The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-10-28
s1ntateuat,n.
MAcKINTosH's SPEECH.

MACKINTOSHs SPEECH.
Our readers can fcarcely have forgotten the
celebrated trial of John Peltier, for libela
ga'nft Napoleon Bonaparte, which was de-
termlned in the court of Kings Bench, in
London, on the 21ft Of February 1893.
On that occa6on, MIR. Nc. Intofh (fup-
pofed to be the celebrated author of the
Pirdicie Calico in oppo6tion to Mr.. Burke's
letter, whe was afterwards bought over
by the Englifh Court and transported to a
Judgefhip in the Indies,) delivered one Of the
mot fplendid fpecimens of eloquence, which
was ever witnei1ed by the -EngIifh Bar. If
1t Be inferior to fome of the fublme orations
of Curran and to Erfkine's fpeech on the tri-
al OF Stockdale, il has certainly but few COM
Pctitors. All the eloquence of Nc. Intoib,
however, was unavailing to the defence of
his client, for Peltier was found guilty by
the Jury, without retiring from their box
As the report of this trial is almolt literary
curlofity in Virginia, we have fuppofed it
would crafty many of our readers, by pre-
tenting them with few Extracts from this
brilliant effufion.
The reader will bear in mind, that MIR. Peltier
was the editor of a periodical publication in
London, under the title of The Ify,bigu
or atroeious and nmuEng varitties that in
this extraordinary work he circulated the
ieveret iaires upon the 6re coufu of rance !;
aud anong thefe, is the ode attributed to
the pen of Chenier, which is alluded to in
the following extract. The pith of that part
OF Nc. Intofh's argument, which embraces
The following digertation upon tie French
fatobinJ, is certainly mott fophifticated
argument, however ingenious it may be.
1t is hmply this, that Mr.. Petier 60 way have
put revolutionary language into the mouths
OF the Jocobins, with view to paint their
incorrigible turbulence, and to exhibit the
fruits of Jacobonical revolutions to the de-
teftaton of mankind :" that is, it may in fact
be libel on the JaeobinJ themfelves, and not
libel upon Bonaparte.
Now, Gentlemen, we cannot give probable an
iwer TO this quenion without previoufy examining
two or three queiions on which the anfwer to the
hrR niuf very much depend Is there faction in
France which breathes the prt and is likely to en-
Floy the language of this ode Does it PERFECTLY
accord with their character and views Is i. utterly
irreeoncileabe with the feelings, opinions, and wie.
ut Mr.. Peltier Iftheie queitions can be anfwered
in the affirmative, then think you nun agree with
me, that Mr. Peltier does not in this ode ipeak his
own entiments, that he does not here vent his own
Recruitment aganh Bonaparte, but that he perona,e,
aeobin, and adopts his language for the fake of i,
rizing his principles.
Thefe queftions, Gentlemen, lead me to thore psi.
teal deutiIons, which, generally fpeakng, are in
court of juhce odious and difgu0irg Here, howe
yer, they necenary, and fha confder them only
as far as the neceHites of this eaufe require.
Gentlemen, the French revoution--i mutt paufe
after have uttered words which prefent fiich an
overwhelming idea-But have not now TO engage
IN an enterprise 70 far beyond my force asthat of ex
-.....'.s Ju-sitif tremendous revolution
have only 10 eonhder the character of the faction,
which it nut have left behind IT,
he ol,,,.n, L.,
errors. rhefe errors produced atrocious crimes. a
mild and feeble monarchy was fucceeded by bloody
anarchy, which very ihorrly gave birth to military
deipotifni. France, ina few years, defcribed the
whole circle of human focsty.
All this was in the order of nature-when every
principle Of authority and civil deplne, when every
principle which enables fone men TO command and
dipoies others to obey extirpated from the mind
by atrooious theories, and ft more atroeious exam
pies; when every old inftitu,ion was trampled down
with eontumely, and every new inAtution covered
IN its cradle with blood; when the principle Of pro.
pery tfef the heet-apohor Of focirty, was annihi.
lated when in the perlons OF the new poiIeGors,
whom the poverty oflanguage obliges US to call pro-
prietors, was contaminated in its iource by robbery
and murder, and it became feparated from th.t edu-
cation and thole manners from that general preiump-
ton OF hyperion knowledge ard more ferupuous pro-
bi,y, which form its only liberal titles to refpee
when the people were taught defpife every thing
old, and compelled TO detef every thing new there
remained only one principle hrong enough to hold
fociety together, principle utterly Incompatible in
deed, with liberty, and unriendly TO civilization it.
fe tyranncal and barbarous principle, but, in that
milerable condition of human affairs, refuge from
ftiIl more intolerable evils; mean the principle of
military power, which gains treugth from that con-
futon and bloodfhed in which all the other elements
OF fociety dlolved, and which, in thefe terrible
extrenites, is the cemeHt that preferves it from total
defru6fion.
Under fuch circumstances, Bonaparte ufurped the
fupreme power in France FAY yis,Ptd becaufe an IL
legal afrmption OF power IS ufurpation. But ufur
patton, in its ronget moral fenfe is fcarcey appca
BILE to period of lawlefs and favage anarchy. The
guilt Of military ufurpa.ion, in truth, belongs to the
authors of ,hoe conditions which ooner or later give
bir,hto iueh an ufurpation
Thus TO ufe the words Of the hinorian, " by recent
as well all ancient example, it became evident,
9" that illegal violence with whatever pretence. it
may be covered, and whatever Object IL may pnr-
ue, Dlu inevitably end la III the arbitrary and
81 defpott government of fugle perlon-." But
though the government of Bonaparte has lenced the
revolutionary factions, it has and it cannot have
exringuifhed them. No human power could rein,-
pref: upon the minds of men all thole feptfmcuts and
opinions which the fophry and anarchy of fourteen
years had oblitsrated A faction muft exift, which
breathes the fpirit of the ode now before you.
1t IS, know, not the fPirt Of the quiet and fub-
n1rtve majority Of the French people. They have
2!w2ye rather FILTERED, than aGtd in, the revolution
Completely exhauGej by the caafnities through
which they have PaTed, they yield to any power
which gives them repofe. There is, indeed degree
of oppreffon which routes men to reliance, but
there s another anda greater which wholly fubdues
Il pftNf, Kla l. =. Il.