BOD

ADDRESSED TO THE

RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING,

FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY, &c. &c.

INTENDED AS

AN HUMBLE VINDICATION OF THE PRESENT
MINISTRY.

BY A. S. WADE, D.D.,

OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; VICAR OF ST. NICHOLAS, WARWICK;

"Here is a field open for talent-here merit will have certain favor, and
industry will have its due reward."

LONDON:-1827.

SIR,

DEVOTEDLY attached to the welfare of my country and of mankind, I am far from being an indifferent spectator of those political events which are passing in the civilised world, but more especially in my native land. The recent political changes which have taken place in the administration of the country, have, as might naturally be expected, excited the hopes and passions of men in a very high degree. The breaking up of a Ministry who seemed fixed as the pillars of the State itself; who ruled as by prescriptive right; who held their seats, as it were, from father to son; who monopolised all the influence and honors and emoluments in the power of the State to bestow-could not but lead to the expression of regrets and resentments both loud and violent. This angry feeling has shown itself in both Houses of Parliament; and, to its credit but partially, by the public press. Various pamphlets, however, have made their appearance, some of them written not merely by politicians, but by reverend divines and doctors in the Church; designed chiefly, as it would appear, if not to raise the senseless cry of " No l'opery," at least to arouse the fears of the simple and more unreflecting part of the community on the threatened dangers of Catholic ascendency. To those who have honest fears and scruples on this subject, and many such there are, candor requires

that all due allowance should be made; but where this is not the case, and difference of opinion is resorted to only as a convenient political handle to excite prejudice against public men and measures, such writers deserve no quarter, and merit an appellation with which I will not soil my paper. They are neither sparing in invective, nor wanting in insinuation. We have strong assertions without proof, declamation without argument, and censures without dignity or moderation; and, from the present tone of mind, as little fairness in their compositions as judgment in their design. But men with disappointed hopes fall into strange confusion. Time will minister to their disease.

I have lived long enough in the world, Sir, to know something" of the tricks of parties. I have long considered myself honored by having been intimately connected with a band of liberal and enlightened men, who were distinguished in their day as much for their learning and private worth as for their patriotic principles, ("I speak that I do know, and testify that I have seen,") and who, had they lived to see this day, would have been glad. They found by experience that public virtue is not always the surest road to court-favor, though by their great talents they would have adorned the highest stations. Many of them passed their lives in obscurity, in useful labors, and in vain expectations. They are now gone to their reward; and, were it possible, their hallowed influence would still aid our patriotic exertions. Though neglected and kept in the shade, their deaths were not without honor, nor will their names be soon forgotten. Their works survive them. My late much-revered friend, Dr. Parr, once said to me in conversation You may live to see the day, though I shall not, when toryism, bigotry, and intolerance, shall give place to enlightened sentiments both in politics and religion, and when men in power will see the necessity of keeping pace with the progress of knowlege and the march of mind: as there can be no greater folly than for governments or statesmen to waste a nation's strength by sunprofitable dissensions about religion, or to degrade it by making it the watch-word of a party; which, indeed, is only to pollute it, and to hide its lustre. It was graciously given and intended by Heaven to enlighten our minds, to teach us our duty, and to produce in us unity and order, peace and confidence, brotherly kind. ness and good-will. But how has the fine gold become dim,' when the best of Heaven's gifts is made a bone of contention,' and, by bad governments, is made to yield only the bitter fruits of odenvy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness!"

A

It is, Sif, to vindicate such worthies of the patriotic band to which Whave yself on your notice, and to assure you and the public that, to tomy knowlege, the most learned, liberal, and enlightened sof the

onded, and their principles, that I venture to obtrude my

Established Church rejoice most cordially in the new Government, And I speak from the best information when I assert, that a large majority of our regular Dissenters are of the same mind: they all applaud both His Majesty's firmness and choice. Indeed, there can be but one sentiment in the empire as to the just right of the Sovereign to choose his own servants; and when this right is attempted to be controlled by his Ministers, whether by concert or otherwise, as has lately been the case, the nation will mark such unconstitutional conduct with becoming indignation. The noblest appellation of the illustrious individual who now fills, the throne of these realms, is that of the Father of his People-one who considers the nations under his sway as his family, and who is anxious above all things for their preservation, welfare, and happiness. He has, therefore, the fullest right to choose such Ministers as he deems the fittest for securing these all-important ends.

The late Ministry had been long in power, had been long tried, and had egregiously failed to give satisfaction to the country. The immense load of taxation incurred by their measures, which hangs cand will long hang as a dead weight on the prosperity of the people, while it renders almost every man's talents and industry of but little benefit to him, at the same time seriously affects our manufactures, and impedes our commerce, which cannot compete with foreign and cheaper markets. These and other causes have reduced the people of this once happy country to the greatest possible distress. Nor can it be denied that, so far from the late Ministry sympathising with the distresses of the people, or endeavoring to relieve them by retrenchment, reduction of taxation, and economy, the annual estimates prove that they allowed the expenditure of the nation to keep increasing in the midst of profound peace! Can any thing more be wanting to prove their selfishness and incapacity And, not to enlarge on all the proofs of the eagerness with Twhich they seized on every pretence for abridging the liberties of the people, look at the Six Acts-"the Manchester Massacre," and other arbitrary deeds, and then say, can a change of such a Ministry be otherwise than matter of high gratification to the people? They may gain, but cannot lose by it. I szem

The Aristocracy, the Tories, and many of the Clergy, may indeed talk loudly and affect to despise vulgar opinions; they may assert that the nation is with them, or, if that be not the fact, that the people are no judges of such things," as some of them modestly fotell us: but let these opinionated parties mingle with the people; let them witness the collision of opinion; let them descend into the arena and try their skill at argument with them; and it will then appear that they are, in many instances, in sound practical knowlege, far behind the very persons they affect to despise, Do they forget the influence of general, education, or the great diffusion of

"

knowlege which now happily prevails? Will not the same causes always produce the same effects? Give men instruction, and knowlege will follow. And so it ought to be. Why should the great monopolise all the good things of life? If that were intended, "why did Heaven bestow reason and speech, the spirit of activity and of enterprise, in as great perfection on the lowest of the people as on those who, by no merit of their own, inherit wealth and high station? Heaven has declared its will by its acts: man contravenes it; but time and the progressive improvement of the understanding will reduce the anomaly to its natural rectitude. And if a few irregularities should sometimes arise in the process, they are of no importance when weighed with the happy result, the return of distorted systems to truth, to reason, and to God."

Moreover, the classical learning on which the nominally great pride themselves so much, however befitting it may be to idle gentlemen and men of taste, is of very little practical value. "It consists more of ancient sound than modern sense." It would be strange indeed, if, with the light of Science and of Christianity and the increasing experience of centuries, we did not far excel in true practical wisdom all that classic lore can boast. The true question is, when the great length of time consumed and the vast sums of money spent in ac quiring classical learning, the trammels in which it holds the mind with respect to taste, &c., (for it dare not go beyond its Attic precedents,) together with its little practical use in the affairs of life, are considered, whether on the whole it be not a dear purchase to all but to strictly professional men. Be this as it may, it can redound but little to the credit of those, however accomplished in the higher walks of life, who are disposed to speak contemptuously of and to look down on the humbler, but, in many respects, more useful classes below them. The people can form a judgment, and a just judgment too, on a broad question respecting the merits or de merits of any administration. And their opinion, morally speaking, may be more valuable than that of persons of higher rank and station: "For the general body of the people have not that bias hung on their judgment with which the great are too frequently shackled by the prevalence of personal and particular interest in those things which relate to State matters. It is of no particular and personal consequence to the general body of a people what men are employed, provided the general welfare be accomplished because nothing but the general welfare can be an object of desire to the general body. But it is of much particular and personal consequence to the great what men are employed-because, through their connexions and alliances, they must generally find their friends or enemies in power. Their own private interests, therefore, naturally throw bias on their judgments, and destroy the impartiality which the general body of an uncorrupt people doth naturally possess