and pensions, when he saw you employ such | resolutions. Why-what had I to say? If I had means of coercion to the Crown, in order to coerce thought them too much, I should have been accused our parliament through that medium? How much of an endeavour to inflame England. If I should his Majesty is pleased with his part of the civility, represent them as too little, I should have been must be left to his own taste. But as to us, you charged with a design of fomenting the discontents declared to the world, that you knew, that the way of Ireland into actual rebellion. The treasury of bringing us to reason was to apply yourselves bench represented, that the affair was a matter of to the true source of all our opinions, and the only state: they represented it truly. I, therefore, only motive to all our conduct! Now, it seems, you asked, whether they knew these propositions to be think yourselves affronted, because a few of us such, as would satisfy Ireland; for, if they were so, express some indignation at the minister, who has they would satisfy me. This did not indicate, that thought fit to strip us stark naked, and expose the I thought them too ample. In this our silence true state of our poxed and pestilential habit to (however dishonourable to parliament) there was the world! Think, or say, what you will in Ireland, one advantage; that the whole passed, as far as it I shall ever think it a crime, hardly to be expiated is gone, with complete unanimity; and so quickly, by his blood. He might, and ought, by a longer that there was no time left to excite any opposition continuance, or by an earlier meeting of this to it out of doors. In the West India business, parliament, to have given us the credit of some reasoning on what had lately passed in the parliawisdom in foreseeing and anticipating an approach- ment of Ireland, and on the mode in which it was ing force. So far from it, Lord Gower, coming opened here, I thought I saw much matter of perout of his own cabinet, declares, that one principal plexity. But I have now better reason than ever cause of his resignation was, his not being able to to be pleased with my silence. If I had spoken; prevail on the present minister to give any sort of one of the most honest and able men in the application to this business. Even on the late Irish parliament would probably have thought my meeting of parliament, nothing determinate could observation an endeavour to sow dissension, which be drawn from him, or from any of his associates, he was resolved to prevent; and one of the most until you had actually passed the short money ingenious and one of the most amiable men, that † bill; which measure they flattered themselves, and ever graced yours or any house of parliament, assured others, you would never come up to. might have looked on it as a chimera. In the Disappointed in their expectation at seeing the silence I observed, I was strongly countenanced siege raised, they surrendered at discretion. (to say no more of it) by every gentleman of Ireland, that I had the honour of conversing with in London. The only word, for that reason, which I spoke, was to restrain a worthy county member,‡ who had received some communication from a great trading place in the county he represents, which, if it had been opened to the house, would have led to a perplexing discussion of one of the most troublesome matters that could arise in this business. I got up to put a stop to it; and I believe, if you knew what the topick was, you would commend my discretion. Judge, my dear Sir, of our surprise at finding your censure directed against those, whose only crime was, in accusing the ministers of not having prevented your demands by our graces; of not having given you the natural advantages of your country in the most ample, the most early, and the most liberal manner; and for not having given away authority in such a manner, as to insure friendship. That you should make the panegyrick of the ministers, is what I expected; because in praising their bounty, you paid a just compliment to your own force. But that you should rail at us, either individually, or collectively, is what I can scarcely think a natural proceeding. I can easily conceive, that gentlemen might grow frightened at what they had done;-that they might imagine they had undertaken a business above their direction;-that having obtained a state of independence for their country, they meant to take the deserted helm into their own hands, and supply by their very real abilities the total inefficacy of the nominal government. All these might be real, and might be very justifiable motives for their reconciling themselves cordially to the present court system. But I do not so well discover the reasons, that could induce them, at the first feeble dawning of life in this country, to do all in their power to cast a cloud over it; and to prevent the least hope of our effecting the necessary reformations, which are aimed at in our constitution, and in our national economy. But, it seems, I was silent at the passing the That it should be a matter of publick discretion in me to be silent on the affairs of Ireland, is what on all accounts I bitterly lament. I stated to the house what I felt; and I felt, as strongly as human sensibility can feel, the extinction of my parliamentary capacity, where I wished to use it most. When I came into this parliament, just fourteen years ago, into this parliament, then, in vulgar opinion at least, the presiding council of the greatest empire existing, (and perhaps, all things considered, that ever did exist,) obscure and a stranger as I was, I considered myself as raised to the highest dignity, to which a creature of our species could aspire. În that opinion, one of the chief pleasures in my situation, what was first and uppermost in my thoughts, was the hope, without injury to this country, to be somewhat useful to the place of my birth and education, which, in many respects, internal and external, I thought ill and impolitically governed. But when I found, that the house, surrendering itself to the guidance of an authority, 1 Mr. Stanley, member for Lancashire. not grown out of an experienced wisdom and integrity, but out of the accidents of court favour, had become the sport of the passions of men at once rash and pusillanimous;-that it had even got into the habit of refusing every thing to reason, and surrendering every thing to force, all my power of obliging either my country or individuals was gone; all the lustre of my imaginary rank was tarnished; and I felt degraded even by my elevation. I said this, or something to this effect. If it gives offence to Ireland, I am sorry for it; it was the reason I gave for my silence; and it was, as far as it went, the true one. the same extent. But it shews me, that the re- With you, this silence of mine and of others was represented as factious, and as a discountenance to the measure of your relief. Do you think us children? If it had been our wish to embroil matters, and, for the sake of distressing ministry, to commit Adieu! once more accept my best thanks for the two kingdoms in a dispute, we had nothing to the interest you take in me. Believe, that it is redo but (without at all condemning the proposi-ceived by an heart not yet so old, as to have lost tions) to have gone into the commercial detail of its susceptibility. All here give you the best oldthe objects of them. It could not have been re- fashioned wishes of the season, and believe me, fused to us; and you, who know the nature of with the greatest truth and regard, business so well, must know, that this would have My dear Sir, caused such delays, and given rise during that delay to such discussions, as all the wisdom of your favourite minister could never have settled. But indeed you mistake your men. We tremble at the idea of a disunion of these two nations. The only thing, in which we differ with you, is this, that we do not think your attaching your selves to the court, and quarrelling with the independent part of this people, is the way to promote the union of two free countries, or of holding them together by the most natural and salutary ties. You will be frightened when you see this long letter. I smile, when I consider the length of it, myself. I never, that I remember, wrote any of Beaconsfield, New Year's Day, 1780. Your most faithful and obliged humble Servant, EDMUND BURKE. I am frightened at the trouble I give you and our friends; but I recollect that you are mostly lawyers, and habituated to read long tiresome papers-and, where your friendship is concerned, without a fee; I am sure too, that you will not act the lawyer in scrutinizing too minutely every expression, which my haste may make me use. forgot to mention my friend O'Hara and others. but you will communicate it as you please. DEAR SIR, A LETTER TO JOHN MERLOTT, ESQ.* I AM very unhappy to find, that my conduct in the business of Ireland, on a former occasion, had made many to be cold and indifferent, who would otherwise have been warm, in my favour. I really thought, that events would have produced a quite contrary effect; and would have proved to all the inhabitants of Bristol, that it was no desire of opposing myself to their wishes, but a certain knowledge of the necessity of their affairs, and a tender regard to their honour and interest, which induced me to take the part which I then took. They An eminent merchant in the city of Bristol, of which Mr. Burke was one of the representatives in parliament.-It relates placed me in a situation, which might enable to the same subject as the preceding letter. timidity and distress. I really flattered myself, that the events, which have proved beyond dispute the prudence of such a maxim, would have obtained pardon for me, if not approbation. But if I have not been so fortunate, I do most sincerely regret my great loss; with this comfort, however, that, if I have disobliged my constituents, it was not in pursuit of any sinister interest, or any party passion of my own, but in endeavouring to save them from disgrace, along with the whole community, to which they and I belong. I shall be concerned for this, and very much so: but I should be more concerned, if, in gratifying a present humour of theirs, I had rendered myself unworthy of their former or their future choice. I confess, that I could not bear to face my constituents at the next general election, if I had been a rival to Lord North in the glory of having refused some small, insignificant concessions, in favour of Ireland, to the arguments and supplications of English members of parliament; and in the very next session, on the demand of 40,000 Irish bayonets, of having made a speech of two hours long to prove, that my former conduct was founded upon no one right principle either of policy, justice, or commerce. I never heard a more elaborate, more able, more convincing, and more shameful speech. The debator obtained credit; but the statesman was disgraced for ever. Amends were made for having refused small, but timely, concessions by an unlimited and untimely surrender, not only of every one of the objects of former restraints, but virtually of the whole legislative power itself, which had made them. For it is not necessary to inform you, that the unfortunate parliament of this kingdom did not dare to qualify the very liberty she gave of trading with her own plantations, by applying, of her own authority, any one of the commercial regulations to the new traffick of Ireland, which bind us here under the several acts of navigation. We were obliged to refer them to the parliament of Ireland, as conditions; just in the same manner, as if we were bestowing a privilege of the same sort on France and Spain, or any other independent power, and, indeed, with more studied caution, than we should have used, not to shock the principle of their independence. How the minister reconciled the refusal to reason, and the surrender to arms, raised in defiance of the prerogatives of the Crown to his master, I know not; it has probably been settled, in some way or other, between themselves. But, however the king and his ministers may settle the question of his dignity and his rights, I thought it became me, by vigilance and foresight, to take care of yours; I thought I ought rather to lighten the ship in time, than expose it to a total wreck. The conduct pursued seemed to me without weight or judgment, and more fit for a member for Banbury than a member for Bristol. I stood therefore silent with grief and vexation on that day of the signal shame and humiliation of this degraded king and country. But it seems, the pride of Ireland in the day of her power was equal to ours, when we dreamt we were powerful too. I have been abused there even for my silence, which was construed into a desire of exciting discontent in England. But, thank God, my letter to Bristol was in print;my sentiments on the policy of the measure were known and determined, and such as no man could think me absurd enough to contradict. When I am no longer a free agent, I am obliged in the crowd to yield to necessity; it is surely enough, that I silently submit to power; it is enough, that I do not foolishly affront the conqueror; it is too hard to force me to sing his praises, whilst I am led in triumph before him; or to make the panegyrick of our own minister, who would put me neither in a condition to surrender with honour, or to fight with the smallest hope of victory. I was, I confess, sullen and silent on that day; and shall continue so, until I see some disposition to enquire into this and other causes of the national disgrace. If I suffer in my reputation for it in Ireland, I am sorry; but it neither does nor can affect me so nearly as my suffering in Bristol, for having wished to unite the interests of the two nations in a manner, that would secure the supremacy of this. Will you have the goodness to excuse the length of this letter. My earnest desire of explaining myself in every point, which may affect the mind of any worthy gentleman in Bristol, is the cause of it. To yourself, and to your liberal and manly notions, I know it is not so necessary. Believe me, My dear Sir, LETTERS, WITH REFLECTIONS ON THE EXECUTIONS OF THE RIOTERS IN 1780.* TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR. MY LORD, I HOPE I am not too late with the enclosed slight observations. If the execution already ordered cannot be postponed, might I venture to recommend, that it should extend to one only; and then the plan suggested in the enclosed paper may, if your Lordship thinks well of it, take place, with such improvements as your better judgment may dictate. As to fewness of the executions and the good effects of that policy, I cannot, for my own part, entertain the slightest doubt. If you have no objection, and think it may not occupy more of his Majesty's time, than such a thing is worth, I should not be sorry, that the enclosed was put into the king's hands. I have the honour to be, my Lord, Charles-street, July 10, 1780. Most obedient humble Servant, EDMUND BURKE. TO SIR GREY COOPER, BART.+ DEAR SIR, ACCORDING to your desire, I send you a copy of the few reflections on the subject of the present executions, which occurred to me in the earliest period of the late disturbances, and which all my experience and observation since have most strongly confirmed. The executions, taking those which have been made, which are now ordered, and which may be the natural consequence of the convictions in Surrey, will be undoubtedly too many to answer any good purpose. Great slaugh ter attended the suppression of the tumults; and this ought to be taken in discount from the exec tion of the law. For God's sake entreat of Lord North to take a view of the sum total of the deaths. before any are ordered for execution; for by no doing something of this kind, people are decored in detail into severities they never would have dreamed of, if they had the whole in their view at once. The scene in Surrey would have affected the hardest heart, that ever was in an human breast. Justice and mercy have not such opposte interests as people are apt to imagine. I sa Lord Loughborough last night. He seemed strong impressed with the sense of what necessity obliged him to go through, and I believe will enter m our ideas on the subject. On this matter you see. that no time is to be lost. Before a final dete mination, the first thing I would recommend & that if the very next execution cannot be delays (by the way I do not see why it may not) it ma be of but a single person; and that afterwar you should not exceed two or three: for it s enough for one riot, where the very act of par ment, on which you proceed, is rather a little hart in its sanctions and its construction: not that 1 mean to complain of the latter, as either new strained; but it was rigid from the first. I am, Dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, Tuesday, 18th July 1780. I really feel uneasy on this business, and shoul: consider it as a sort of personal favour, if you d something to limit the extent and severity of law on this point.-Present my best complime to Lord North, and if he thinks, that I have t wishes to be serviceable to government on the 'att occasion, I shall on my part think myself ab "Having been so greatly injured myself, I have thought "decent not to attend the reports, and consequently have d "been present at any deliberation upon the subject," ↑ One of the secretaries of the treasury. dantly rewarded, if a few lives less than first intended should be saved; I should sincerely set it down as a personal obligation, though the thing stands upon general and strong reason of its own. SOME THOUGHTS ON THE APPROACHING EXECUTIONS, HUMBLY OFFERED TO CONSIDERATION. As the number of persons, convicted on account of the late unhappy tumults, will probably exceed what any one's idea of vengeance or example would deliver to capital punishment, it is to be wished, that the whole business, as well with regard to the number and description of those who are to suffer death, as with regard to those who shall be delivered over to lighter punishment, or wholly pardoned, should be entirely a work of reason. It has happened frequently, in cases of this nature, that the fate of the convicts has depended more upon the accidental circumstance of their being brought earlier or later to trial, than to any steady principle of equity applied to their several cases. Without great care and sobriety, criminal justice generally begins with anger, and ends in negligence. The first, that are brought forward, suffer the extremity of the law, with circumstances of mitigation in their case; and, after a time, the most atrocious delinquents escape merely by the satiety of punishment. In the business now before his Majesty, the following thoughts are humbly submitted. If I understand the temper of the publick at this moment, a very great part of the lower, and some of the middling, people of this city are in a very critical disposition, and such as ought to be managed with firmness and delicacy. In general, they rather approve than blame the principles of the rioters; though the better sort of them are afraid of the consequences of those very principles which they approve. This keeps their minds in a suspended and anxious state, which may very easily be exasperated by an injudicious severity into desperate resolutions; or by weak measures, on the part of government, it may be encouraged to the pursuit of courses, which may be of the most dangerous consequences to the publick. There is no doubt, that the approaching executions will very much determine the future conduct of those people. They ought to be such as will humble, not irritate. Nothing will make government more awful to them than to see, that it does not proceed by chance or under the influence of passion. It is therefore proposed, that no execution should be made, until the number of persons, which government thinks fit to try, is completed. When | the whole is at once under the eye, an examination ought to be made into the circumstances of every particular convict; and six, at the very utmost, of the fittest examples may then be selected for execution, who ought to be brought out and put to death, on one and the same day, in six different places, and in the most solemn manner that can be devised. Afterwards, great care should be taken, that their bodies may not be delivered to their friends, or to others, who may make them objects of compassion, or even veneration; some instances of the kind have happened with regard to the bodies of those killed in the riots. The rest of the malefactors ought to be either condemned, for larger or shorter terms, to the lighters; houses of correction; service in the navy; and the like, according to the case. This small number of executions, and all at one time, though in different places, is seriously recommended; because it is certain, that a great havock among criminals hardens, rather than subdues, the minds of people inclined to the same crimes; and therefore fails of answering its purpose as an example. Men, who see their lives respected and thought of value by others, come to respect that gift of God themselves. To have compassion for oneself, or to care, more or less, for one's own life, is a lesson to be learned just as every other; and I believe it will be found, that conspiracies have been most common and most desperate, where their punishment has been most extensive and most severe. Besides, the least excess in this way excites a tenderness in the milder sort of people, which makes them consider government in an harsh and odious light. The sense of justice in men is overloaded and fatigued with a long series of executions, or with such a carnage at once, as rather resembles a massacre, than a sober execution of the laws. The laws thus lose their terrour in the minds of the wicked, and their reverence in the minds of the virtuous. I have ever observed, that the execution of one man fixes the attention and excites awe; the execution of multitudes dissipates and weakens the effect: but men reason themselves into disapprobation and disgust; they compute more as they feel less; and every severe act, which does not appear to be necessary, is sure to be offensive. In selecting the criminals, a very different line ought to be followed from that recommended by the champions of the protestant association. They recommend, that the offenders for plunder ought to be punished, and the offenders from principles spared. But the contrary rule ought to be followed. The ordinary executions, of which there are enough in conscience, are for the former species of delinquents; but such common plunderers would furnish no example in the present case, where the false or pretended principle of religion, which leads to crimes, is the very thing to be discouraged. But the reason, which ought to make these people objects of selection for punishment, con |