1. The main and uniform maxim of the judges is, the greater the truth
the greater the libel.
2. Since writing the above, two other places occur in Mr. Burke's
pamphlet in which the name of the Bastille is mentioned, but in the
same manner. In the one he introduces it in a sort of obscure
question, and asks: "Will any ministers who now serve such a king,
with but a decent appearance of respect, cordially obey the orders of
those whom but the other day, in his name, they had committed to the
Bastille?" In the other the taking it is mentioned as implying
criminality in the French guards, who assisted in demolishing it.
"They have not," says he, "forgot the taking the king's castles at
Paris." This is Mr. Burke, who pretends to write on constitutional
freedom.
3. I am warranted in asserting this, as I had it personally from M.
de la Fayette, with whom I lived in habits of friendship for fourteen
years.
4. An account of the expedition to Versailles may be seen in No. 13
of the Revolution de Paris containing the events from the 3rd to the
10th of October, 1789.
5. It is a practice in some parts of the country, when two travellers
have but one horse, which, like the national purse, will not carry
double, that the one mounts and rides two or three miles ahead, and
then ties the horse to a gate and walks on. When the second traveller
arrives he takes the horse, rides on, and passes his companion a mile
or two, and ties again, and so on- Ride and tie.
6. The word he used was renvoye, dismissed or sent away.
7. When in any country we see extraordinary circumstances taking
place, they naturally lead any man who has a talent for observation
and investigation, to enquire into the causes. The manufacturers of
Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, are the principal
manufacturers in England. From whence did this arise? A little
observation will explain the case. The principal, and the generality
of the inhabitants of those places, are not of what is called in
England, the church established by law: and they, or their fathers,
(for it is within but a few years) withdrew from the persecution of
the chartered towns, where test-laws more particularly operate, and
established a sort of asylum for themselves in those places. It was
the only asylum that then offered, for the rest of Europe was worse.-
But the case is now changing. France and America bid all comers
welcome, and initiate them into all the rights of citizenship. Policy
and interest, therefore, will, but perhaps too late, dictate in
England, what reason and justice could not. Those manufacturers are
withdrawing, and arising in other places. There is now erecting in
Passey, three miles from Paris, a large cotton manufactory, and
several are already erected in America. Soon after the rejecting the
Bill for repealing the test-law, one of the richest manufacturers in
England said in my hearing, "England, Sir, is not a country for a
dissenter to live in,- we must go to France." These are truths, and
it is doing justice to both parties to tell them. It is chiefly the
dissenters that have carried English manufactures to the height they
are now at, and the same men have it in their power to carry them
away; and though those manufactures would afterwards continue in
those places, the foreign market will be lost. There frequently
appear in the London Gazette, extracts from certain acts to prevent
machines and persons, as far as they can extend to persons, from
going out of the country. It appears from these that the ill effects
of the test-laws and church-establishment begin to be much suspected;
but the remedy of force can never supply the remedy of reason. In the
progress of less than a century, all the unrepresented part of
England, of all denominations, which is at least an hundred times the
most numerous, may begin to feel the necessity of a constitution, and
then all those matters will come regularly before them.
8. When the English Minister, Mr. Pitt, mentions the French finances
again in the English Parliament, it would be well that he noticed
this as an example.
9. Mr. Burke, (and I must take the liberty of telling him that he is
very unacquainted with French affairs), speaking upon this subject,
says, "The first thing that struck me in calling the States-General,
was a great departure from the ancient course";- and he soon after
says, "From the moment I read the list, I saw distinctly, and very
nearly as it has happened, all that was to follow."- Mr. Burke
certainly did not see an that was to follow. I endeavoured to impress
him, as well before as after the States-General met, that there would
be a revolution; but was not able to make him see it, neither would
he believe it. How then he could distinctly see all the parts, when
the whole was out of sight, is beyond my comprehension. And with
respect to the "departure from the ancient course," besides the
natural weakness of the remark, it shows that he is unacquainted with
circumstances. The departure was necessary, from the experience had
upon it, that the ancient course was a bad one. The States-General of
1614 were called at the commencement of the civil war in the minority
of Louis XIII.; but by the class of arranging them by orders, they
increased the confusion they were called to compose. The author of
L'Intrigue du Cabinet, (Intrigue of the Cabinet), who wrote before
any revolution was thought of in France, speaking of the
States-General of 1614, says, "They held the public in suspense five
months; and by the questions agitated therein, and the heat with
which they were put, it appears that the great (les grands) thought
more to satisfy their particular passions, than to procure the goods
of the nation; and the whole time passed away in altercations,
ceremonies and parade."- L'Intrigue du Cabinet, vol. i. p. 329.
10. There is a single idea, which, if it strikes rightly upon the
mind, either in a legal or a religious sense, will prevent any man or
any body of men, or any government, from going wrong on the subject
of religion; which is, that before any human institutions of
government were known in the world, there existed, if I may so
express it, a compact between God and man, from the beginning of
time: and that as the relation and condition which man in his
individual person stands in towards his Maker cannot be changed by
any human laws or human authority, that religious devotion, which is
a part of this compact, cannot so much as be made a subject of human
laws; and that all laws must conform themselves to this prior
existing compact, and not assume to make the compact conform to the
laws, which, besides being human, are subsequent thereto. The first
act of man, when he looked around and saw himself a creature which he
did not make, and a world furnished for his reception, must have been
devotion; and devotion must ever continue sacred to every individual
man, as it appears, right to him; and governments do mischief by
interfering.
11. See this work, Part I starting at line number 254.- N.B. Since
the taking of the Bastille, the occurrences have been published: but
the matters recorded in this narrative, are prior to that period; and
some of them, as may be easily seen, can be but very little known.
12. See "Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain," by
G. Chalmers.
13. See "Administration of the Finances of France," vol. iii, by M.
Neckar.
14. "Administration of the Finances of France," vol. iii.
15. Whether the English commerce does not bring in money, or whether
the government sends it out after it is brought in, is a matter which
the parties concerned can best explain; but that the deficiency
exists, is not in the power of either to disprove. While Dr. Price,
Mr. Eden, (now Auckland), Mr. Chalmers, and others, were debating
whether the quantity of money in England was greater or less than at
the Revolution, the circumstance was not adverted to, that since the
Revolution, there cannot have been less than four hundred millions
sterling imported into Europe; and therefore the quantity in England
ought at least to have been four times greater than it was at the
Revolution, to be on a proportion with Europe. What England is now
doing by paper, is what she would have been able to do by solid
money, if gold and silver had come into the nation in the proportion
it ought, or had not been sent out; and she is endeavouring to
restore by paper, the balance she has lost by money. It is certain,
that the gold and silver which arrive annually in the register-ships
to Spain and Portugal, do not remain in those countries. Taking the
value half in gold and half in silver, it is about four hundred tons
annually; and from the number of ships and galloons employed in the
trade of bringing those metals from South-America to Portugal and
Spain, the quantity sufficiently proves itself, without referring to
the registers.
In the situation England now is, it is impossible she can increase in
money. High taxes not only lessen the property of the individuals,
but they lessen also the money capital of the nation, by inducing
smuggling, which can only be carried on by gold and silver. By the
politics which the British Government have carried on with the Inland
Powers of Germany and the Continent, it has made an enemy of all the
Maritime Powers, and is therefore obliged to keep up a large navy;
but though the navy is built in England, the naval stores must be
purchased from abroad, and that from countries where the greatest
part must be paid for in gold and silver. Some fallacious rumours
have been set afloat in England to induce a belief in money, and,
among others, that of the French refugees bringing great quantities.
The idea is ridiculous. The general part of the money in France is
silver; and it would take upwards of twenty of the largest broad
wheel wagons, with ten horses each, to remove one million sterling of
silver. Is it then to be supposed, that a few people fleeing on
horse-back or in post-chaises, in a secret manner, and having the
French Custom-House to pass, and the sea to cross, could bring even a
sufficiency for their own expenses?
When millions of money are spoken of, it should be recollected, that
such sums can only accumulate in a country by slow degrees, and a
long procession of time. The most frugal system that England could
now adopt, would not recover in a century the balance she has lost in
money since the commencement of the Hanover succession. She is
seventy millions behind France, and she must be in some considerable
proportion behind every country in Europe, because the returns of the
English mint do not show an increase of money, while the registers of
Lisbon and Cadiz show an European increase of between three and four
hundred millions sterling.
16. That part of America which is generally called New-England,
including New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, and
Connecticut, is peopled chiefly by English descendants. In the state
of New-York about half are Dutch, the rest English, Scotch, and
Irish. In New-jersey, a mixture of English and Dutch, with some
Scotch and Irish. In Pennsylvania about one third are English,
another Germans, and the remainder Scotch and Irish, with some
Swedes. The States to the southward have a greater proportion of
English than the middle States, but in all of them there is a
mixture; and besides those enumerated, there are a considerable
number of French, and some few of all the European nations, lying on
the coast. The most numerous religious denomination are the
Presbyterians; but no one sect is established above another, and all
men are equally citizens.
17. For a character of aristocracy, the reader is referred to Rights
of Man, Part I., starting at line number 1457.
18. The whole amount of the assessed taxes of France, for the present
year, is three hundred millions of francs, which is twelve millions
and a half sterling; and the incidental taxes are estimated at three
millions, making in the whole fifteen millions and a half; which
among twenty-four millions of people, is not quite thirteen shillings
per head. France has lessened her taxes since the revolution, nearly
nine millions sterling annually. Before the revolution, the city of
Paris paid a duty of upwards of thirty per cent. on all articles
brought into the city. This tax was collected at the city gates. It
was taken off on the first of last May, and the gates taken down.
19. What was called the livre rouge, or the red book, in France, was
not exactly similar to the Court Calendar in England; but it
sufficiently showed how a great part of the taxes was lavished.
20. In England the improvements in agriculture, useful arts,
manufactures, and commerce, have been made in opposition to the
genius of its government, which is that of following precedents. It
is from the enterprise and industry of the individuals, and their
numerous associations, in which, tritely speaking, government is
neither pillow nor bolster, that these improvements have proceeded.
No man thought about government, or who was in, or who was out, when
he was planning or executing those things; and all he had to hope,
with respect to government, was, that it would let him alone. Three
or four very silly ministerial newspapers are continually offending
against the spirit of national improvement, by ascribing it to a
minister. They may with as much truth ascribe this book to a
minister.
21. With respect to the two houses, of which the English parliament
is composed, they appear to be effectually influenced into one, and,
as a legislature, to have no temper of its own. The minister, whoever
he at any time may be, touches it as with an opium wand, and it
sleeps obedience.
But if we look at the distinct abilities of the two houses, the
difference will appear so great, as to show the inconsistency of
placing power where there can be no certainty of the judgment to use
it. Wretched as the state of representation is in England, it is
manhood compared with what is called the house of Lords; and so
little is this nick-named house regarded, that the people scarcely
enquire at any time what it is doing. It appears also to be most
under influence, and the furthest removed from the general interest
of the nation. In the debate on engaging in the Russian and Turkish
war, the majority in the house of peers in favor of it was upwards of
ninety, when in the other house, which was more than double its
numbers, the majority was sixty-three.
The proceedings on Mr. Fox's bill, respecting the rights of juries,
merits also to be noticed. The persons called the peers were not the
objects of that bill. They are already in possession of more
privileges than that bill gave to others. They are their own jury,
and if any one of that house were prosecuted for a libel, he would
not suffer, even upon conviction, for the first offense. Such
inequality in laws ought not to exist in any country. The French
constitution says, that the law is the same to every individual,
whether to Protect or to punish. All are equal in its sight.
22. As to the state of representation in England, it is too absurd to
be reasoned upon. Almost all the represented parts are decreasing in
population, and the unrepresented parts are increasing. A general
convention of the nation is necessary to take the whole form of
government into consideration.
23. It is related that in the canton of Berne, in Switzerland, it has
been customary, from time immemorial, to keep a bear at the public
expense, and the people had been taught to believe that if they had
not a bear they should all be undone. It happened some years ago that
the bear, then in being, was taken sick, and died too suddenly to
have his place immediately supplied with another. During this
interregnum the people discovered that the corn grew, and the vintage
flourished, and the sun and moon continued to rise and set, and
everything went on the same as before, and taking courage from these
circumstances, they resolved not to keep any more bears; for, said
they, "a bear is a very voracious expensive animal, and we were
obliged to pull out his claws, lest he should hurt the citizens." The
story of the bear of Berne was related in some of the French
newspapers, at the time of the flight of Louis Xvi., and the
application of it to monarchy could not be mistaken in France; but it
seems that the aristocracy of Berne applied it to themselves, and
have since prohibited the reading of French newspapers.
24. It is scarcely possible to touch on any subject, that will not
suggest an allusion to some corruption in governments. The simile of
"fortifications," unfortunately involves with it a circumstance,
which is directly in point with the matter above alluded to.
Among the numerous instances of abuse which have been acted or
protected by governments, ancient or modern, there is not a greater
than that of quartering a man and his heirs upon the public, to be
maintained at its expense.
Humanity dictates a provision for the poor; but by what right, moral
or political, does any government assume to say, that the person
called the Duke of Richmond, shall be maintained by the public? Yet,
if common report is true, not a beggar in London can purchase his
wretched pittance of coal, without paying towards the civil list of
the Duke of Richmond. Were the whole produce of this imposition but a
shilling a year, the iniquitous principle would be still the same;
but when it amounts, as it is said to do, to no less than twenty
thousand pounds per annum, the enormity is too serious to be
permitted to remain. This is one of the effects of monarchy and
aristocracy.
In stating this case I am led by no personal dislike. Though I think
it mean in any man to live upon the public, the vice originates in
the government; and so general is it become, that whether the parties
are in the ministry or in the opposition, it makes no difference:
they are sure of the guarantee of each other.
25. In America the increase of commerce is greater in proportion than
in England. It is, at this time, at least one half more than at any
period prior to the revolution. The greatest number of vessels
cleared out of the port of Philadelphia, before the commencement of
the war, was between eight and nine hundred. In the year 1788, the
number was upwards of twelve hundred. As the State of Pennsylvania is
estimated at an eighth part of the United States in population, the
whole number of vessels must now be nearly ten thousand.
26. When I saw Mr. Pitt's mode of estimating the balance of trade, in
one of his parliamentary speeches, he appeared to me to know nothing
of the nature and interest of commerce; and no man has more wantonly
tortured it than himself. During a period of peace it has been
havocked with the calamities of war. Three times has it been thrown
into stagnation, and the vessels unmanned by impressing, within less
than four years of peace.
27. Rev. William Knowle, master of the grammar school of Thetford, in
Norfolk.
28. Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected that
the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious
of public characters, but with regard to myself I am perfectly easy
on this head. I did not, at my first setting out in public life,
nearly seventeen years ago, turn my thoughts to subjects of
government from motives of interest, and my conduct from that moment
to this proves the fact. I saw an opportunity in which I thought I
could do some good, and I followed exactly what my heart dictated. I
neither read books, nor studied other people's opinion. I thought for
myself. The case was this:-
During the suspension of the old governments in America, both prior
to and at the breaking out of hostilities, I was struck with the
order and decorum with which everything was conducted, and impressed
with the idea that a little more than what society naturally
performed was all the government that was necessary, and that
monarchy and aristocracy were frauds and impositions upon mankind. On
these principles I published the pamphlet Common Sense. The success
it met with was beyond anything since the invention of printing. I
gave the copyright to every state in the Union, and the demand ran to
not less than one hundred thousand copies. I continued the subject in
the same manner, under the title of The Crisis, till the complete
establishment of the Revolution.
After the declaration of independence Congress unanimously, and
unknown to me, appointed me Secretary in the Foreign Department. This
was agreeable to me, because it gave me the opportunity of seeing
into the abilities of foreign courts, and their manner of doing
business. But a misunderstanding arising between Congress and me,
respecting one of their commissioners then in Europe, Mr. Silas
Deane, I resigned the office, and declined at the same time the
pecuniary offers made by the Ministers of France and Spain, M. Gerald
and Don Juan Mirralles.
I had by this time so completely gained the ear and confidence of
America, and my own independence was become so visible, as to give me
a range in political writing beyond, perhaps, what any man ever
possessed in any country, and, what is more extraordinary, I held it
undiminished to the end of the war, and enjoy it in the same manner
to the present moment. As my object was not myself, I set out with
the determination, and happily with the disposition, of not being
moved by praise or censure, friendship or calumny, nor of being drawn
from my purpose by any personal altercation, and the man who cannot
do this is not fit for a public character.
When the war ended I went from Philadelphia to Borden-Town, on the
east bank of the Delaware, where I have a small place. Congress was
at this time at Prince-Town, fifteen miles distant, and General
Washington had taken his headquarters at Rocky Hill, within the
neighbourhood of Congress, for the purpose of resigning up his
commission (the object for which he accepted it being accomplished),
and of retiring to private life. While he was on this business he
wrote me the letter which I here subjoin:
"Rocky-Hill, Sept. 10, 1783.
"I have learned since I have been at this place that you are at
Borden-Town. Whether for the sake of retirement or economy I know
not. Be it for either, for both, or whatever it may, if you will come
to this place, and partake with me, I shall be exceedingly happy to
see you at it.
"Your presence may remind Congress of your past services to this
country, and if it is in my power to impress them, command my best
exertions with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one
who entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, and
who, with much pleasure, subscribes himself, Your sincere friend,
G. Washington."
During the war, in the latter end of the year 1780, I formed to
myself a design of coming over to England, and communicated it to
General Greene, who was then in Philadelphia on his route to the
southward, General Washington being then at too great a distance to
communicate with immediately. I was strongly impressed with the idea
that if I could get over to England without being known, and only
remain in safety till I could get out a publication, that I could
open the eyes of the country with respect to the madness and
stupidity of its Government. I saw that the parties in Parliament had
pitted themselves as far as they could go, and could make no new
impressions on each other. General Greene entered fully into my
views, but the affair of Arnold and Andre happening just after, he
changed his mind, under strong apprehensions for my safety, wrote
very pressingly to me from Annapolis, in Maryland, to give up the
design, which, with some reluctance, I did. Soon after this I
accompanied Colonel Lawrens, son of Mr. Lawrens, who was then in the
Tower, to France on business from Congress. We landed at L'orient,
and while I remained there, he being gone forward, a circumstance
occurred that renewed my former design. An English packet from
Falmouth to New York, with the Government dispatches on board, was
brought into L'orient. That a packet should be taken is no
extraordinary thing, but that the dispatches should be taken with it
will scarcely be credited, as they are always slung at the cabin
window in a bag loaded with cannon-ball, and ready to be sunk at a
moment. The fact, however, is as I have stated it, for the dispatches
came into my hands, and I read them. The capture, as I was informed,
succeeded by the following stratagem:- The captain of the "Madame"
privateer, who spoke English, on coming up with the packet, passed
himself for the captain of an English frigate, and invited the
captain of the packet on board, which, when done, he sent some of his
own hands back, and he secured the mail. But be the circumstance of
the capture what it may, I speak with certainty as to the Government
dispatches. They were sent up to Paris to Count Vergennes, and when
Colonel Lawrens and myself returned to America we took the originals
to Congress.
By these dispatches I saw into the stupidity of the English Cabinet
far more than I otherwise could have done, and I renewed my former
design. But Colonel Lawrens was so unwilling to return alone, more
especially as, among other matters, we had a charge of upwards of two
hundred thousand pounds sterling in money, that I gave in to his
wishes, and finally gave up my plan. But I am now certain that if I
could have executed it that it would not have been altogether
unsuccessful.
29. It is difficult to account for the origin of charter and
corporation towns, unless we suppose them to have arisen out of, or
been connected with, some species of garrison service. The times in
which they began justify this idea. The generality of those towns
have been garrisons, and the corporations were charged with the care
of the gates of the towns, when no military garrison was present.
Their refusing or granting admission to strangers, which has produced
the custom of giving, selling, and buying freedom, has more of the
nature of garrison authority than civil government. Soldiers are free
of all corporations throughout the nation, by the same propriety that
every soldier is free of every garrison, and no other persons are. He
can follow any employment, with the permission of his officers, in
any corporation towns throughout the nation.
30. See Sir John Sinclair's History of the Revenue. The land-tax in
1646 was L2,473,499.
31. Several of the court newspapers have of late made frequent
mention of Wat Tyler. That his memory should be traduced by court
sycophants and an those who live on the spoil of a public is not to
be wondered at. He was, however, the means of checking the rage and
injustice of taxation in his time, and the nation owed much to his
valour. The history is concisely this:- In the time of Richard Ii. a
poll tax was levied of one shilling per head upon every person in the
nation of whatever estate or condition, on poor as well as rich,
above the age of fifteen years. If any favour was shown in the law it
was to the rich rather than to the poor, as no person could be
charged more than twenty shillings for himself, family and servants,
though ever so numerous; while all other families, under the number
of twenty were charged per head. Poll taxes had always been odious,
but this being also oppressive and unjust, it excited as it naturally
must, universal detestation among the poor and middle classes. The
person known by the name of Wat Tyler, whose proper name was Walter,
and a tiler by trade, lived at Deptford. The gatherer of the poll
tax, on coming to his house, demanded tax for one of his daughters,
whom Tyler declared was under the age of fifteen. The tax-gatherer
insisted on satisfying himself, and began an indecent examination of
the girl, which, enraging the father, he struck him with a hammer
that brought him to the ground, and was the cause of his death. This
circumstance served to bring the discontent to an issue. The
inhabitants of the neighbourhood espoused the cause of Tyler, who in
a few days was joined, according to some histories, by upwards of
fifty thousand men, and chosen their chief. With this force he
marched to London, to demand an abolition of the tax and a redress of
other grievances. The Court, finding itself in a forlorn condition,
and, unable to make resistance, agreed, with Richard at its head, to
hold a conference with Tyler in Smithfield, making many fair
professions, courtier-like, of its dispositions to redress the
oppressions. While Richard and Tyler were in conversation on these
matters, each being on horseback, Walworth, then Mayor of London, and
one of the creatures of the Court, watched an opportunity, and like a
cowardly assassin, stabbed Tyler with a dagger, and two or three
others falling upon him, he was instantly sacrificed. Tyler appears
to have been an intrepid disinterested man with respect to himself.
All his proposals made to Richard were on a more just and public
ground than those which had been made to John by the Barons, and
notwithstanding the sycophancy of historians and men like Mr. Burke,
who seek to gloss over a base action of the Court by traducing Tyler,
his fame will outlive their falsehood. If the Barons merited a
monument to be erected at Runnymede, Tyler merited one in Smithfield.
32. I happened to be in England at the celebration of the centenary
of the Revolution of 1688. The characters of William and Mary have
always appeared to be detestable; the one seeking to destroy his
uncle, and the other her father, to get possession of power
themselves; yet, as the nation was disposed to think something of
that event, I felt hurt at seeing it ascribe the whole reputation of
it to a man who had undertaken it as a job and who, besides what he
otherwise got, charged six hundred thousand pounds for the expense of
the fleet that brought him from Holland. George the First acted the
same close-fisted part as William had done, and bought the Duchy of
Bremen with the money he got from England, two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds over and above his pay as king, and having thus
purchased it at the expense of England, added it to his Hanoverian
dominions for his own private profit. In fact, every nation that does
not govern itself is governed as a job. England has been the prey of
jobs ever since the Revolution.
33. Charles, like his predecessors and successors, finding that war
was the harvest of governments, engaged in a war with the Dutch, the
expense of which increased the annual expenditure to L1,800,000 as
stated under the date of 1666; but the peace establishment was but
L1,200,000.
34. Poor-rates began about the time of Henry VIII., when the taxes
began to increase, and they have increased as the taxes increased
ever since.
35. Reckoning the taxes by families, five to a family, each family
pays on an average L12 7s. 6d. per annum. To this sum are to be added
the poor-rates. Though all pay taxes in the articles they consume,
all do not pay poor-rates. About two millions are exempted: some as
not being house-keepers, others as not being able, and the poor
themselves who receive the relief. The average, therefore, of
poor-rates on the remaining number, is forty shillings for every
family of five persons, which make the whole average amount of taxes
and rates L14 17s. 6d. For six persons L17 17s. For seven persons L2O
16s. 6d.
The average of taxes in America, under the new or representative
system of government, including the interest of the debt contracted
in the war, and taking the population at four millions of souls,
which it now amounts to, and it is daily increasing, is five
shillings per head, men, women, and children. The difference,
therefore, between the two governments is as under:
England America
L s. d. L s. d.
For a family of five persons 14 17 6 1 5 0
For a family of six persons 17 17 0 1 10 0
For a family of seven persons 20 16 6 1 15 0
36. Public schools do not answer the general purpose of the poor.
They are chiefly in corporation towns from which the country towns
and villages are excluded, or, if admitted, the distance occasions a
great loss of time. Education, to be useful to the poor, should be on
the spot, and the best method, I believe, to accomplish this is to
enable the parents to pay the expenses themselves. There are always
persons of both sexes to be found in every village, especially when
growing into years, capable of such an undertaking. Twenty children
at ten shillings each (and that not more than six months each year)
would be as much as some livings amount to in the remotest parts of
England, and there are often distressed clergymen's widows to whom
such an income would be acceptable. Whatever is given on this account
to children answers two purposes. To them it is education- to those
who educate them it is a livelihood.
37. The tax on beer brewed for sale, from which the aristocracy are
exempt, is almost one million more than the present commutation tax,
being by the returns of 1788, L1,666,152- and, consequently, they
ought to take on themselves the amount of the commutation tax, as
they are already exempted from one which is almost a million greater.
38. See the Reports on the Corn Trade.
39. When enquiries are made into the condition of the poor, various
degrees of distress will most probably be found, to render a
different arrangement preferable to that which is already proposed.
Widows with families will be in greater want than where there are
husbands living. There is also a difference in the expense of living
in different counties: and more so in fuel.
Suppose then fifty thousand extraordinary cases, at
the rate of ten pounds per family per annum L500,000
100,000 families, at L8 per family per annum 800,000
100,000 families, at L7 per family per annum 700,000
104,000 families, at L5 per family per annum 520,000
And instead of ten shillings per head for the education
of other children, to allow fifty shillings per family
for that purpose to fifty thousand families 250,000
----------
L2,770,000
140,000 aged persons as before 1,120,000
----------
L3,890,000
This arrangement amounts to the same sum as stated in this work, Part
II, line number 1068, including the L250,000 for education; but it
provides (including the aged people) for four hundred and four
thousand families, which is almost one third of an the families in
England.
40. I know it is the opinion of many of the most enlightened
characters in France (there always will be those who see further into
events than others), not only among the general mass of citizens, but
of many of the principal members of the former National Assembly,
that the monarchical plan will not continue many years in that
country. They have found out, that as wisdom cannot be made
hereditary, power ought not; and that, for a man to merit a million
sterling a year from a nation, he ought to have a mind capable of
comprehending from an atom to a universe, which, if he had, he would
be above receiving the pay. But they wished not to appear to lead the
nation faster than its own reason and interest dictated. In all the
conversations where I have been present upon this subject, the idea
always was, that when such a time, from the general opinion of the
nation, shall arrive, that the honourable and liberal method would
be, to make a handsome present in fee simple to the person, whoever
he may be, that shall then be in the monarchical office, and for him
to retire to the enjoyment of private life, possessing his share of
general rights and privileges, and to be no more accountable to the
public for his time and his conduct than any other citizen.
41. The gentleman who signed the address and declaration as chairman
of the meeting, Mr. Horne Tooke, being generally supposed to be the
person who drew it up, and having spoken much in commendation of it,
has been jocularly accused of praising his own work. To free him from
this embarrassment, and to save him the repeated trouble of
mentioning the author, as he has not failed to do, I make no
hesitation in saying, that as the opportunity of benefiting by the
French Revolution easily occurred to me, I drew up the publication in
question, and showed it to him and some other gentlemen, who, fully
approving it, held a meeting for the purpose of making it public, and
subscribed to the amount of fifty guineas to defray the expense of
advertising. I believe there are at this time, in England, a greater
number of men acting on disinterested principles, and determined to
look into the nature and practices of government themselves, and not
blindly trust, as has hitherto been the case, either to government
generally, or to parliaments, or to parliamentary opposition, than at
any former period. Had this been done a century ago, corruption and
taxation had not arrived to the height they are now at. |