'power which can resist an object, when the People, with an ' united, solemn, and determined voice, shall pronounce, WE

'WILL IT.'

:

Such is the sum, and scope of your assertion for as to your qualifications, they are nugatory. It must be their power, which shall render the people irresistible; and the extent of this is not increased, by the quality of their demands. Besides, of the reasonableness of these demands, the People are left to judge. Thus, wherever the hoc volo, hoc jubeo is expressed, the stet pro ratione voluntas is implied; and all qualifications are insidious, or absurd.

What you assert, then, may be the fact; yet the assertion be, at this time, something worse than inexpedient. It is very true that our liberties are threatened: but you seem to have forgotten, that one of their invaders is this new-raised phantom, which calls itself THE PEOPLE; and which is not the populus, but the plebs of our country.

If I acquiesce in your position, at least I cannot share your joy. A conviction, in that body which you term the People, that their will must be the law, is competent, I admit, to the operation of a mighty change; more sudden and complete, than could probably be effected, amidst the peaceful conflict of reciprocally balanced powers. But this efficacy is common to every force that is despotic: and therefore in such uncontrollable supremacy of the People, I cannot discern the sources of permanent advantage, or rational exultation.

In contemplating a nation, (that polished creature of social life,) I am far from confining myself to the consideration of its numbers; or dismissing from my thoughts those other qualities, which are as essential. I mean, for example, its property, its industry, its knowledge, wisdom, dignity, and virtue. Far from considering its true power to be displayed, in such sudden shocks as a temporary union of consenting passions may produce,-I hold it to consist in that due conciliation, and nice

adjustment of its complicated interests, which permanently give it a corporate existence and consolidated force.

If a claim be presented in the name of the people, I will analyse the mass, on which this title is bestowed. If I find in it a preponderance of the ingredients above mentioned, acknowledging it for that national corporation, called the people,-I will conclude that its desires aim at general utility. But if it be found wanting in those essential qualities, and resting all claim on the mere circumstance of numbers, I wil degrade it to its proper character of mob; and though I may tremble at its power, can never recognise its authority.

This I take to be the principle of the British Government; and true foundation of its mingled nature. By means of this combination, it is contrived, that of that mass of qualities as well as quantities, the people, supremacy shall circulate through all the parts; and for every purpose of political energy, this great corporation shall be one.

For, besides that portion of political dominion, which is composed of the democratic rights and privileges, the authority of King, of Lords, and Commons, are all component parts of the people's power. The three estates, in this sense, repre

sent the people.

To repel hostility, whether foreign or domestic,-to arbitrate between contending powers,—to deliver over the accused to the inquiry of the law,- —to put the national will in execution,— to call forth merit, and enlist it in the public service,—or embellish it with rank, as an encouraging example,-to raise ambitious talent safely into greatness, and divert seditious propensities, by the view of honours and distinctions compatible with public safety ;*

To throw up an intrenchment round honours when con

* Royal power.

ferred, to cherish and protect the hereditary principle,—and keep guard upon the eminences of cultivated life, to secure dignity from envy, and opulence from rapine ;*

To manage economically the public funds, and purchase with them, the public welfare,-to concentrate the wishes and interests of a multitude, too numerous to coalesce, but by the medium of representation,-to foster public spirit,—to check the inroads of insulting Greatness, in those descents which, from its summits, might be made upon the rights (if unprotected) of the humble ;+

:

To lift the voice of the populace to the ear of that Legislature, of which one branch is in a great measure of their own creation to bid proud defiance to the menaces of Oppression ; and refer the cause of Innocence to the tribunal of Impartiality this is a rude sketch of that power in the People, which, prudently distributed, to ensure its preservation, exists dispersedly, in the King, the Lords, the Commons, and the Public.

It is the peculiar, and fundamental excellence of the British Constitution, that it is a more effectual mode than has ever been devised, for collecting the sense of a whole civilized people; and discovering that path, along which Authority may move, without trampling on the interests of any Order in the State. It is a government of combination; not disunion: unity is, on the contrary, its end, and its attainment.

Equal law, in the meantime, encircles, like a glory, the whole social mass: while that coherency of principle, which is related to it, and fixes the title to the crown, on grounds, in many respects, analogous to those, which support that of an obscure subject, to his small hereditary estate, gives to the

* Privileges of the Peers.

† Authority of the Commons.
Right of petition, trial by jury, &c.

monarch, and some of the humblest amongst his people, a reciprocal interest to maintain each other's rights.

Of the authority confided by our Constitution, to those bodies between which it has distributed supremacy, part is for purposes immediate and direct; part of a subsidiary and protective nature. Of this latter sort, perhaps, is the King's share in legislation. Though it may be true, that the divided interests of the people, requiring umpirage, this might lead to entrusting the Chief Magistrate with such a power; though unnecessary for the complete protection of his remaining privileges. Other subordinate prerogatives, again, we may conceive to have been lighted up, in the intensity of his greatness.

For the same auxiliary purpose, the Nobles legislate apart; and are entitled, in some cases, to a trial by emphatically their peers. If the Lords and Commons formed but one assembly, the whole people would be no longer effectually represented. In the modern sense indeed, † they, i. e. the numbers of the country, might be represented. But the great Minority, composed of the national wealth and dignity, would be unprotected. Their interests, which our peerage (in maintaining its own) defends, would be overwhelmed and swallowed up; and the link between King and People-be destroyed.

I have thus discussed such topics, as arise out of the most pervading principle in your address: and, after what I have written, it is almost superfluous, to declare my disapprobation

* Of course I do not mean, that the King's right to take part in the enactment of every statute, is of a subordinate description; or that His Ma jesty is less than a coordinate branch of the Legislature. Perhaps the now Royal share in legislation-is a constitutionally defined residuum, of the more, or all, which Royalty once possessed or claimed.

+ So printed in 1793.

Of the Friends to the Constitution, &c. to the People; containing a brief exposé of their political tenets, as already mentioned.

of the following paragraph, containing a sentiment, of the same tendency with one which I have already combated.

We exult to live in a country, where the voice of the 'people, once plainly and decidedly uttered, is a thunder which ' no government dares resist.'

I must absolutely decline partaking of your pleasure; as well from the nature, as non-existence of its alleged cause. I should not rejoice to live in a country, where the cry of the giddy and seducible populace was a thunder, which no government (however honest) dared resist. Nor, though I were so depraved as to exult at such a mischief, am I so ignorant as to suppose this to be the case, in the country in which I live; or that any such principle can be found in our Constitution. I should, indeed, rejoice to live in a country, where the voice of the people, as wise as it was powerful, gave an awful, virtuous, and impartial check, to the assaults of Faction, and the wilyness of Corruption. I should rejoice that mankind was different from what it is.-As things stand, I can only exult, that lest wickedness prevail, power is divided that the populace have no thunders, to hurl against the government; nor the governors any bolts, to cast against the people."

I.

ARCHBISHOP LAUD'S SPEECH UPON THE SCAFFOLD.

*

I am drawing apace towards the Red Sea: my feet are on the very brink ; an argument, I hope, that God is bringing me to the land of promise. I am not in love with such a passage; but I know that He, whom I serve, is as able to deliver me from

* See page 116, note.