The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-04-25

be the enemies oftheir own privileges and the
advocates Of political equality. The beR of
all religions began with carpenters and labour-
ers, and the bet of all governments NUT imi-
tate the example. If England is ever to be-
come republic, ihe mutt fcek her apoftles
not in Vifcounts and Earls but i'm her Muirs and
her Hardys; in the untitled tillers of the earth
or in the honef inhabitants of her workshops
Let even the prefnt contribution of England
ftand. They may make very good fabric out
Oft, without knocking it to pieces and rafting
republic upon its ruins. Let its king, its lords
and Its hierarchy endure. A duke of Bedford
may fill fatten upon his income of 10000
pound year, not one cent of which is earned
by his labor or merted by his fervices; or a
prince ofWales may fti faddIe his prodigaty
and his debts upon the nation. But the people
would never murmur at thefe oppref1ions. 10
long as they could obtain radical reform in par
Iiament. Purge the representative branch of
the contribution throw out the rotten boz
roughs, the protogees of the peerage or the
contractors of the government let there be an
nual parliaments and univerial fuffrage let
taxes, loans and wars be at the difpoial of a
virtuous houfe of commons and not of cor
rupt minittry, and the people of England may
yet be happy.-But they need not look to the
prefent mniftry for thefe improvements, and
they need not look to any that England ever
without FORGETTING any of the patriotifm which
carried him there. Was not Jefferfon the We
ry hrlt man who propofed the reduction of Of
fees and falaries attached to his department !?
But in England, the age of political miracles
has not yet arrived or it has long fince gone
They know pretty well the difference between
the ms and the cuts, and they know too that
1t not merely difference of place but of
principles. Mr.. Pitt, their beazen-born minif
fer w in hIs time fra sc a..
took up the gay and popular doctrine of a
parliamentary reform, but MIR. Pitt foon fhow-
ed them, how eafy it was for &C patriot in op-
petition" to be a " courtier in power"
Are the prcfent minifters likely to be more
virtuous than their predeceifors Look at the
paf lives of mott of them. Are the Grenvilles
and the Windhams, the determined enemies of
the French revolution in its beft of times, the
once hand-and-glove friends of Mr.. Pitt, to
fprng up all at once into friends of the peo
Pile There are fome men who will be virtu-
Gus, becaufe they with to be coufiRent. But
even this ilendsr tie does not exit here Thefe
men are not bound up by their o0n PREDICTIONS.
| They may be vicious without even the fufpici-
on OF loiing a virtue. They have never de-
clared themfelves the friends of a parliamentary
reform and they never will be-Look even at
the conduct OF fome of them iince they came
into power. Can the people expect any nigh
| ty exertlon OF patrioiiim from men who are
| fquabbliDg & inarliug at this time with one auo
ther about the diltrbution of their places & fine
cures One man lays his hand upon the ordihip
OF the Cinque-portS & declares il is due to the
paf fervices of Lord Chatham another claims
1t for Mr.. Windham. Even the mercenarv
Cobbett himieif, the once active friend of the
federalifts in this country and now tie profeG
ed enemy of accumulated power, is OBLIGED RI
| blame his friend lord Grenvle for being at the
| fame time the .iHcumbcnt of an enormous pen
lion, auditor OF the exchequer and firft lord of
| the treatury. In fact, there is not Jingle Stan
hope among the prefent peers of the miniNry.
Nay we very much doubt, whether there is
Jingle Commoner among them who has the
| fame generous and unfhackled zeal that in 'e4
actuated Hardy and Horne Took, Muir and
| Gerald.
| Even Mr.. Fox himfef is no longer the anchor
of our hope. "During the American war. -
iaid the eloquent Gerald when addrefIing the
Scotch convention, I" reformers and patrio, 9
fPrung up like muthrooms, without any dimi.
mutton of public burdens. Like mufhrooms
they were ihort.lived for they fprung from
| foil of dung, bot-bed of corruption. Pin bat
/aceeeded p Fox, and Fox to Pift, zvitbout any
reform being obtained; but let us no longer put
faith in fuch men, unefs they bring forward a
reform founded on annual paraments and mi.
verbal iufrage that only is the kind of re-
form which will fatsfy the people, and which
| they will never ceae to claim as their due. De-
pend upon it, whenever the leaders of parties
fee that the people are determined upon having
their rights, they will not only endeavor to twin
along the itream, but will ftrive to diref its
courle. Truf them not-they did not come
forward in the hour of public danger ;.--Whv
then fhould they be trulted, when thew feek
your favor only for perfonal convenience p,
Thefe radical changes in their confitution
may not now be thought of or wif1ed for by
| the people, but there are fome fnaller evils
under which they have fufered fome which
| they had truggIed in parliament for years TO
put down. Now, that fome of their old friends
are in the miniltry they will grafp at this oppor-
tunity to revive their pretenfions.* The diff
fenters will petition MIR. Fox for repeal of the
teft act the Roman Catholics for the grant Of
the elective franchife, and the friends Of Ireland
for a repeal of the union-a6t. This is no longer
conjecture but it is fact. The Catholics of
Dublin have already had meeting to enforce
their claims. The quefion of the Union has al
ready been ftarted twice in parliament. As to the
dinenters, they feem as yet to have donenotIinr.
Let not the government expect any indulgence
on thefe points. If the people have no redrefs
in the period of peace they will feek il in tbe