convention, already mentioned. This convention, with the points to which it referred, was afterwards taken into consideration, and became a subject of some parliamentary discussions. But, before we proceed to give any account of these, we shall stop a very little by the way, in order to take notice of some particulars tending to mark the spirit of the times, which took place between the dissolution of the old and the convocation of a new parliament.

The general election of members of parliament, it was universally observed, was carried on, on the whole, with unusual coldness and indifference. In some instances, we may presume, experience dearly bought had demonstrated the folly of bartering independent fortune with the chance of civil preferment, or of making a figure as an orator in parliament. But this circumstance not being peculiar to the summer of 1790, does not ac, count for that political languor which seemed at this period to have fallen on the English nation. In nations, as well as individuals, there is a tendency to run from extreme to extreme; and, agreeably to this principle, an alternation of activity and repose, of exertion and lassitude; whence, particular objects appear more bulky, and occupy too much attention and labour at one time, and too little at another. The American war, the dismemberment of the empire, the revolution in Ireland, political associations, petitions, remonstrances, and various schemes of political reform; these formed a busy period in the History of Britain, and stretched the nerves of her sensi bility and action to an excess that

was followed by a degree of political lethargy. The ground of reformation on which the minister had come into power, was abandoned: the patriotic professions of his opponents were universally sus pected. The French revolution, by its magnitude and importance to all Europe, fixed the eye of every politician, diminished in proportion every collateral event, and impressed a general conviction that the great affairs of the world are governed by causes to which the wisdom and resources of statesmen do not extend.

But exceptions from this general languor were found in the capital, and at certain extremities of the British empire.

Of all the elective bodies in Great Britain, the first in importance is Westminster; the seat of government, of the royal family, the prime nobility and gentry for half the year, and greatly superior to any other community in the kingdom, both in wealth, consequence, population, and the free communication of the right of voting in elections of representatives in parliament. As people of all ranks and conditions are assembled, and have an interest and influence in this great city, it may be considered, in some measure, as an index or miniature picture of the whole kingdom. is no wonder therefore that the Westminster elections are usually contested with more than ordinary keenness and violence. The last election for Westminster in 1788, was expensive to the candidates, even beyond the usual rate of expenditure. As it was found by experience, that the voters were pretty equally divided between the

It

ministerial

so much larger a scale, and carried on with so much alacrity and expedition, that without more certain and vigorous aid than any that was to be expected from France, the Spaniards could not entertain the smallest hopes of being able to face the British fleets with any prospect of success. The court of Madrid, therefore, on a due consideration of all the circumstances, at last consented to give the satisfaction demanded by Great Britain. A declaration to this purpose was given at Madrid on the 24th July 1790; and all differences between the courts of Madrid and London terminated, with proper formality and precision, by a convention between his Britannic Majesty and the King of Spain, signed at the Escurial the 28th of October 1790.*

There is something in the Spanish manifesto highly dignified. It would be difficult to conceive any mode or terms in which a concession could be made by one independent prince to another with a better grace:-His Catholic Majesty is willing to give satisfaction to his Britannic Majesty for the injury of which he has complained; fully persuaded that his Britannic Majesty would act in the same manner towards the King under similar circumstances." The King of Great Britain appears before the Council of State of Spain, in the character of an injured person seeking a redress of grievances. Now, although, in the eye of pure mo

rality and religion, it be nobler to suffer patiently than to commit an injury; yet, according to the general conception of mankind, and much more according to the general conceptions of courts, the complainant is less respected than the aggressor.

An official letter from the Duke of Leeds, principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, intimating the willingness of the Spanish court to give satisfaction to that of Great Britain, was sent to the Lord Mayor of London on the 5th of August; and on the same day a gazette extraordinary was published, containing the same intelligence. It was said by many people at this time, that the terms in which the Spaniards promised satisfaction, were general, vague, and indefinite. That they meant only to compromise matters by an equivocal shew of respect for Great Britain, in yielding to a few demands respecting matters of fact in the mean time; but, at the same time, to reserve their unbounded pretensions to be enforced on the first favourable opportunity. But the wiser part of the nation readily agreed, that a claim or right was better substantiated and secured by a few concessions in point of fact, than by any kind of declaration in words. And the sincerity of the court of Madrid in the present declaration, which was rendered credible by the actual state of France and Spain, was placed beyond doubt by the convention,

convention, already mentioned. This convention, with the points to which it referred, was afterwards taken into consideration, and became a subject of some parliamentary discussions. But, before we proceed to give any account of these, we shall stop a very little by the way, in order to take notice of some particulars tending to mark the spirit of the times, which took place between the dissolution of the old and the convocation of a new parliament.

The general election of members of parliament, it was universally observed, was carried on, on the whole, with unusual coldness and indifference. In some instances, we may presume, experience dearly bought had demonstrated the folly of bartering independent fortune with the chance of civil preferment, or of making a figure as an orator in parliament. But this circumstance not being peculiar to the summer of 1790, does not ac. count for that political languor which seemed at this period to have fallen on the English nation. In nations, as well as individuals, there is a tendency to run from extreme to extreme; and, agreeably to this principle, an alternation of activity and repose, of exertion and lassitude; whence, particular objects appear more bulky, and occupy too much attention and labour at one time, and too little at another. The American war, the dismemberment of the empire, the revolution in Ireland, political associations, petitions, remonstrances, and various schemes of political reform; these formed a busy period in the History of Britain, and stretched the nerves of her sensibility and action to an excess that

was followed by a degree of political lethargy. The ground of reformation on which the minister had come into power, was abandoned: the patriotic professions of his opponents were universally sus pected. The French revolution, by its magnitude and importance to all Europe, fixed the eye of every politician, diminished in propor tion every collateral event, and impressed a general conviction that the great affairs of the world are governed by causes to which the wisdom and resources of statesmen do not extend.

But exceptions from this general languor were found in the capital, and at certain extremities of the British empire.

Of all the elective bodies in Great Britain, the first in importance is Westminster; the seat of government, of the royal family, the prime nobility and gentry for half the year, and greatly superior to any other community in the kingdom, both in wealth, consequence, population, and the free communication of the right of voting in elections of representatives in parliament. As people of all ranks and conditions are assembled, and have an interest and influence in this great city, it may be considered, in some measure, as an index or miniature picture of the whole kingdom. is no wonder therefore that the Westminster elections are usually contested with more than ordinary keenness and violence. The last election for Westminster in 1788, was expensive to the candidates, even beyond the usual rate of expenditure. As it was found by experience, that the voters were pretty equally divided between the ministerial

It

ministerial and antiministerial candidates, it was settled, whether by a formal agreement or tacit compact, that there should be a division of political power in a body where there was a division of political sentiment, Lord Hood, it was agreed on, or understood, was not to bring forward in his hand an opponent to Mr. Fox; nor Mr. Fox an opponent to Lord Hood. It may seem at first sight paradoxical, to affirm that a mutual cessation on the part of these two representatives of Westminster, from political solicitation and influence in favour of any candidate on the present occasion, should be considered as anywise inimical to the freedom of election. That an election may be free, it may be asked, is it necessary that it should be contested? And do the rights of electors consist in their being courted and cajoled,entertained,decorated with the ensignsof party, and pressed to vote for this or that candidate, almost by a degree of violence?

To leave the electors entirely to themselves, and not to tamper in the least with their sentiments and inclinations, might seem to be the greatest homage that could be paid to freedom. But this is one of the numerous instances in which political maxims are fallacious, if taken separately from particular cases and circumstances. A great multitude of people without agitation, would remain an inert mass, incapable of action; and if left in the hands of a few agitators, who come to assume a kind of prescriptive right of interference, are apt to be transferred from hand to hand, like cattle in a fair, unconscious of the bargains in consequence of which they are

bandied from one hand to another. Laws are but inanimate things in themselves. They depend for their efficacy on the breath of passion:-the Westminster electors, partly under the influence of the crown, and partly under that of a few great families, might yet still be called upon at stated periods by those parties, separately or in conjunction, to give their votes in elections; but their right of voting would, in fact, become merely nominal, and a mere potentiality, to speak in the language of the schools, instead of a habit. It is farther to be considered, that such an election as that of Westminster cannot be carried on without a considerable expense. From the inveterate influence, therefore, of the parties just mentioned, on the one hand, and the expense of opposing it even in the purest manner on the other, the elections of Westminster were in danger of becoming a mere farce; and this farce seemed in June 1790 to have been begun.

Mr. Horne Tooke is justly renowned for the independence and consistency of his public character and conduct, the manly vigour of his political, and the subtlety as well as, on the whole, the soundness of his writings on the subjects of philology and universal grammar. To this gentlemen the passivity of Mr. Fox and Lord Hood in the present election, appeared in the light of a coalition: a political collusion for the purpose of monopolizing to themselves the suffrages of Westminster. On the morning of the election (June 16, 1790) the following address was circulated to the electors of Westminster by Mr. Tooke, and a poll demanded:

"Gentlemen,

"Gentlemen, I think it my duty on the present occasion to solicit your votes, to represent you in the ensuing parliament.

"The evident junction of two contending parties, in order to seize with an irresistible hand the representation of the city of Westminster, and to deprive you even of that shadow of election to which they have lately reduced you, calls aloud on every independent mind to frustrate such attempts, and makes me, for the first time in my life, a candidate.

"I do not solicit your favour: but I invite you, and afford you an opportunity to do yourselves justice, and to give an example (which was never more necessary) against the prevailing and destructive spirit of personal party, which has nearly extinguished all national and public principle.

"The enormous sums expended, and the infamous practices at the two last elections for Westminster (open bribery, violence, perjury, and murder, with the scandalous chicane of a tedious, unfinished, and ineffectual petition) are too flagrant and notorious to be denied or palliated by either party; and the only refuge of each has been to shift off the criminality upon the other. Upon whom, and how will they shift off the common criminality, equally heavy on them both, that neither of them has made even the smallest attempt by an easy parliamentary and constitutional method, to prevent the repetition of such practices in future?

"If the revenue is threatened to be defrauded in the smallest article, law upon law, and statute upon statute, are framed without delay or intermission. No right

revenue.

of the subject, however sacred, but must give way to The country swarms with excisemen and informers, to protect it -Conviction-is sure, summary, speedy. The punishment,-outlawry and death. Where, amongst all their hideous volumes of taxes and of penalties, can we find one singly solitary statute to guard the right of representation in the people, upon which alone all right of taxation depends?

"Your late representatives and your two present candidates, have, between them, given you a complete demonstration that the rights of electors (even in those very few places where any election yet appears to remain) are left without protection, and their violation without redress. And for a conduct like this, they who have neve concurred in any measure for the public benefit; they who have never concurred in any means to secure to you a peaceable and fair election, after all their hostilities, come forward hand in hand, with the same general and hacknied professions of devotion to your interest, unblushingly to demand your approbation and support!.

"Gentlemen, throughout the history of the world, down to the present moment, all personal parties and factions have always been found dangerous to the liberties of every free people; but their coalitions, unless resisted and punished by the public, certainly fatal.-I may be mistaken, but I am firmly persuaded, that there still remains in this country a public, both able and willing to teach its government that it has other more important duties to perform besides the levying of taxes, creation of peerages, compromising of coun