want, the very point we are aiming at. Then would Junius and his friends quickly say, "Sir King, know your place!" Es et ipse lignum. "Take your choice! Be King log, or to the block!" Does it not then appear, upon the whole, that it is by no means in the power of the King, by any step which he can possibly take, to put a stop to the present commotions? That especially he cannot make concessions without making a bad matter worse? That the way he has taken, the standing his ground, was as wise a method as he could take, and as likely to restore the peace of the nation, as any the wit of man could devise? If any is more likely, would it not be, vigorously to execute the laws against incendiaries? Against those who, by spreading all manner of lies, inflame the people even to madness: to teach them, that there is a difference between liberty, which is the glory of Englishmen, and licentiousness, a wanton abuse of liberty, in contempt of all laws, divine and human? Ought they not to feel, if they will not see, that scandalum regis, scandalizing the King, is as punishable as scandalum magnatum? That for the future none may dare to slander the King, any more than one of his nobles: much less to print and spread that deadly poison among his Majesty's liege subjects. Is not this little less than high treason? Is it not sowing the seeds of rebellion ? It is possible this might restore peace, but one cannot affirm it would. Perhaps God has a controversy with the land, for the general neglect, nay, contempt of all religion. Perhaps he hath said, Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? And if this be the case, what can avail, unless his anger be turned away from us? Was there ever them that fear a time in which there was a louder call for God to humble themselves before him? If haply general humiliation and repentance may prevent general destruction! 1788. THOUGHTS UPON LIBERTY. I scorn to have my free-born toe PRIOR. 1. ALL men in the world desire Liberty; whoever breathes, breathes after this: and that by a kind of natural instinct, antecedent to art or education. Yet at the same time all men of understanding acknowledge it is a rational instinct. For we feel this desire, not in opposition to, but in consequence of our reason. Therefore it is not found, or in a very low degree, in many species of brutes, which seem, even when they are left to their choice, to prefer servitude before liberty. 2. The love of liberty is then the glory of rational beings: and it is the glory of Britons in particular. Perhaps it would be difficult to find any nation under heaven, who are more tenacious of it. Nay, it may be doubted if any nation ever was: not the Spartans, not the Athenians : no, not the Romans themselves, who have been celebrated for this very thing by the poets and historians of all ages. 3. Was it not from this principle, that our British forefathers so violently opposed all foreign invaders? That Julius Cæsar himself, with his victorious legions, could make so little impression upon them? That the generals of the succeeding emperors sustained so many losses from them? And that, when at length they were overpowered, they rather chose to lose all they had than their liberty; to retire into the Cambrian or Caledonian mountains, where, if they had nothing else, they might at least enjoy their native freedom? 4. Hence arose the vehement struggles of the CambroBritons, through so many generations against the yoke, which the Saxons first, and afterwards the English strove to impose upon them: hence the struggles of the English Barons against several of their Kings, lest they should lose the blessing they had received from their forefathers. Yea, the Scottish nobles, as all their histories shew, would no more bear to be enslaved than the Romans. All these, therefore, however differing from each other in a thousand other respects, agreed in testifying the desirableness of liberty, as one of the greatest blessings under the sun. 5. Such was the sense of all our ancestors, even from the earliest ages. And is it not also the general sense of the nation at this day? Who can deny, that the whole kingdom is panting for liberty? Is not the cry for it gone forth, not only through every part of our vast metropolis, from the west end of the city to the east, from the north to the south, so that instead of no complaining in our streets, there is nothing but complaining: but likewise into every corner of our land, borne by all the four winds of heaven? Liberty! Liberty! sounds through every county, every city, every town, and every hamlet. 6. Is it not for the sake of this, that the name of our great patriot, (perhaps not so admirable in his private character as the Man of Ross, or so great a lover of his country as Codrus, or old Curtius,) is more celebrated than that of any private man has been in England for these thousand years? That his very picture is so joyfully received, in every part of England and Ireland? That we stamp his, (I had almost said, adored,) name, on our handkerchiefs, on the cheerful bowl, yea, and on our vessels of various kinds, as well as upon our hearts? Why is all this, but because of the inseparable connexion between Wilkes and Liberty? Liberty that came down, if not fell from heaven; whom all England and the world worship? 7. But, mean time, might it not be advisable to consider, (if we are yet at leisure to consider any thing,) what is Liberty? Because it is well known the word is capable of various senses. And possibly it may not be equally de sirable in every sense of the word. 8. There are many nations in America, those particularly that border on Georgia and Carolina, wherein if one disapproves of what another says, or perhaps dislikes his looks, he scorns to affront him to his face, neither does he betray the least dissatisfaction. But as soon as opportunity serves, he steps from behind a tree and shoots him. And none calls him that does it to an account. No: this is the liberty he derives from his forefathers. 9. For many ages the free natives of Ireland, as well as those of the Scottish Highlands, when it was convenient for them, made an excursion from their woods or fastnesses, and carried off for their own proper use, the sheep, and oxen, and corn of their neighbours. This was the liberty which the O'Neals, the Campbells, and many other septs and clans of venerable antiquity, had received by immemorial tradition from their ancestors. 10. Almost all the soldiers in the Christian world, as well as in the Mahomentan and Pagan, have claimed, more especially in time of war, another kind of liberty: that of borrowing the wives and daughters of the men that fell into their hands; sometimes, if they pleaded scruple of conscience or honour, using a little necessary force. Perhaps this may be termed the liberty of war. But I will not positively affirm, that it has never been used in this free country, even in the time of peace. 11. In some countries of Europe, and indeed in England, there have been instances of yet another sort of liberty, that of calling a monarch to account, and, if need were, taking off his head; that is, if he did not behave in a dutiful manner to our sovereign Lords the People. 12. Now, that we may not always be talking at random, but bring the matter to a determinate point, which of these sorts of liberty do you desire? Is it the first sort? The liberty of knocking on the head, or cutting the throats of those you are out of conceit with? Glorious liberty indeed! What would not king mob do to be gratified with it but for a few weeks? But, I conceive calm, sensible men do not desire to see them entrusted with it. They apprehend there might be some consequences, which, upon the whole, would not redound to the prosperity of the nation. 13. Is the second more desirable? The liberty of taking, when we see best, the goods and chattels of our neighbours? Undoubtedly, thousands in the good city of London, (suppose we made the experiment here first,) would be above measure rejoiced thereat, would leap as broke from chains. O how convenient would it be to have free access, without any let or hinderance, to the cellars, the pantries, the larders, yea, and the coffers of their rich, overgrown landlords! But perhaps it would not give altogether so much joy to the Lord Mayor or Aldermen: no, nor even to those staunch friends of liberty, the Common Councilmen. Not that they regard their own interest at all; but, setting themselves out of the question, they are a little in doubt whether this liberty would be for the good of trade. 14. Is it then the third kind of liberty we contend for; the liberty of taking our neighbours, wives, and daughters ? Ye pretty gentlemen, ye beaux esprits, will ye not, one and all, give your voices for this natural liberty? Will ye not say, "If we cry out against monopolies of other kinds, shall we tolerate the monopoly of women?" But hold. Are there not some among you too, who have wives if not daughters, of your own? And are you altogether willing to oblige the first comer with them? I say, the first comer for observe! As you are to give the liberty you take, so you must not pick and choose your men: you know, by nature, all men are on a level. Liberty! Li |