THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM TO THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM. MADAM, Grosvenor Square, Wednesday morning, 12 o'clock, January 24, 1770. I AM much concerned at Lord Chatham's indisposition, and shall certainly try to put off the "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. If we mean seriously to unite the nation within itself, we must convince them that their complaints are regarded, that their enquiries shall be redressed. 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 FOR EVER.* 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 birth-right 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 the government.† My Lord, this is not the *"Let the war take its course;' or, as I heard Lord Chatham declare in the House of Lords, with a monarch's voice, Let discord prevail for ever.””Sir Philip Francis on Paper Currency. ↑ "The time is come when the body of the English people must assert their own cause: conscious of their strength, and animated by a sense of their duty, they will not surrender their birth-right to ministers, parliaments, or kings."-Junius, ii. 115. "If this last resource should fail us, our next and latest appeal must be made to Heaven."-Ibid. iii. 165. business in the House of Lords for some days. My attention to Lord Chatham inclines me much 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 of their ministers; had they been better read in the text itself, the glorious revolution would have remained only possible in theory, and would not now have existed upon record a formidable example to their successors. "My Lords, I cannot agree with the noble duke that nothing less than an immediate attack upon the honour or interest of this nation can authorise us to interpose in defence of weaker states, and in stopping the enterprises of an ambitious neighbour. Whenever that narrow, selfish policy has prevailed in our councils, we have constantly experienced the fatal effects of it. By suffering our natural enemies to oppress the powers less able than we are to make a resistance, we have permitted them to increase their strength, we have lost the most favourable opportunities of opposing them with success; and found ourselves at last obliged to run every hazard, in making that cause our own, in which we were not wise enough to take part while the expense and danger might have been supported by others. With respect to Corsica, I shall only say, that France has obtained a more useful and important acquisition in one pacific campaign than in any of her belligerent campaigns; at least while I had the honour of administering the war against her. The The civil constitution too, that legal liberty, that general creed, which every Englishman professes, may still be supported, though Wilkes, &c., should obstinately refuse to communicate, and even if the fathers of the church, if Savile, &c., should disagree in the ceremonies of their political worship, and even in the interpretation of twenty texts in Magna Charta.”—Junius, ii. 346. "Either we suffer the French to make an acquisition the importance of which you have probably no conception of, or we find ourselves principals in the war, and are obliged to hazard every thing for an object which might originally have been obtained without expense or danger.” — Ibid. i. 489, 490. to this delay; besides that my own indisposition at present would render me very unequal to that part word may, perhaps, be thought singular : I mean only while I was the minister chiefly entrusted with the conduct of the war. I remember, my Lords, the time when Lorraine was united to the crown of France; that too was, in some measure, a pacific conquest; and there were people who talked of it, as the noble duke now speaks of Corsica. France was permitted to take and keep possession of a noble province; and, according to his Grace's ideas, we did right in not opposing it. The effect of these acquisitions, is, I confess, not immediate; but they unite with the main body by degrees, and, in time, make a part of the national strength. I fear, my Lords, it is too much the temper of this country to be insensible of the approach of danger until it comes with accumulated terror upon us. 66 6 'My Lords, the condition of his Majesty's affairs in Ireland, and the state of that kingdom within itself, will undoubtedly make a very material part of your Lordships' enquiry. I am not sufficiently informed to enter into the subject so fully as I could wish; but by what appears to the public, and from my own observation, I confess I cannot give the ministry much credit for the spirit or prudence of their conduct. I see, that even where their measures are well chosen, they are incapable of carrying them through without some unhappy mixture of weakness or imprudence.-They are incapable of doing entirely right.* My Lords, I do, from my conscience, and from the best weighed principles of my understanding, applaud the augmentation of the army. As a military plan, I believe it has been judiciously arranged. In a political view, I am convinced it was for the welfare, for the safety of the whole empire. But, my Lords, with all these advantages, with all these recommendations, if I had the honour of advising his Majesty, I would never have consented to his accepting the augmentation, with that absurd dishonourable condition which the ministry have submitted to annex to it. My Lords, I revere the just prerogative of the crown, and would contend for it as warmly as for the rights of the people. They are linked together, and naturally support each other. I would not touch a feather of the prerogative. The expression, perhaps, is too light; but since I have made use of it, let me add, that the entire command and power of directing the local disposition of the army is the royal prerogative, as the master-feather in the eagle's wing; and if I were permitted to carry the allusion a little farther, I would say, they have disarmed the imperial bird, the "ministrum fulminis alitem." The army *It is not that you do wrong by design, but that you should never do right by mistake.” — Junius, i. 480. of the business which I have undertaken. It will be necessary, however, for me to see several lords, and I hope there will be no objection. is the thunder of the crown. which should direct the bolt.* The ministry have tied up the hand “My Lords, I remember that Minorca was lost for want of four battalions. They could not be spared from hence; and there was a delicacy about taking them from Ireland. I was one of those who promoted an enquiry into that matter in the other house; and I was convinced we had not regular troops sufficient for the necessary service of the nation. Since the moment the plan of augmentation was first talked of, I have constantly and warmly supported it among my friends: I have recommended it to several members of the Irish House of Commons, and exhorted them to support it with their utmost interest in parliament. I did not foresee, nor could I conceive it possible, the ministry would accept of it, with a condition that makes the plan itself ineffectual, and, as far as it operates, defeats every useful purpose of maintaining a standing military force. His Majesty is now so confined by his promise, that he must leave twelve thousand men locked up in Ireland, let the situation of his affairs abroad, or the approach of danger to this country, be ever so alarming, unless there be an actual rebellion, or invasion, in Great Britain. Even in the two cases excepted by the King's promise, the mischief must have already begun to operate, must have already taken effect, before his Majesty can be authorised to send for the assistance of his Irish army. He has not left himself the power of taking any preventive measures, let his intelligence be ever so certain, let his apprehensions of invasion or rebellion be ever so wellfounded: unless the traitor be actually in arms; unless the enemy be in the heart of your country, he cannot move a single man from Ireland. "I feel myself compelled, my Lords, to return to that subject which occupies and interests me most; I mean the internal disorder of the constitution, and the remedy it demands. But first, I would observe, there is one point upon which I think the noble duke has not explained himself. I do not mean to catch at words, but, if possible, to possess the sense of what I hear. I would treat every man with candour, and should expect the same candour in return. For the noble duke, in *The ministry are labouring to draw a line of distinction between the honour of the crown and the rights of the people."—" The king's honour is that of the people. Their real honour and interest are the same."-"The feather that adorns the regal bird supports its flight: strip him of his plumage, and you fix him to the earth."-Junius, ii. 194. I shall have the honour of writing to your Ladyship again this evening after I have been at particular, I have every personal respect and regard. I never desire to understand him but as he wishes to be understood. His Grace, I think, has laid much stress upon the diligence of the several public officers, and the assistance given them by the administration, in preparing a state of the expenses of his Majesty's civil government, for the information of parliament, and for the satisfaction of the public. He has given us a number of plausible reasons for their not having yet been able to finish the account; but, as far as I am able to recollect, he has not yet given us the smallest reason to hope, that it ever will be finished; or that it ever will be laid before parliament. "My Lords, I am not unpractised in business, and if, with with all that apparent diligence, and all that assistance which the noble Duke speaks of, the accounts in question have not yet been made up, I am convinced there must be a defect in some of the public offices, which ought to be strictly inquired into, and severely punished. But, my Lords, the waste of the public money is not of itself so important as the pernicious purpose to which we have reason to suspect that money has been applied. For some years past, there has been an influx of wealth into this country, which has been attended with many fatal consequences, because it has not been the regular, natural produce of labour and industry. The riches of Asia have been poured in upon us, and have brought with them not only Asiatic luxury, but, I fear, Asiatic principles of government. Without connections, without any natural interest in the soil, the importers of foreign gold have forced their way into parliament, by such a torrent of private corruption, as no private hereditary fortune could resist. My Lords, not saying but what is within the knowledge of us all, the corruption of the people is the great original cause of the discontents of the people themselves, of the enterprise of the crown, and the notorious decay of the internal vigour of the constitution. For this great evil some immediate remedy must be provided; and I confess, my Lords, I did hope, that his Majesty's servants would not have suffered so many years of peace to elapse, without paying some attention to an object, which ought to engage and interest us all. I flattered myself I should see some barriers thrown up in defence of the constitution*, some impediment formed to stop the rapid progress of corruption. I doubt not we all agree that something must be done. I shall offer my thoughts, such as they are, to the consideration of the House; and I wish that every noble lord who hears me would be as ready as I am to contribute his * "It assuredly will be the only support of every barrier raised in defence of the constitution.”—Junius, i. 284. |