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to attract, but to repel; not to increase the number of his followers, but to dissolve attachment and to transfer support. And if... he has not been able to succeed wholly even with those who would sacrifice to his wishes everything but their attachment to him; if with the public he has succeeded not at all, what is the inference? what, but that, retreat and withdraw as much as he will, he must not hope to efface the memory of his past services from the gratitude of his country; he cannot withdraw himself from the following of a nation; he must endure the attachment of a people whom he has saved. [For him, therefore, I disdain to answer such a charge as has been made against him. For myself I may be allowed to say, that, for this one plain reason, if for no other, I cannot very fairly allow him to be

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held answerable for the sentiments which I have uttered, because till the moment in which I uttered them, I was myself wholly unconscious of any intention to make any such declaration as I have made: it has been extorted from me. If my right honourable friend had been sitting in his place here beside me, he would have been as unprepared to hear, as I was to pronounce it. But had he been sitting here, called upon as I have been, I would not the less have declared myself as I have done, however the fear of hurting his delicacy might have awed and constrained me. But, present or absent, he is no party to what 100 I say. This much, Sir, for that part of the charge in which I am coupled with my right honourable friend.]

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VOTE OF THANKS TO THE MARQUEss of wellINGTON
HOUSE OF COMMONS, 7 July 1813

*

I FEEL in common with the honourable gentleman who seconded the motion, and with the gallant general who has just addressed us, the difficulty (a difficulty in which no man has more frequently placed his friends, the House, and the country, than Lord Wellington) of expressing, in adequate terms, the feelings which fill the mind of every man in the country. And I am persuaded, that the strongest language I could use would be but a faint echo of the public sentiment on this glorious occasion. It is now five years since this country, involved as it was in difficulties, and engaged in a contest the end of which it was impossible to foresee, had the glorious prospect opened to it of what this splendid achievement leads to the hope of having brought to a happy consummation. At that particular period, amidst the pressure of events, and all the troubles peculiarly her own, she did not hesitate one moment in becoming the friend of those whose only claim to her friendship was their being the victims of tyranny and oppression. This choice was crowned with success; but it was a choice which we should not have had cause to regret, even had the struggle ended in hopelessness and disappointment. Thank Heaven, the result was of another character, and proved that generosity and justice, while they are the most liberal, are also the wisest system of policy, and that honourable feeling for others is nearly connected with our own national

* Sir Eyre Coote.

safety. . . . With regard to the honours to be bestowed upon Lord Wellington and his companions in arms, we cannot be too lavish of them-but to this subject the word 'lavish ' cannot be applied-but, while we express our sentiments on this subject, we ought also to pay the tribute merited by those whose pains, care, anxiety, solicitude, and attention, had been unceasingly cherished to prepare at home the mighty means for the accomplishment of this mighty achievement. Not only his Majesty's Ministers, but this House and the country have also to congratulate themselves, as well on the generosity and wisdom of their first determination, as on the firmness with which, under every variety of circumstance, and vicissitude of fortune, in the course of a long contest, sometimes unpromising, sometimes leading to despondency, and amid

every difficulty under which the country laboured, they continued the contest in a way which demonstrated that it never had been the prevailing sentiment of the nation, that they ought to shrink from the task they had undertaken, to be guilty of a dereliction of principle, or give up the glorious cause in despair. It is not to Spain alone that the effects of the late victory will be confined. Spain was the theatre of Lord Wellington's glory, but it will not be the boundary of the beneficial result of his triumph. The same blow which has broken the talisman of the French power in Spain, has disenchanted the North. How is their prospect changed? In those countries, where at most a short struggle had been

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terminated by a result disastrous to their wishes, if not altogether closing in despair, they had now to contemplate a very difficult aspect of affairs. Germany crouches no longer, trembling, at the feet of the tyrant, but maintains a balanced contest. The mighty deluge by which the Continent had been overwhelmed begins to subside. The limits of nations are again visible, and the spires and turrets of ancient establishments begin to re-appear above the subsiding wave. It is this victory which has defined these objects so lately involved in overwhelming confusion. whom, under God, are we indebted for this? To the man to whom we are this day voting our thanks. As the noble lord justly said, it would be presumptuous to anticipate the result of this heroic achievement. But we know that it must be good. If war continues, in

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war it will furnish means and heart for the maintenance of the struggle; for peace, it will furnish the best of means, the association of 90 peace and victory, without which, I will not say that peace ought never to be attempted, but without which, I will say, it can never be secure with the enemy against whom we have to contend. It is the illustrious Wellington who furnishes them with these means so to be applied. His admirable conception of what ought to be done; his rapidity in executing the designs he formed; his wonderful comprehension of measures directed to one end; the 100 completeness of his plans, and the thunderbolt of war which he launched at last upon the foe, enabled this country to furnish the most ample data ever given as the basis of a secure and lasting peace.

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FARLIAMENTARY REFORM

SPEECH AT LIVERPOOL, 30 August 1822

So much, gentlemen, as to the principles of Parliamentary reform, and as to the principles of my resistance to it as a general proposition. Let me now call your attention, for a short time, to the practical uses to which Parliamentary reform is by its advocates proposed to be applied. Five or six years ago there was great suffering among the labouring classes. Provisions were at such a price as to be almost unattainable by the poorest order of the people. The grievance in which these sufferings originated was alleged to be the Corn Bill. The Corn Bill was passed by the influence of the landholders. The remedy was in some change which would put that influence down; and we all remember what a clamour was then raised for Parliamentary reform. Well, times come round; there is now such a plenty, such a glut of provisions, that the humblest classes of society are enjoying comparative affluence. In the manufacturing districts, there is constant and steady employment; at wages somewhat reduced, it is true, but sufficient, in general, for comfortable maintenance.

...

But Parliamentary reform is the panacea for every evil. I read, a few days ago (I cannot immediately recollect where), a story of an artist who had attained great eminence in painting, but who had directed his art chiefly to one favourite object. That object happened

to be a red lion. His first employment was at a public-house, where the landlord allowed him to follow his fancy. Of course the artist recommended a red lion. A gentleman in the neighbourhood, having a new dining-room to ornament, applied to the artist for his assistance; and, in order that he might have full scope for his talents, left to him the choice of a subject for the principal compartment of the room. The painter took due time to deliberate; and then, with the utmost gravity and earnestness:- Don't you think,' said he to his employer, that a handsome red lion would have a fine effect in this situation?' The gentleman was not entirely convinced, perhaps; however, he let the painter have his way in this instance, determined, nevertheless, that in his library, to which he next conducted the artist, he would have something of more exquisite device and ornament. He showed him a small panel over his chimney-piece. 'Here,' says he, 'I must have something striking. The space, you see, is but small; the workmanship must be proportionably delicate.' 'What think you,' says the painter, after appearing to dive deep into his imagination for the suggestion, 'what think you of a small red lion? Just so it is with Parliamentary reform. Whatever may be the evil, the remedy is a Parliamentary reform; and the utmost variety that you can extort from

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those who call themselves 'moderate reformers' is, that they will be contented with a small red lion!

Gentlemen, I wish that these theories were only entertaining; but they have mischief in them, and I wish that against them the country should be on its guard. I confess I am against even the smallest of these red

lions. I object not to the size, but to the species. I fear the smallest would be but the precursor of the whole menagerie; and that if once, propitiated by his smallness, you open the door for his admission, you would find, when you wanted him to turn out again, that he had been pampered to a formidable size in his cage.

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UNLAWFUL SOCIETIES IN IRELAND
HOUSE OF COMMONS, 15 February 1825

ARE we prepared to say that these and other acts of the Catholic Association have no tendency to excite and inflame animosities? I affirm, without hesitation, that they have directly that tendency: and in support of this affirmation I must beg leave to recur, however solemnly warned against the recurrence, to an expression which I was the first to bring to the notice of the House, but which has been since the subject of repeated animadversion; I mean the abjuration by the hate you bear Orangemen,' which was used by the Associa tion in their Address to the Catholics of Ireland.

Various and not unamusing have been the attempts of gentlemen who take the part of the Association to get rid of this most unlucky phrase, or at least to dilute and attenuate its obvious and undeniable meaning.

[My

I will not follow every other gentleman who has strained his faculties to explain away this unfortunate expression; but will come at once to my honourable and learned friend, the Member for Knaresborough,* to whom the palm in this contest of ingenuity must be conceded by all his competitors. honourable friend has expended abundant research and subtilty upon this enquiry, and having resolved the phrase into its elements in the crucible of his philosophical mind, has produced it to us purified and refined to a degree that must command the admiration of all who take delight in metaphysical alchemy.] My honourable and learned friend began by telling us, that, after all, hatred is no bad thing in itself. 'I hate a Tory,' says my honourable friend-'and another man hates a cat; but it does not follow that he would hunt down the cat, or I the Tory.' Nay, so far from it-hatred, if it be properly managed, is, according to my honourable friend's theory, no bad preface to a rational esteem and affection. It prepares its votaries for a reconciliation of differences-for lying down with their most

* Sir James Mackintosh.

inveterate enemies, like the leopard and the kid, in the vision of the prophet.

This dogma is a little startling, but it is not altogether without precedent. It is borrowed from a character in a play, which is, I dare say, as great a favourite with my learned friend as it is with me-I mean the comedy of The Rivals-in which Mrs Malaprop, giving a lecture on the subject of marriage to her niece (who is unreasonable enough to talk of liking as a necessary preliminary to such a union), says: What have you to do with your likings and your preferences, child? Depend upon it, it is safest to begin with a little aversion. I am sure I hated your poor dear uncle like a blackamoor before we were married; and yet you know, my dear, what a good wife I made him.' Such is my learned friend's argument to a hair.

But finding that this doctrine did not appear to go down with the House so glibly as he had expected, my honourable and learned friend presently changed his tack; and put forward a theory, which, whether for novelty or for beauty, I pronounce to be incomparable; and, in short, as wanting nothing to recommend it but a slight foundation in truth. 'True philosophy,' says my honourable friend, will always contrive to lead men by the instrumentality of their conflicting vices. The virtues, where more than one exist, may live harmoniously together, but the vices bear mortal antipathy to one another, and therefore furnish to the moral engineer the power by which he can make each keep the other under control.' Admirable-but, upon this doctrine, the poor man who has but one single vice must be in a very bad way. No julcrum, no moral power for effecting his cure. Whereas his more fortunate neighbour, who has two or more vices in his composition, is in a fair way of becoming a very virtuous member of society. [I wonder how my learned friend would like to have this doctrine introduced into his domestic establishment. For instance, suppose that I discharge a servant because he is addicted to

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liquor, I could not venture to recommend him to my honourable and learned friend. It might be the poor man's only fault, and therefore clearly incorrigible. But if I had the good fortune to find out that he was also addicted to stealing, might I not, with a safe conscience, send him to my learned friend with a very strong recommendation, saying:-I send you a man whom I know to be a drunkard, but 100 I am happy to assure you he is also a thief. You cannot do better than employ him. You will make his drunkenness counteract his thievery, and no doubt you will bring him out of the conflict a very moral personage.] My honourable and learned friend, however, not content with laying down these new rules for reformation, thought it right to exemplify them in his own person, and, like Pope's Longinus, to be himself the great sublime he 110 drew.' My learned friend tells us that Dr Johnson was what he (Dr Johnson himself) called a good hater; and that among the

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See also PEACE WITH FRANCE

qualities which he hated most were two which my honourable friend unites in his own person-that of Whig and that of Scotchman. 'So that,' says my honourable friend, 'if Dr Johnson were alive, and were to meet me at the Club, of which he was a founder, and of which I am now an unworthy member, he would probably break up the meeting rather 120 than sit it out in such society.' No, sir, not so. My honourable and learned friend forgets his own theory. If he had been only a Whig, or only a Scotchman, Dr Johnson might have treated him as he apprehends: but being both, the great moralist would have said to my honourable friend, 'Sir, you are too much of a Whig to be a good Scotchman; and, sir, you are too much of a Scotchman to be a good Whig.' It is no doubt from the collision of 130 these two vices in my learned friend's person, that he has become what I, and all who have the happiness of meeting him at the Club, find him-an entirely faultless character.

SPEECHES, Vol. I. pp. 74-119.-24 March 1795.-Deliverance of Europe.p. 74,' That we have objects'- -p. 76, ' of disgrace'. . . p, 114, ‘But the honourable gentleman'- p. 119, ‘negative.'

UNION WITH IRELAND

Vol. I. pp. 231-237.-22 April 1799.-P. 231, 'But these, Sir, be the causes'- -p. 233, 'to remedy' p. 239, 'I beg pardon'—

p. 237, of Ireland.'

...

OVERTURES OF PEACE FROM FRANCE

Vol. I. p. 239.-3 February 1800.-P. 262, If, however

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-P. 274, 'unbrɔken.'

SUBSIDIES TO THE EMPEROR

P. 267,

Vol. I. p. 290.-18 July 1800.-Character of Buonaparte.-P. 291, 'As I am myself'p. 297, negotiation.'

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ON DISCUSSIONS WITH FRANCE

Vol. II. pp. 90-94.-24 May 1803.-An Insulated Policy.-'There are those who have maintained'end of Speech.

THE HEROES—FALMOUTH COACH

Vol. V. p. 247.

WORSHIP OF THE SUN IN ECLIPSE-MR PITT

Vol. V. p. 529.

THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS

Vol. III.-2 June 1812.-P. 313. Again, then, I ask'-p. 315, 'times p. 316, The question, therefore '— -p. 318, 'of the kingdoms.' (Caudine Forks)—p. 429, 'with reference, however.'

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Vol. V.-29 February 1826.-p. 526, 'Sir, I consider it' -p. 527, 'improvements' . . . Ibid. 'Two objections'—'Whig policy'

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p. 528, 'But if it is meant '—Ibid. ' than of Whigs'.. p. 529,
'equally false '-
—'our great master'. . . Ibid. ' we are charged'-
p. 530, trodden away.'

AFFAIRS OF PORTUGAL

Vol. VI.-12 December 1826.-p. 89, 'Sir, I set out with saying' -p. 92, 'topics no further,' and in the same Speech (end) 'Sir, I confess I think'- -'balance of the old.'

SPEECH AT PLYMOUTH

Vol. V.-1823.-P. 422,-England in action like a Ship of War.- 'Our ultimate object'- -‘naval glories of England.'

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WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM
(1708-1778)

SPEECH ON THE GOVERNMENT POLICY IN AMERICA
HOUSE OF LORDS, 20 January 1775

I WISH, my Lords, not to lose a day in this urgent, pressing crisis; an hour now lost in allaying ferments in America may produce years of calamity. For my own part, I will not desert for a moment the conduct of this weighty business from the first to the last, unless nailed to my bed by the extremity of sickness. I will give it unremitted attention; I will knock at the door of this sleeping and confounded Ministry, and will rouse them to a sense of their important danger.

When I state the importance of the Colonies to this country, and the magnitude of danger hanging over this country from the present plan of misadministration practised against them, I desire not to be understood to argue for a reciprocity of indulgence between England and America. I contend not for indulgence, but justice to America; and I shall ever contend that the Americans justly owe obedience

to us in a limited degree-they owe obedience to our ordinances of trade and navigation; but let the line be skilfully drawn between the objects of those ordinances and their private, internal property; let the sacredness of their property remain inviolate; let it be taxable only by their own consent, given in their provincial assemblies, else it will cease to be property.

Resistance to your acts was necessary, as it was just; and your vain declarations of the omnipotence of Parliament, and your imperious doctrines of the necessity of submission, will be found equally impotent to convince, or to enslave, your fellow-subjects in America, who feel that tyranny, whether ambitioned by an individual part of the legislature, or the bodies who comprise it, is equally intolerable to British subjects.

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