a nation has at
" all times an inherent indefeasible right to abolish
" any form of government it finds inconvenient,
" and establish such as accords with its interest,
" disposition, and happiness. The romantick and
" barbarous distinction of men into kings and
" subjects, though it may suit the condition of
" courtiers, cannot tljat of citizens; and is ex-
u ploded by the principle upon which govern-
" ments are now founded. Every citizen is a
" member of the sovereignty, and, as such, can
" acknowledge no personal subjection ; and his
" obedience can be only to the laws."



Warmly



192 APPEAL FROM THE NEW

Warmly recommending to us the example of
France, where they have destroyed monarchy,
they say

" Monarchical sovereignty, the enemy of man-
" kind, and the source of misery is abolished ;
" and sovereignty itself is restored to its natural
" and original place, the nation. Were this the
" case throughout Europe, the cause of wars
" would be taken away."



" But, after all, what is this metaphor called a
" Crown, or rather what is monarchy ? Is it a
* c thing, or is it a name, or is it a fraud ? Is it
" ' a contrivance of human wisdom,' or of hu-
" man craft, to obtain money from a nation under
" specious pretences ? Is it a thing necessary to a
" nation ? If it is, in what does that necessity con-
" sist, what services does it perform, what is its
" business, and what are its merits ? Doth the vir-
" tue consist in the metaphor, or in the man?
" Doth the goldsmith that makes the crown make
" the virtue also ? Doth it operate like Fortuna-
" tus's wishing cap, or Harlequin's wooden sword ?
" Doth it make a man a conjuror? In fine, what
" is it ? It appears to be a something going much
" out of fashion, falling into ridicule, and rejected
" in some countries both as unnecessary and ex-
" pensive. In America it is considered as an

" absurdity ;



TO THE OLD WHIGS. 193

absurdity; and in France it has so far declined,
that the goodness of the man, and the respect
for his personal character, are the only things
that preserve tlie appearance of its existence."



" Mr. Burke talks about what he calls an here-
" ditary crown, as if it were some production of
" Nature ; or as if, like Time, it had a power to
" operate, not only independently, but in spite
" of man ; or as if it were a thing or a subject
" universally consented to. Alas ! it has none of
" those properties, but is the reverse of them all.
" It is a thing in imagination, the propriety of
" which is more than doubted, and the legality of
" which in a few years will be denied."



" If I ask the farmer, the manufacturer, the
" merchant, the tradesman, and down through
" all the occupations of life to the common la-
" bourer, what service monarchy is to him ? he
" can give me no answer. If I ask him what
" monarchy is, he believes it is something like a
" sinecure."



" The French constitution says, That the right

" of war and peace is in the nation. * Where else

VOL. vi. O " should



194

" should it reside, but in those who are to pay the
" expense ?

" In England, this right is said to reside in a
" metaphor, shewn at the Tower for sixpence or
" a shilling a-piece : so are the lions ; and it would
" be a step nearer to reason to say it resided in
" them, for any inanimate metaphor is no more
" than a hat or a cap. \Ve can all see the absurdity
" of worshipping Aaron's molten calf, or Nebu-
" chadnezzar's golden image ; but why do men
" continue to practise themselves the absurdities
<l they despise in others ?"

The Revolution and Hanover succession had
been bbjects of the highest veneration to the old
whigs. They thought them not only proofs of the
sober and steady spirit of liberty which guided
their ancestors, but of their wisdom and provident
care of posterity. The modern whigs have quite
other notions of these events and actions. They
do not deny that Mr. Burke has given truly the
words of the acts of parliament which secured the
succession, and the just sense of them. They
attack not him but the law.

" Mr. Burke (say they) has done some service,
" not to his cause, but to his country, by bring-
" ing those clauses into publick view. They serve
" to demonstrate how necessary it is at all times

" to



TO THE OLD WHIGS.

" to watch against the attempted encroachment

" of power, and to prevent its running to excess.

" It is somewhat extraordinary, that the offence

" for which James II. was expelled, that of setting

" up power by assumption, should be re-acted,

" under another shape and form, by the parlia-

" ment that expelled him. It shews that the rights

<c of man were but imperfectly understood at the

" Revolution; for, certain it is, that the right

" which that parliament set up by assumption (for

" by delegation it had it not, and could not have

" it, because none could give it) over the persons

" and freedom of posterity for ever, was of the

" same tyrannical unfovnded kind which James

" attempted to set up over the parliament and the

" nation, and for which he was expelled. The

" only difference is, (for in principle they differ

" not) that the one was an usurper over the

" living, and the other over the unborn ; and as

" the one has no better authority to stand upon

" than the other, both of them must be equally

" null and void, and of no effect."



" As the estimation of all things is by com-
parison, the Revolution of 1688, however from
circumstances it may have been exalted beyond
its value, will find its level. It is already on the
wane ; eclipsed by the enlarging orb of reason,
o 2 " and



196 APPEAL FROM THE NEW

" and the luminous Revolutions of America and
" France. In less than another century, it will
" go, as well as Mr. Burke's labours, ' to the
" family vault of all the Capulets.' Mankind will
" then scarcely believe that a country, calling
11 itself free, would send to Holland for a man,
" and clothe him with power, on purpose to put
" themselves in fear of him, and give him almost
" a million sterling a-year for leave to submit
" themselves and their posterity, like bond-men
" and bond-women for ever."

(< Mr. Burke having said that the king holds