brutal ignorance of the history of the country! He was the most affectionate servant of Charles the first, from whom he never concealed his opinions; for it is observed by Wood, that the king greatly affected his company; but when they happened to talk of a commonwealth, he could scarcely endure it. know not," says Toland," which most to commend ; the king for trusting an honest man, though a republican; or Harrington for owning his principles while he served a king. But did his opinion affect his conduct? Let history again answer. He preserved his fidelity to his unhappy prince to the very last, after all his fawning courtiers had left him to his enraged subjects. He staid with him while a prisoner in the Isle of Wight; came up by stealth to follow the fortunes of his monarch and master; even hid himself in the boot of the coach, where he was conveyed to Windsor ; and ending as he began, fell into his arms and fainted on the scaffold. After Charles death the Oceana was written, and as if it were written from justice and affection to his memory for it breathes the same noble and spirited regard, and asserts that it was not Charles that brought on the destruction of the monarchy, but the feeble and ill constituted nature of monarchy itself. But the book was a flattery to Cromwell. Once more and finally, let history decide. It was seized by the usurper as a libel, and the way it was recovered is remarkable. I mention it to show that Cromwell was a wise man in himself, and knew on what governments must stand for their support. Harrington waited on his daughter to beg for his book, and on entering her apartment snatched up her child and ran away. On her following him with surprise and terrour, he turned to her and said, "I know what you feel as a mother, feel then for me. Your father has got my child," meaning the Oceana. The Oceana was afterwards restored on her petition, Cromwell answering with the sagacity of a sound po litician, "Let him have his book; if my government is made to stand, it has nothing to fear from paper shot." He said true. No good government will ever be battered by paper shot. Montesquieu says that, "In a free nation, it matters not whether individuals reason well or ill; it is sufficient that they do reason. Truth arises from the collision, and from hence springs liberty, which is a security from the effect of reasoning." The attorney general read extracts from Mr. Adams's answer to this book. Let others do like Mr. Adams. I am not insisting upon the infallibility of Mr. Paine's doctrines. If they are erroneous, let them be answered, and truth will spring from the collision. A disposition in a nation to this species of controversy is no proof of sedition or degeneracy, but quite the reverse, as is mentioned by Milton, [I omitted to cite the passage with the others] who in speaking of this subject, rises into that inexpressible sublime style of writing, wholly peculiar to himself. He was indeed no plagiary from any thing human. He looked up for light and expression, as he himself wonderfully describes it, by devout prayer to that great Being, who is the source of all utterance and knowledge; and who sendeth out his seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altars to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases. "When the cheerfulness of the people," says this mighty poet, " is so sprightly up, as that it has not only wherewith to guard well its own freedom and safety, but to spare, and to bestow upon the solidest and sublimest points of controversy and new invention, it betokens us not degenerated nor drooping to a fatal decay, but casting off the old and wrinkled skin of corruption to outlive these pangs, and wax young again, entering the glorious ways of truth and prosperous virtue, destined to become great and honourable in these latter ages. Methinks I see in my mind, a noble and puissant nation arousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full mid day beam; purging and unsealing her long abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance; while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble, would prognosticate a year of sects and schism." Gentlemen, what Milton only saw in his mighty imagination, I see in fact. What he expected, but which never came to pass, I see now fulfilling. Methinks I see this noble and puissant nation, not degenerated and drooping to a fatal decay, but casting off the wrinkled skin of corruption to put on again the vigour of her youth. And it is because others, as well as myself see this, that we have all this uproar. France and its constitution are the mere pretences. It is because Britons begin to recollect the inheritance of their own constitution left them by their ancestors. It is because they are awakened to the corruptions which have fallen upon its most valuable parts, that forsooth the nation is in danger of being destroyed by a single pamphlet. Gentlemen, I have marked the course of this alarm. It began with the renovation of those exertions for the publick, which the authors of the alarm had themselves originated and deserted; and they became louder and louder when they saw these principles avowed and supported by my admirable and excellent friend, Mr. Fox; the most eminently honest and enlightened statesman, that history brings us acquainted with; a man whom to name is to honour, but whom in attempting adequately to describe, I must fly to Mr. Burke, my constant refuge when eloquence is necessary: a man who to relieve the sufferings of the most distant nations, put to the hazard his ease, his⚫ security, his interest, his power, even his darling popularity for the benefit of a people whom he had never How much more then for the inhabitants of his native country: yet this is the man who has been censured and disavowed in the manner we have lately seen. Gentlemen, I have but a few more words to trouble you with. I take my leave of you with declaring, that all this freedom which I have been endeavouring to assert, is no more than the freedom which belongs to our own inbred constitution. I have not asked you. to acquit Mr. Paine upon any new lights or upon any principle but the law, which you are sworn to administer. My great object has been to inculcate, that wisdom and policy, which are the parents of the law of Great Britain, forbid this jealous eye over her subjects; and that on the contrary, they cry aloud, in the language of the poet employed by lord Chatham on the memorable subject of America, unfortunately without effect: "Be to their faults a little blind, Engage them by their affections; convince their reason, and they will be loyal from the only principle that can make loyalty sincere, vigorous or rational; a conviction that it is their truest interest, and that their form of government is for their common good. Constraint is the natural parent of resistence, and a pregnant proof, that reason is not on the side of those who use it. You must all remember, gentlemen, Lucian's pleasant story: Jupiter and a countryman were walking together, conversing with great freedom and familiarity upon the subject of heaven and earth. The countryman listened with attention and acquiescence while Jupiter strove only to convince him; but happening to hint a doubt, Jupiter turned hastily round and threatened him with his thunder."Ah! ha!" says the countryman, "now Jupiter I know that you are wrong; you're always wrong when you appeal to your thunder." This is the case with me; I can reason with the people of England, but I cannot fight against the thunder of authority. Gentlemen, this is my defence for free opinions. With regard to myself, I am, and ever have been, obedient and affectionate to the law: to that rule of action, as long as I exist, I shall ever give my voice and my conduct; but I shall ever do as I have done to day, maintain the dignity of my high profession, and perform as I understand them, all its important duties. |