1752. PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. 211 C There is no man in England, Sir, who has a greater regard for liberty of confcience than I have, and I hope, I have as great a regard for honour as any man breathing; but even with regard to fcruples of confcience, there are fome which can- A not be indulged, because they are inconfiftent with the prefervation of fociety. We know that we have in this country a numerous fet of people, who pretend a fcruple of confcience against paying tithes; and we know the law dooms them to B prifon till they pay their tithes. Did ever any man but a Quaker deem it perfecution to hold a man in prifon until he paid his tithes, or fhewed he was not able to do fo by furrendering all he had to his creditors. Thefe very people pretend a fcruple of confcience of fighting even in defence of their country; and I remember that during the laft war, the Quakers in Penfilvania refused to pay a tax, because it was impofed for providing foldiers and arms to fight against the enemy; for faid D they, as it is not lawful to fight, it is not lawful for us to pay towards fupporting thofe that engage in fuch an unlawful act. This was a fcruple of confcience; but will any one fay, that it would have been perfecution to imprifon a Quaker who refufed to pay his quota of that tax, and to detain him in prifon until he paid it? Suppofe a great majority of the people of this country were Quakers, and an invafion fhould happen, would it be perfecution to infift even upon active obedience, by compelling them to fight againft the invaders of their country? They might perhaps for fome time adhere to their fcruple of conscience; but if they were put in the front of the battle, and once faw two or three friends killed, I believe, they would then make ufe G of the prophane weapons that had been put into their hands, and fight as obftinately in defence of their lives, as men who never pretended 5 E F to any fach fcruple of confcience. This has always been the cafe, Sir, with unreafonable and ridiculous fcruples of confcience: They are fupported by indulgence, but dropt as foon as you begin to treat them with the feverity they deferve. And it will be the fame with all unreafonable and ridiculous points of honour, of which fort I muft reckon this gentleman's one; for fuppofing that he knew himfelf innocent of the practices laid to his charge, and fo fully proved against him, his fubmitting to receive the fentence of this houfe upon his knees was no confeffion of his being guilty, nor could by any man be understood as fuch. It was only a fign of his refpect for this auguft affembly, which all men have hitherto fhewn, and which immemorial custom has rendered it neceflary for us to infist on. Had he fhewn this refpect, he would, I fhall grant, have been nevertheless committed to Newgate, and perhaps he could not during the feflion have been difcharged from thence without confeffing his fault and begging pardon; but had he neglected, or refolved not to do this, and confequently had lain in Newgate until the end of the feffion, he would then have fuffered the punishment inflicted by the house upon his crime, and the houfe would probably have thought it a fufficient punishment, therefore there would not have been the fame reafon for committing him again at the beginning of this; for I believe, the house never infifted upon a man's confeffing his guilt and begging pardon, as a neceffary confequence of his commitment: The only confequence is, that unless he does fo, he muft remain confined until the end of the fellion; nor is this properly an aggravation of his punishment, it is only a refufal of mercy to one who will not deign to fue for it. Nay, I believe, the house would not infift upon a man's exprefs confeffion of his guilt, or of the fault he is charged PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. charged with: If in his petition he only expreffed his forrow for having incurred the difpleafure of the house, which is no confeffion of guilt, and begged to be discharged, I am perfuaded, the house would grant his petition, especially if he had been A committed for a fact which, tho' proved, he might poffibly be inno cent of. As to the confequences with re- meet with affronts every feffion, It was only to inculcate this general principle, Sir, that I juft men. tioned this gentleman's triumphant exit from Newgate, and the feditious May libel published in his name; for as to the motion I have made, it does not stand in need of any fupport from thence. It is fufficiently fupported by the facts mentioned in it, and they are fuch facts as every gentleman prefent knows to be true. But even as to the other facts, they are so notorious, that I hope, fome inquiry will be made into them; for notoriety I have always heard to be a fufficient foundation for a parliamentary inquiry. This, however, is a fecond confideration, which I may perhaps trouble you with, if the motion I have made be agreed to; and therefore I must infift upon the queftion. T. Sempronius Gracchus having up on this renewed his Motion to adjourn, the next that spoke was T. Sicinius, the Purport of whofe Speech was as follows. Mr. Prefident, SIR, WAS glad to hear the noble lord own that any thing could be faid against our proceeding farther in an affair which, I am afraid, will confirm an old proverb: I wish with all my heart that it had had fuch weight with his lordship, as to prevail with him to drop his motion; but fince it has not, I think myself obliged to second the motion made by my noble friend near me. How the noble lord who moved first in this affair, came to talk of magnanimity or pufillanimity I cannot understand; for furely there can be no magnanimity in a profecution carried on by the commons of Great Britain with the utmost severity against a fingle private gentleman, nor could there be any pufillanimity in their dropping fuch a profecution. This way of talkGing feems to intimate, that the noble lord knows of there being fomething more in this affair than at first view appears; and for my life I cannot fuggeft H S 1752. PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. fuggeft to myself what more there 213 merly extremely tenacious; and if they were ftill fo, one of them might very probably be guilty of the fame fort of contempt from a fcruple of confcience, which this gentleman has been guilty of from a point of honour. Suppofe, Sir, a Quaker of the an tient caft, fhould be brought before us for fome malverfation at an election, and we should order him to be committed to Newgate, and to receive his fentence, at the bar of this house, upon his knees. We know that when brought to our bar, he would neither be uncovered, nor fall upon his knees. Should we look upon this as a contempt of our authority? Should we doom him to perpetual exile, or a long imprifonment, every year of his life, for this contempt? If we did, moft people without doors would, 'tis true, laugh at him for his ridiculous fcruple, but at the fame time they would hate us for our ridiculous feverity. The cafe of the gentleman now under confideration is much the fame, but with this difference, that his point of honour is not fo ridiculous as the Quaker's fcruple of confcience; for I am perfuaded, there are many men in this kingdom, who would go to death rather than to acknowledge themselves guilty of a crime they were innocent of, or to do any thing that might seem to infer fuch an acknowledgment; and for this reafon fuch a feverity against him, will be more hateful to the people. In fhort, Sir, there is hardly, I believe, a man in England, who will fuppofe that fuch a severity proceeds from our refentment of the contempt he has been guilty of: They will fuppofe, either that we are governed by the perfonal refentment or private advan tage of fome of our members, or that there is fuch a latent defign as I have mentioned; and neither of thefe fuppofitions can, I am fure, contribute to the prefervation of our authority, honour, or dignity, even E e But, Sir, whatever defign the noble lord and his friends may have in pushing this profecution, from all the converfations I have had upon the fubject, I have reason to fear, that the people without doors will C look upon it as carried on with fuch a defign; and what muft they think of a house of commons, that under the pretence of vindicating their privileges, fhall render themfelves fubfervient to such a defign? For this will be the light in which it will be D put by many of the electors, not only in Weftminster, but in every part of Great Britain. They will be apt to look upon that point of honour, which the noble lord was pleafed to call unreasonable and ridiculous, as a point which we ought to have al- E lowed as an excufe; and really in this age of libertinifm, when all points of honour, except merely that of a perfonal affront, are turned into ridicule, this house ought not to be the first to punish a man for adhereing too ftrictly to what he may F think, tho' erroneously, a point in which his honour is concerned. I hope, we have ftill many, but I wish we had many more men of fuch nice honour; for as to fcruples of confci. ence, they seem to be entirely laid afide, in every affair, in which a G man's interest is any way concerned. Even the Quakers feem of late to be grown very little fcrupulous as to many points of which they were forMay, 1752 among 214 PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. May among the peaceable and good part To fhew mercy to the repenting, 3 E or at least might be, his lodging for another feflion in Newgate, and being at the beginning of the next fef fion in the fame fituation he is at prefent; for I am perfuaded, he never will confefs himself guilty of what he is charged with by our refolution of haft feflion. The rule laid down by his lordfhip is not therefore applicable to the cafe now before us; and if it were, it is not, furely, to be enforced against this gentleman by facts of which we have the leaft tittle of proof;. the mention of them feems to be attacking the character and behaviour of the perfon accufed, which is ne ver allowed to the prosecutor, unless the profecuted puts himself upon his character, which this gentleman has never done; and if they were proved, they could neither ftrengthen nor weaken the general principle his lordship was pleafed to mention, which depends upon the nature of things, not upon facts of any kind. Thefe can only ferve for directing us in the application of the principle to any particular cafe and for this purpose no fact should ever be mentioned but what has been fully prov ed; therefore I must concur with my noble friend near me in thinking, that it was not altogether fair to men tion them upon this occafion; which is, I think, of itfelf a fufficient rea fon for our not coming to any determination relating to this affair at prefent; and if it fhould be entirely dropt, I am fure, it could produce no bad confequence, because no man of common knowledge ever imagined, that it was not in our power, in a future feffion, to renew an order for commitment made in a former; but as it is an extraordinary method of proceeding, we should never have recourfe to it, when the offender has already undergone what most men will think a fufficient punishment for all the offences he was accused of; for even with respect to the vindica tion of our privileges, we should take care 1752. Humorous LETTER from a LADY. care not to give mankind any room to think, that we have acted in too rigorous, or in a tyrannical manner; which, I am afraid, may be the confequence of our agreeing to the noble lord's motion, and therefore I fhall conclude with seconding my noble friend's motion for adjourning, [This JOURNAL to be continued in our next.] Among the Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe, by Mrs. MARY JONES, lately print ed at OXFORD, is the following Humorous I Letter. Bond-Street, June, 1742. Remember, formerly, to have read and B heard very credible and affecting stories concerning witchcraft; and tho' I've fometimes been fo faithlefs as to doubt of the facts, as well as the teftimonies of my authors, yet having affured me they've been eye and ear witneffes (to things which neither eye nor ear ever faw or heard) 'twou'd, I think, argue great want of cre- C dulity to hefitate any longer about 'em. 'Tis likewife certain, that in all country places, there are always one or two witches, at leaft, in the neighbourhood; and your ladyship, fince you became a mother, I dare fay, has heard how they stick pins and needles into young children, to make 'em cry; and when they're ricketty, or don't thrive, how they look upon 'em with an evil eye. The phrafe is different in different countries, tho' the belief is the fame; and a lady of my acquaintance, who lived at the Madeiras, told me - that her child gradually pined away for feveral weeks, and no-body could tell what was the matter with it; till her physician affured her 'twas in vain to evacuate, or phlebotomize E any more, for that the child was certainly` over-look'd. 215 clear morning! (as the watchman fays) and I have not yet had a wink of sleep; my imagination hurrying me away from thought to thought involuntarily, and, as it were, mechanically. I'm neither in malice, hatred, nor love (that I know of) have neither fpleen, vapours, nor a fingle A paffion to torment me. Every body likes to fee me, that I like to fee; and thofe who love me, and I love, write to me. What evil thing then can have taken poffeffion of me, to disturb my ideas fo that I can't fleep? Your ladyship talks of coming to town; I with you may come foon; for I've been talking to you this half hour in my imagination, and have a notion, that if fome good being was but to answer me, 'twou'd compofe my spirits. I'll tell you how Mrs. W. pleases and entertains me ; how many congreffes I've had the honour to be prefent at with lady F. W. how The Lafs of the Hill is become the fashion of the town ; how lady L. has just learnt it, in order to carry it to Paris; how Mifs T. fings it here like a nightingale; and how 'tis now cry'd about the streets, among 24 other excellent new ballads, for fo fmall a price as one half-penny. I'll tell you moreover, how I lose my dinners in York-street, and my rest near Hanover-fquare; how I fuffered one of your workmen to lock me into your garden at Somerfet-Houfe, one evening after they were all gone, that I might indulge my love of fociety, by a total feparation from all human kind; how I paffed one of the most charming hours of my life there alone, and no one near me; how I had very few apprehenfions about being knocked o' the head, and buryed under the rubbish; or ftrangled, as Sir Edmundbury Godfrey was, pretty near the fame fpot; but how a frightful white poft, with a round head upon't, on the ftair-cafe (the window being open) often startled me, when I turned that way; and how I recollected my felf again, when I found 'twas but a poft. In short, now I've feen how this fpecimen looks in wriFting, I fhall referve the reft of the wondrous things that have paffed thro' my poor brain this night, till your ladyship arrives in Burlington-ftreet; and once more try to shut my eyes, if the fun, and that old lady will let me. Lady Lovelace, who has thought me bewitched for thefe three days, bid me be fure to mention fomething I've forgot, which was the chief reafon of my writing by this poft. But taking it for granted your ladyship knows every thing that paffes here, by intuition; I've difcharged my truft, and remain, (for I can by no means reft) Your ladyship's, &c. Ac D I had been phlebotomized by the advice of a very able physician just before I came from Oxford, and had taken a gentle caIthartic or two befides; but what my cafe is at prefent,, I'm at a lofs to comprehend. For I've fuch an extraordinary flow, and flurry of spirits, (not apparitions) fuch a groupe of images working, and chafing each other thro' my brain, that unless your ladyship will permit me to write 'em off, either in verfe or profe, (as you know I'm a great friend to evacuations whenever they can be fafely procur'd) I know not what may be the confequence. Whether any evil eyes have been upon me, I can't G tell; but there's an old lady over the way, I a little fufpect, who has very bad ones; and I'm pretty fure I've been over-look'd by her twenty times, for the's for ever at her window. 'Tis now past four o'clock, E e 2 |