An opportunity for this purpose was taken, upon an application to parliament for payment of the debts of the civil lift, which in 1769 had amounted to 513,000l. Such application had been made upon former occafions; but to do it in the former manner would by no means answer the prefent purpose. The civil lift debt was twice paid in the reign of George I. George II. received an addition to his civil lift. Duties were granted for the purpose of raifing 800,000l. a year. It was not until he had reigned nineteen years, and after the laft rebellion, that he called upon parliament for a discharge of the civil lift debt. There was a confiderable fum in hand, on his decease, amounting to about 170,000l. applicable to the fervice of the civil lift of his prefent Majefty. The throne of no prince has flood upon more unfhaken foundations than that of his present Majesty. 6 The nation had fettled 800,000l. a year on the crown, as fufficient for the fupport of its dignity, upon the estimate of its own minifters. When minifters came to parliament, and faid that this allowance had not been fufficient for the purpose, and that they had incurred a debt of 500,000l. would it not have been natural for parliament firft to have afked, how, and by what means, their appropriated allowance came to be infufficient? When every leading account had been refufed, many others were granted with fufficient facility. But with great candour alfo, the houfe was informed, that hardly any of them could be ready until the next fellion; fome of them perhaps not fo foon. But, in order firmly to establish the precedent of payment previous to account, and to form it into a fettled rule of the house, the god in the machine was brought down, nothing less than the wonderworking law of parliament. It was therefore carried, that they fhould go into the committee without delay, and without accounts, in order to examine with great order and regularity things that could not poffibly come before them. After this itroke of orderly and parliamentary wit and humour, they went into the committee; and very generously voted the payment. In the fpeech from the throne, after thanking parliament for the relief fo liberally granted, the minifters inform the two houses, that they will endeavour to confine the expences of civil government-within what limits think you? Thofe which the law had prefcribed? Not in the leaft," fuch limits as the honour of the crown can poflibly admit." In fuch a trait the wifeft may well be perplexed, and the boldeft ftaggered. The circumstances are in a great measure new. We have hardly any land-marks from the wifdom of our ancestors, to guide us. The firft ideas which generally fuggeft themselves, for the cure of parliamentary diforders, are, to fhorten the duration of parliaments; and to difqualify all, or a great number of placemen, from a feat in the houfe of commons. Whatever efficacy there may be in thofe remedies, I am fure in the prefent ftate of things it is impoffible to apply them. A restoration of the right of free election is a preliminary indifpenfable to every other reformation. What alterations ought afterwards to be made in the conftitution, is a matter of deep and difficult reiearch.-I confess, that I have no fort of reliance upon either a triennial parliament, or a place-bill, With regard to the former, perhaps it might rather ferve to counteract, than to promote the ends that are poppofed by it. To fay nothing of the horrible diforders among the people attending fre quent elections, I thould be fearful of committing, every three years, the independent gentlemen of the country into a contest with the treasury. It is ealy to fee which of the contending parties would be ruined first. The next favourite remedy is a place-bill. It is not easy to forefee what the effect would be, of difconnecting with parliament, the greatest part of thofe who hold civil employments, and of fuch mighty and important bodies as the military and naval establishments. It were better, perhaps, that they should have a corrupt intereft in the forms of the constitution, than that they should have none at all. It were better, undoubtedly, that no influence at all could affect the mind of a member of parliament. But of all modes of influence, in my opinion, a place under the government is the leaft difgraceful to the man who holds it, and by far the moft fafe to the country. I would not shut out that fort of influence which is open and visible, which is connected with the dignity and the fervice of the state, when it is not in my power to prevent the influence of contracts, of fubfcriptions, of direct bribery, and thofe innumerable methods of clandeftine corruption, which are abundantly in the hands of the court, and which will be applied as long as thefe means of corruption and the difpofition to be corrupted, have existence amongst us. The diftempers of Monarchy were the great fubjects of apprehenfion and redrefs, in the last century; in this the diftempers of Parliament.-An exterior administration, chofen for its impo tency, or after it is chofen purpofely rendered impotent, in order to be rendered fubfervient, will not be obeyed. The laws themfelves will not be refpected when thofe who execute them are defpifed; and they will be despised, when their power is not immediate from the crown, or natural in the kingdom. Government may in a great measure be restored, if any confiderable bodies of men have honefty and refolution enough never to accept administration, unless this garrison of king's men, which is ftationed, as in a citadel, to controul and enflave it, be entirely broken and disbanded, and every work they have thrown up be levelled with the ground. The difpofition of public men to keep this corps together, and to act under it, or to co-operate with it, is a touchstone by which every administration ought in future to be tried. Party is a body of men united, for promoting by their joint endeavours the national intereft, upon fome particular principle in which they are all agreed.. For my part, I find it impoffible to conceive, that any one believes in his own politicks, or thinks them to be of any weight, who refufes to adopt the means of having them reduced into practice. It is the bufinefs of the fpeculative philofopher to mark the proper ends of government. It is the bufinefs of the politician, who is the philofopher in action, to find out proper means towards thofe ends, and to employ them with effect. There-, fore every honourable connexion will avow it as their first purpose, to pursue every just method to put the men who hold their opinions into fuch a condition as may enable them to carry their common plans into execution, with all the power and authority of the state. A generous contention for power, on fuch manly and honourable maxims, will eafily be diftinguished from the mean and interested ftruggle for place and emolument.In order to throw an odium on political connexion, these politicians fuppofe it a neceffary incident to it, that you are blindly to follow the opinions of your party when in direct oppofition to your own clear ideas; a degree of fervitude that X 3 that no worthy man could bear the thought of fubmitting to. But fill, as the greater part of the measures which arife in the course of public bufinefs are related to, or dependent on, fome great leading general principles in government, a man must be peculiarly unfortu nate in the choice of his political company, if he does not agree with them at least nine times in ten.-I remember an old fcholaftic aphorifm, which fays, "that the man who lives wholly detached from others, must be either an angel or a devil." It is not every conjuncture which calls with equal force upon the activity of honeft men; but critical exigencies now and then arise; and I am miftaken, if this be not one of them. Men will fee the neceffity of honest combination; but they may fee it when it is too late.-If other ideas thould prevail, things must remain in their prefent confufion; until they are hurried into all the rage of civil violence; or until they fink into the dead repose of defpotifm.' Such is the fubftance of this celebrated pamphlet. The stile throughout is polished; the author has abftained from perfonal abufe, and though manifeftly a party writer, he has kept his paffions within due bounds, to fuch a degree, that it may be faid, he has not only expreffed himself with grace, but he has also thought with elegance, even upon a fubject the most apt to incite animofity. It is however a compofition visibly framed in the ROCKINGHAM SCHOOL. The feeble adminiftration of that nobleman is complimented beyond all proportion; and, if we did not know the men who were in office under his aufpices, we might imagine there was then a conftellation of worthies equal to any period of Greek or Roman history. If it be true, as our author fays it is, that an interior and invisible adminiftration, confifting of KING'S MEN, has been established from the beginning of the prefent reign, we must concur with this writer in pronouncing it a pernicious fyftem of politics; because it habituates the fn to rule by party, by divid ing and fubdividing, and perhaps fometimes by diffimulation, But yet, can this be the fole caufe of the difcontents that have prevailed for fome time? Certainly not. Who was the origi. nal author of an American ftamp-act? The contagion of fedition has come over to us from the colonies. Who inflamed the colonies against the mother country? Did that minifter confult in the DOUBLE CABINET?-As we are told that the men whe acted with L―d R—————m carried with them into place the principles which they poffeffed in oppofition, it may be fair to ask, why did not they obtain a pardon for Mr. Wilkes ? It is too plain that they looked on during all the fufferings of that gentleman: they difowned him; they were afraid of seeming connected with him or his caufe; till at laft they faw his popularity, and availed themfelves of it. In fhort, when our author tells us, that the JUNTO OF KING'S MEN are the fource of all diforders, he is like the man in the play, who imputes every species of misconduct to our not having learned to dance ! MONTHLY MONTHLY CATALOGUE. 12. A Letter to the right hon. William Beckford, Lord Mayor, and Confervator of the River Thames and Waters of Medway; from Sir Stephen Theodore Janffen, Bart. Chamberlain of London. 4to. 15. Wilkie. THE advantages accruing to the trade and commerce of the city of London, the emporium of the British empire, from its happy fituation and vicinity to the river Thames, has, for ages paft, rendered the confervation and good order of that noble stream, the first object of public attention; infomuch, that when king James I. upon fome difguft, fignified his intention of removing the records from the Tower, he received the following anfwer; Your majefty may in this, as in every other circumftance do as you please, and your faithful citizens of London will obey accordingly; we only befeech your majefty, upon the removing the records, to leave the river of Thames behind you.' In this letter, addreffed to the right honourable William Beckford, efq. lord-mayor, fir Stephen Theodore Janffen has, with great good fenfe and becoming refpect, fubmitted to his lordship's confideration feveral very important points relating to the confervation of the Thames and Medway: with regard to the intended embankation of the former, Mr. Janffen very juftly obferves, that should thefe embankments fo far encrease the velocity of the ftream, as to carry down the fandbanks to London-bridge, together with all the other fpecies of filth from both hores, will the undertakers make it very clearly appear, that it fhall neither ftop up the arches, or fettle in the Pool, or otherwife, in any refpect, impede the general navigation? If this could be affured, all elfe would be very well; but if these banks must lodge fomewhere near the bridge, they are in a better fituation at prefent than they can be by a removal; as they are not any real impediments to boats, but may be fo to the paffage of the bridge, or to the fhips in the Pool, wherefore it must remain a doubt, whether if the bed of the ri ver, by the means propofed, deepened above-bridge, it may not be the cause of more mischief than it cures? The rulers of the watermen's company are neceffary to be confulted, efpecially fuch as ufe lighters or barges; experience and obfervation will furnish them with the means of conjectural confequences: it is at best but conjectural, and therefore to be well guarded againft, as a failure in the event is almoft irrecoverable, and as it is not impracticable to remove the fand-banks at much less expence. X 4 13. A 13. The Remonftrance. A Poem. 4to. Pr. 21. 6d. Wheble. This is one of the few good poems that have been written in defence of the adminiftration. The author attacks, with great freedom, fome of the principal leaders in the oppofition, whom he reprefents as impious, feditious, inconfiftent, and void of all true principles of patriotifm. Though it must be owned the drawing is not correct, yet, in many parts, the colouring is good, and the expreffion strong and vigorous. Speaking of the contempt with which religion is treated by modern patriots, he obferves, And yet there was a time, nor long ago That he, who out of darkness, called the light, Gave laws to fix the vagrant will of man.' Our author expoftulates with Mr. Wilkes on the indecency of traducing a certain great perfon, and brings it home to his own bofom, in the following fpirited lines: Were there on earth a barbarous mifcreant found, Where's the good man that would not mourn my death, And curfe the fatal noofe that ftopped my breath? Say, gallant Wilkes, what vengeance wouldst thou claim Thy |