lorg-established przciples. to specify the change. What change of principles or of government has taken place among the nations of Europe? We are the best judges of ourselves-what change has taken place here? Is the Constitution other than it was when we were told (as we often were told in the bad times) that it was a doubt whether it were worth defending? Is the Constitution other than it was when we were warned that peace on any terms must be made, as the only hope of saving it from popular indignation and popular reform? achieved is chosen to represent that community, and who | this has been offected by change of principles, finds himself in that honorable station at the momeat of triumph, only because he discountenanced despair in the moment of despondency? From the contemplation of a spectacle so The consequence mighty and magnificent as this, I of adhering to her should disdain to turn aside to the controversies of party. Of principles, however, it is impossible not to say something; because our triumph would be incomplete, and its blessings might be transient, if we could be led astray by any sophistry; if we could consent, in a sort of compromise of common joy, to forget or to misstate the causes from which that triumph has sprung. All of one mind, I trust and believe we are, in exulting at the success of our country; all of one mind, I trust, we now are throughout this land, in determining to persevere, if need be, in strenuous exertion to prosecute, and I hope, to perfect the great work so happily in progress. But we know that there are some of those who share most heartily in the public exultation, who yet ascribe effects, which happily can not be disputed, to causes which may justly be denied. No tenderness for disappointed prophecies, gentlemen, ought to induce us thus to disconnect effect and cause. would lead to errors which might be dangerous, if unwarily adopted and generally received. We have heard, for instance, that the war has now been successful, because the princichanged, as ples on which the war was undertaken pretended, during the have been renounced; that we are at contest length blessed with victory, because we have thrown away the banner under which we entered into the contest; that the contest was commenced with one set of principles, but that the issue has been happily brought about by the adoption of another. Gentlemen, I know of no such change. If we have succeeded, it has not been by the renunciation, but by the prosecution of our principles; if we have succeeded, it has not been by adopting new maxims of policy, but by upholding, under all varieties of difficulty and discouragement, old, established, inviolable principles of conduct. These not ple brought to act with their rulers. There is yet another question to be asked. By what power, in what part of the The powers world, has that final blow been struck which have which has smitten the tyrant to the the victory ground? I suppose, by some enlightened republic; by some recently-regenerated govern. ment of pure philanthropy and uncorrupted virtue; I suppose, by some nation which, in the excess of popular freedom, considers even a representative system as defective, unless each individual interferes directly in the national con cerns; some nation of enlightened patriots, every man of whom is a politician in the coffeehouse, as well as in the Senate: I suppose it is It from some such government as this that the conqueror of autocrats, the sworn destroyer of monarchical England, has met his doom. I look through the European world, gentlemen, in vain : I find there no such august community. But in another hemisphere I do find such a one, which, no doubt, must be the political David by whom the Goliath of Europe has been brought down. What is the name of that glorious republic, tc which the grande of Europe is eternally due We are told that this war has of late become But the peo a war of the people, and that by the operation of that change alone the power of imperial France has been baffled and overcome. Nations, it is said, have at length made common cause with their sovereigns, in a contest which heretofore had been a contest of sovereigns only. Gentlemen, the fact of the change might be admitted, without, therefore, admitting the argument. It does not follow that the people were not at all times equally interested in the war (as those who think as I do have always contended that they were), because it may be, and must be admitted that the people, in many countries, were for a time deluded. They who argue against us say that jarring interests have been reconciled. We say that gross delusions have been removed. Both admit the fact that sovereigns and their people are identified. But it is for them, who contend that which, from its innate hatred to tyranny, has so perseveringly exerted itself to liberate the world, and at last has successfully closed the contest? Alas, gentlemen, such a republic I dc indeed find; and I find it enlisted, and (God be thanked!) enlisted alone, under the banner of the despot.' But where was the blow struck? Where? Alas for theory! In the wilds of despotic Russia. It was followed up on the plains of Leipsic by Russian, Prussian, and Austrian arms. instinctive But let me not be mistaken. Do I, therefore mean to contend-do I, therefore, give Patriotian to cur antagonists in the argument the ve advantage of ascribing to us the base feeling. tenet that an absolute monarchy is better than a free government? God forbid! What I mean is this, that, in appreciating the comparative excellence of political institutions, in estimating the force of national spirit, and the impulses of national feeling, it is idle-it is mere pedantry, to overlook the affections of nature. The order of nature could not subsist among mankind, i! there were not an instinctive patriotism, I do not say unconnected with, but prior and para This slant at America was, of course, to be ex pected in time of war, and had quite as little bitter. ness in it as we should naturally look for in a mar of Mr. Canning's temperament, at a moment of sc much exultation. Clings close and closer to the mother's bieast, What Goldsmith thus beautifully applied to the physical varieties of soil and climate has been found no less true with respect to political institutions. A sober desire of improvement, a rational endeavor to redress error, and to correc: imperfection in the political frame of human so. mourt to, the desire of political amelioration. It may be very wrong that it should be so. I can not help it. Our business is with fact. And surely it is not to be regretted that tyrants and conquerors should have learned, from the lessons of experience, that the first consideration suggested to the inhabitant of any country by a foreign invasion, is, not whether the political constitution of the state be faultlessly perfect or not, but whether the altar at which he has worship-ciety, are not only natural, but laudable in man ed-whether the home in which he has dwelt from his infancy-whether his wife and his children-whether the tombs of his forefatherswhether the place of the Sovereign under whom he was born, and to whom he, therefore, owes (or, if it must be so stated, fancies that he, therefore, owes) allegiance, shall be abandoned to vio-bered, that the spirit of national independence lence and profanation. produced by he French Revolution. But it is well that it should have been shown, by irrefragable proof, that these sentiments, even where most strongly and most justly felt, supersede not that devotion to native soil which is the foundation of national independence. And it is right that it should be understood and remem alone, aroused where it had slumbered, enlightThat, in the infancy of the French Revolution, ened where it had been deluded, and kindled Delusion on many nations in Europe were, unfor- into enthusiasm by the insults and outrages of this subject tunately, led to believe and to act upon an all-grasping invader, has been found sutfia different persuasion, is undoubtedly cient, without internal changes and compromises true; that whole countries were over- of sovereigns or governments with their people run by reforming conquerors, and flattered them--without relaxations of allegiance and abjuraselves with being proselytes till they found themselves victims. Even in this country, as I have already said, there have been times when we have been called upon to consider whether there was not something at home which must be mended before we could hope to repel a foreign invader with success. tions of authority, to animate, as with one pervading soul, the different nations of the continent; to combine, as into one congenial mass, their various feelings, passions, prejudices; to direct these concentrated energies with one impulse against the common tyrant; and to shake (and, may we not hope? to overthrow) the Ba bel of his iniquitous power. lated. It is fortunate for the world that this question should have been tried, if I may so say, to a dis- Gentlemen, there is another argument, more advantage; that it should have been tried in peculiarly relating to our own conn- But no country countries where no man in his senses will say try, which has at times been inter- can stand that the frame of political society is such as, ac- posed to discourage the prosecution cording to the most moderate principles of reg-of the war. That this country is sufficient to its ulated freedom, it ought to be; where, I will own defense, sufficient to its own happiness, sufventure to say, without hazarding the imputation ficient to its own independence; and that the of being myself a visionary reformer, political complicated combinations of continental policy society is not such as, after the successes of this are always hazardous to our interests, as well war, and from the happy contagion of the exam- as burdensome to our means, has been, at several ple of Great Britain, it is sure gradually to be-periods of the war, a favorite doctrine, not only come. It is fortunate for the world that this with those who, for other reasons, wished to emquestion should have been tried on its own mer-barrass the measures of the government, but with its; that, after twenty years of controversy, we should be authorized, by undoubted results, to revert to nature and to truth, and to disentangle the genuine feelings of the heart from the obstructions which a cold, presumptuous, generalizing philosophy had wound around them. foundation of men of the most enlightened minds, of the most benevolent views, and the most ardent zeal for the interests as well as the honor of their coun. try. May we not flatter ourselves, that upon this point, also, experience has decided in favor of the course of policy which has been actually pursued? One of the most delightful poets of this counA love of one's try, in describing the various propor- Can any man now look back upon the trial native soil the tions of natural blessings and advant- which we have gone through, and Teteressat patitism. ages dispensed by Providence to the maintain that, at any period during cos various nations of Europe, turns from the luxu- the last twenty years, the plan of in- tected riant plains and cloudless skies of Italy to the sulated policy could have been adopt-a rugged mountains of Switzerland, and inquires ed, without having in the event, at this day, whether there, also, in those barren and stormy prostrated England at the foot of a conqueror regions, the "patriot passion" is found equally Great, indeed, has been the call upon our exerimprinted on the heart? He decides the questions; great, indeed, has been the drain upon our tior truly in the affirmative; and he says, of the inhabitant of those bleak wilds, Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms, resources; long and wearisome has the struggle been; and late is the moment at which peace is brought within our reach. But even though the 2 Goldsmith's Traveler. difficulties of the contest may have been enhanced, and its duration protracted by it, yet is there any man who seriously doubts whether the having associated our destinies with the destinies of other nations be or be not that which, under the blessing of Providence, has eventually secured the safety of all? made at any as all schemes of violence naturally terminate, not by a mild and gradual decay, such as waits upon a regular and well-spent life, but by sudden dissolution; at an end, like the breaking up of a winter's frost. But yesterday the whole continent, like a mighty plain covered with one Imass of ice, presented to the view a drear ex. panse of barren uniformity; to-day, the breath of heaven unbinds the earth, the streams begin to flow again, and the intercourse of human kind revives. Can we regret that we did not, like the faint ing traveler, lie down to rest-but, indeed, to perish-under the severity of that inclement season? Did we not more wisely to bear up, and to wait the change? Gentlemen, I have said that I should be asham Right for En It is at the moment when such a trial has come Pease cold not to its issue, that it is fair to ask of ave be safe those who have suffered under the varlier perici pressure of protracted exertion (and of whom rather than of those who are assembled around me-for by whom have such privations beer felt more sensibly ?)—it is now, I say, the time to ask whether, at any former period of the contest, such a peace could have been made as would at once have guarded the national interests and corresponded with the national charac-ed, and in truth I should be so, to adter? I address myself now to such persons only dress you in the language of exultaas think the character of a nation an essential tion, if it were merely for the indulpart of its strength, and consequently of its safe- gence, however legitimate, of an exty. But if, among persons of that description, uberant and ungovernable joy. But they who there be one who with all his zeal for the glory have suffered great privations have a claim not of his country, has yet at times been willing to merely to consolation, but to something more. abandon the contest in mere weariness and de- They are justly to be compensated for what they spair, of such a man I would ask, whether he can have undergone, or lost, or hazarded, by the conindicate the period at which he now wishes that templation of what they have gained. such an abandonment had been consented to by the government and the Parliament of Great Britain? Not when Bonaparte first usurped power. gland to exult her long priva in the results o tions. nations of Eu We have gained, then, a rank and authority in Europe, such as, for the life of the Her pre emilongest liver of those who now hear nence among the Is it when the continent was at peace-when, me, must place this country upon an rope. looking upon the map of Europe, you eminence which no probable reverses can shake. saw one mighty and connected sys- We have gained, or rather we have recovered, a tem, one great luminary, with his at- splendor of military glory, which places us by tendant satellites circulating around him; at that the side of the greatest military nations in the period could this country have made peace, and world. At the beginning of this war, while there tave remained at peace for a twelvemonth? was not a British bosom that did not beat with What is the answer? Why, that the experi-rapture at the exploits of our navy, there were ment was tried. The result was the renewal of few who would not have been contented to comthe war. prevalence of the continental to Europe by promise for that reputation alone; to claim the Was it at a later period, when the continental sea as exclusively our province, and to leave to Not during the system had been established? When France and the other continental powers the two thirds of the ports of Europe were struggle for superiority by land. That fabled ⚫ystem. shut against you? When but a sin- deity, whom I see portrayed upon the wall,3 was gle link was wanting to bind the continent in a considered as the exclusive patron of British circling chain of iron, which should exclude you prowess in battle; but in seeming accordance from intercourse with other nations? At that with the beautiful fiction of ancient mythology, moment peace was most earnestly recommended our Neptune, in the heat of contest, smote the to you. At that moment, gentlemen, I first came earth with his trident, and up sprang the fiery among you. At that moment I ventured to rec-war-horse, the emblem of military power. ommend to you perseverance, patient persever- Let Portugal, now led to the pursuit of her ance; and to express a hope that, by the mere flying conquerors—let liberated Spain The benefits strain of an unnatural effort, the massive bonds-let France, invaded in her turn by h she has imposed upon the nations of the continent might, those whom she had overrun or men- gained it. at no distant period, burst asunder. I was heard aced with invasion, attest the triumphs of the by you with indulgence—I know not whether army of Great Britain, and the equality of her with conviction. But is it now to be regretted military with her naval fame. And let those who, that we did not at that moment yield to the even after the triumphs of the Peninsula had bepressure of our wants or of our fears? What gun, while they admitted that we had, indeed, has been the issue? The continental system was wounded the giant in the heel, still deemed the completed, with the sole exception of Russia, in rest of his huge frame invulnerable-let them the year 1812. In that year the pressure upon now behold him reeling under the blows of united this country was undoubtedly painful. Had we nations, and acknowledge at once the might of yielded, the system would have been immortal. British arms and the force of British example. We persevered, and, before the conclusion of another year, the system was at an end: at an end, A figure of Neptune. PALEOs and vis matter and I said, de paleto i te pa Gentlemen, we may, themedore, ronf Sently in dige the hope that our patacus will continue ang gefenenne. By NI W*241 1ence mici a jeans monut 100 se note w kaq and my act say Te mer 1 space, no gut mit grout to ru w that of Ammo1 mont and le147 4. d melon.ag regime. Lar way that sewe win d ya west or sent a won Para xe th at les o earn that an Esgilar was appeared in France stora of the dignity of na conatry, with the men of a suppliant, and the conscious prostration of a man who had consented to purchase nis gain or his case by submission? But let a peace be made to-morrow, such as the allies have now the power to dictate, and the meanest of the subjects of this kingdom shal not walk the streets of Paris without being | bine in unison: that our ecocurrence will be as cur 231 DET dial as it has hitherto been, if unhappily occasion of difficulty or embarrassment should hereafter arise. At the present moment. I am sure, we are equally desirous to bury the recollection of all our differences with others in that general feeding of exultation in which all opinions happily com SPEECH OF MR. CANNING ON RADICAL REFORM, DELIVERED TO HIS CONSTITUENTS AT L VERPOOL, MARCH 18, 1820. INTRODUCTION. ENGLAND was in a very agitated state during the year 1819. Pecuniary distress was nearly universal and the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial interests were reduced to the lowest point of depression. Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Hunt, Lord Cochrane, and others, ascribed nearly all the sufferings of the coun. try to one cause, viz., the want of parliamentary reform, and made the most strenuous efforts in favor of annual Parliaments and universal suffrage. Nothing could be more injurious than these efforts to the cause of genuine reform, as advocated by Earl Grey, especially considering the means adopted by the radical reformers to accomplish their object. Itinerant lecturers traversed the country, gathering immense crowds of the lower classes, and inflaming their minds by a sense of injury and oppression. Bodies of men, amounting sometimes to fifty thousand, marched to the place of meeting in regular array, with banners bearing the inscription "Liberty or Death!" and others of a similar import. The magistrates became alarmed, and the measures used to prevent mischief were sometimes unduly severe, and in one instance that of the meeting at Manchester, August 16th) were attended with the most deplorabie consequences. It was the general sentiment of the country, that some measures should be adopted to prevert these evils, and at the meeting of Parliament in November, 1819, the ministry introduced bills for the following purposes, which, from their number, were called the "Six Acts." 1. To take away the right of traversing in cases of misdemeanor; 2. To punish any person found guilty on a second conviction of libel, by fine, imprisonment, and banishment for life; 3. To prevent seditious meetings, requiring the names of seven householders to the requisition, which in future convened any meeting for the discussion of subjects conaected with Church or State; 4. To prohibit military training, except under the authority of a magistrate or Lord Lieutenant; 5. To subject cheap periodical pamphlets, on political subjects, to a duty similar to that of newspapers; 6. A bill giving magistrates the power of entering houses by night or by day, for the purpose of seizing arms believed to be collected for unlawful purposes. These bills were all carried by large majorities; the entering houses by night, and the severity of the restrictions on the press, were chiefly objected to; but there appeared a general concurrence in the necessity of strong measures. Soon after these acts were passed, a new election took place; and Mr. Canning came forward to vin dicate the above measures, and also to resist every attempt at parliamentary reform by identifying the whole plan with these radical views. The speech is certainly a very able one, and will interest the reader as giving the Tory side of the argument, though it by no means meets the question as presented by such reformers as Earl Grey and Mr. Brougham. Recent po SPEECH, &c. GENTLEMEN,-Short as the interval is since I an unreserved interchange of sentiment should last met you in this place on a similar litical evils. occasion, the events which have filled up that interval have not been unimportant. The great moral disease which we then talked of as gaining ground on the community has, since that period, arrived at its most extravagant height; and since that period, also, remedies have been applied to it, if not of permanent cure, at least of temporary mitigation. The reme Gentlemen, with respect to those remediesI mean with respect to the transactions des applied of the last short session of Parliament, previous to the dissolution-I feel that it is my uty, as your representative, to render to you some account of the part which I took in that assembly to which you sent me; I feel it my duty also, as a member of the government by which those measures were advised. Upon occasions of such trying exigency as those which we have lately experienced, I hold it to be of the very essence of our free and popular Constitution, that take place between the representative and his constituents; and if it accidentally happens that he who addresses you as your representative, stands also in the situation of a responsible adviser of the Crown, I recognize in that more rare occurrence a not less striking or less valuable peculiarity of that Constitution under which we have the happiness to live-by which a minister of the Crown is brought into contact with the great body of the community, and the service of the King is shown to be a part of the service of the people. Gentlemen, it has been one advantage of the transactions of the last session of I arliament, that while they were addressed to meet the evils which had grown out of charges heaped upon the House of Commons, they had also, in a great measure falsified the charges themselves. I would appeal to the recollection of every man who now hears me-of any the most care. less estimator of public sentiment or the most in. |