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day's debate, and who wishes well to the freedom of his country;
yet, if we are to believe the noble lord, this great grievance, this
manifest violation of the first principles of the constitution, will
not admit of a remedy: is not even capable of redress, unless we
appeal at once to heaven. My lords, I have better hopes of the
constitution, and a firmer confidence in the wisdom and constitu-
tional authority of this house. It is to your ancestors, my lords, it
is to the English barons, that we are indebted for the laws and
constitution we possess.
Their virtues were rude and uncultivated,
but they were great and sincere. Their understandings were as
little polished as their manners, but they had hearts to distinguish
right from wrong; they had heads to distinguish truth from false-
hood; they understood the rights of humanity, and they had
spirit to maintain them.

My lords, I think that history has not done justice to their
conduct, when they obtained from their sovereign that great ac-
knowledgment of national rights contained in magna charta;
they did not confine it to themselves alone, but delivered it as a
common blessing to the whole people. They did not say, these
are the rights of the great barons, or, these are the rights of the
great prelates: no, my lords, they said in the simple Latin of the
times, nullus liber homo, and provided as carefully for the meanest
subject as for the greatest. These are uncouth words, and sound
but poorly in the ears of scholars; but they are dear to the hearts
of free men.
These three words, nullus liber homo, have a mean-
ing which interests us all they deserve to be remembered they
deserve to be inculcated in our minds-they are worth all the
classics. Let us not, then, degenerate from the glorious example
of our ancestors. Those iron barons (for so I may call them, when
compared to the silken barons of modern days) were the guardians
of the people; yet their virtues, my lords, were never engaged in
a question of such importance as the present. A breach has been
made in the constitution-the battlements are dismantled-the
citadel is opened to the first invader-the walls totter-the con-
stitution is not tenable. What remains, then, but for us to stand
foremost in the breach, to repair it, or perish in it?

Great pains have been taken to alarm us with the dreadful con

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sequences of a difference between the two houses of parliament: that the House of Commons will resent our presuming to take notice of their proceedings: that they will resent our daring to advise the crown, and never forgive us for attempting to save the state. My lords, I am sensible of the importance and difficulty of this great crisis at a moment such as this, we are called upon to do our duty, without dreading the resentment of any man. But if apprehensions of this kind are to affect us, let us consider which we ought to respect most-the representative, or the collective body of the people. My lords, five hundred gentlemen are not ten millions; and if we must have a contention, let us take care to have the English nation on our side. If this question be given up, the freeholders of England are reduced to a condition baser than the peasantry of Poland. If they desert their own cause, they deserve to be slaves! My lords, this is not merely the cold opinion of my understanding, but the glowing expression of what I feel. It is my heart that speaks. I know I speak warmly, my lords, but this warmth shall neither betray my argument nor my temper. The kingdom is in a flame; as mediators between the king and people, it is our duty to represent to him the true condition and temper of his subjects. It is a duty which no particular respects should hinder us from performing; and whenever his majesty shall demand our advice, it will then be our duty to inquire more minutely into the causes of the present discontents. Whenever that inquiry shall come on, I pledge myself to the house to prove, that since the first institution of the House of Commons, not a single precedent can be produced to justify their late proceedings. My noble and learned friend (the Lord Chancellor) has also pledged himself to the house, that he will support that

assertion.

My lords, the character and circumstances of Mr. Wilkes have been very improperly introduced into this question, not only here, but in that court of judicature where his cause was tried :—I mean the House of Commons. With one party he was a patriot of the first magnitude with the other, the vilest incendiary. For my own part, I consider him merely and indifferently as an English subject, possessed of certain rights which the laws have given him,

and which the laws alone can take from him. I am neither moved by his private vices, nor by his public merits. In his person, though he were the worst of men, I contend for the safety and security of the best; and God forbid, my lords, that there should be a power in this country of measuring the civil rights of the subject by his moral character, or by any other rule but the fixed laws of the land. I believe, my lords, I shall not be suspected of any personal partiality to this unhappy man: I am not very conversant in pamphlets or newspapers; but from what I have heard, and from the little I have read, I may venture to affirm, that I have had my share in the compliments which have come from that quarter: and as for motives of ambition (for I must take to myself a part of the noble duke's insinuation), I believe, my lords, there have been times in which I have had the honor of standing in such favor in the closet, that there must have been something extravagantly unreasonable in my wishes, if they might not at all have been gratified. After neglecting those op portunities, I am now suspected of coming forward in the decline of life, in the anxious pursuit of wealth and power, which it is impossible for me to enjoy. Be it so there is one ambition, at least, which I ever will acknowledge, which I will not renounce but with my life. It is the ambition of delivering to my posterity those rights of freedom which I have received from my ancestors. I am not now pleading the cause of an individual, but of every freeholder in England. In what manner this house may constitutionally interpose in their defence, and what kind of redress this case will require and admit of, is not at present the subject of our consideration. The amendment, if agreed to, will naturally lead us to such an inquiry. That inquiry may, perhaps, point out the necessity of an act of the legislature, or it may lead us, perhaps, to desire a conference with the other house; which one noble lord affirms, is the only parliamentary way of proceeding; and which another noble lord assures us the House of Commons would either

not come to, or would break off with indignation. Leaving their lordships to reconcile that matter between themselves, I shall only say, that before we have inquired, we cannot be provided with

materials; consequently, at present we are not prepared for a conference.

I

It is possible, my lords, that the inquiry I speak of may lead us to advise his majesty to dissolve the present parliament; nor have any doubt of our right to give that advice, if we should think it necessary. His majesty will then determine whether he will yield to the united petitions of the people of England, or maintain the House of Commons in the exercise of a legislative power, which heretofore abolished the House of Lords, and overturned the monarchy. I willingly acquit the present House of Commons of having actually formed so detestable a design: but they cannot themselves foresee to what excesses they may be carried hereafter: and for my own part, I should be sorry to trust to their future moderation. Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, my lords, that where law ends, tyranny begins!

LORD CHATHAM ON THE STATE OF THE NATION-1770.

MY LORDS,—I shall give you my reasons for concurring with the motion, not methodically, but as they occur to my mind. I may. wander, perhaps, from the exact parliamentary debate; but I hope I shall say nothing but what may deserve your attention, and what if not strictly proper at present, would be fit to be said, when the state of the nation shall come to be considered. My uncertain state of health must plead my excuse. I am now in some pain, and very probably may not be able to attend my duty when I desire it most, in this house. I thank God, my lords, for having thus long preserved so inconsiderable a being as I am, to take a part upon this great occasion, and to contribute my endeavors, such as they are, to restore, to save, to confirm the constitution. My lords, I need not look abroad for grievances. The grand capital mischief is fixed at home. It corrupts the very foundation of our political existence, and preys upon the vitals of the state. The constitution has been grossly violated. The constitution at

this moment stands violated. Until that wound be healed, until the grievance be redressed, it is in vain to recommend union to parliament-in vain to promote concord among the people. I we mean seriously to unite the nation within itself, we must convince them that their complaints are regarded, and that their inquiries shall be answered. On that foundation, I would take the lead in recommending peace and harmony to the people on any other, I would never wish to see them united again. If the breach in the constitution be effectually repaired, the people will of themselves return to a state of tranquillity: if not, may discord prevail forever! I know to what point this doctrine and this language will appear directed. But I feel the principles of an Englishman, and I utter them without apprehension or reserve. The crisis is indeed alarming: so much the more does it require a prudent relaxation on the part of government. If the king's servants will not permit a constitutional question to be decided on according to the forms and on the principles of the constitution, it must then be decided in some other manner: and rather than "it should be given up, rather than the nation should surrender their birthright to a despotic minister, I hope, my lords, old as I am, I shall see the question brought to issue, and fairly tried between the people and government. My lords, this is not the language of faction. Let it be tried by that criterion by which alone we can distinguish what is factious from what is not—by the principles of the English constitution. I have been bred up in these principles, and know that when the liberty of the subject is invaded, and all redress denied him, resistance is justified. If I had a doubt upon the matter, I should follow the example set us by the most reverend bench; with whom I believe it is a maxim, when any doubt in point of faith arises, or any question of controversy is started, to appeal at once to the greatest source and evidence of our religion-I mean the Holy Bible. The constitution has its political bible, by which, if it be fairly consulted, every political question may, and ought to be determined. Magna charta, the petition of rights, and the bill of rights, form that code which I call the bible of the English constitution.. Had some of his majesty's unhappy predecessors trusted less to the comments

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