if I had not much rather pass the remainder of my life hidden in the recesses of the deepest obscurity, feeding my mind even with the visions and imaginations of such things, than to be placed on the most splendid throne of the universe, tantalized with a denial of the practice of all which can make the greatest situation any other than the greatest curse. Gentlemen, I have had my day. I can never sufficiently express my gratitude to you for having set me in a place, wherein I could lend the slightest help to great and laudable designs. If I have had my share, in any measure giving quiet to private property, and private conscience; if by my vote I have aided in securing to families the best possession, peace; if I have joined in reconciling kings to their subjects, and subjects to their prince; if I have assisted to loosen the foreign holdings of the citizen, and taught him to look for his protection to the laws of his country, and for his comfort to the good-will of his countrymen; -if I have thus taken my part with the best of men in the best of their actions, I can shut the book;-I might wish to read a page or two more -but this is enough for my measure. I have not lived in vain. And now, gentlemen, on this serious day, when I come, as it were, to make up my account with you, let me take to myself some degree of honest pride on the nature of the charges that are against me. I do not here stand before you accused of venality, or of neglect of duty. It is not said, that, in the long period of my service, I have in a single instance sacrificed the slightest of your interests to my ambition, or to my fortune. It is not alleged, that to gratify any anger or revenge of my own, or of my party, I have had a share in wronging or oppressing any description of men, or any one man in any description. No! the charges against me are all of one kind, that I have pushed the principles of general justice and benevolence too far; further than a cautious policy would warrant; and further than the opinions of many would go along with me.-In every accident which may happen through life, in pain, in sorrow, in depres sion, and distress-I will call to mind this accusation; and be comforted. Gentlemen, I submit the whole to your judg ment. Mr. Mayor, I thank you for the troubl you have taken on this occasion: in your state of health, it is particularly obliging. If this compan should think it advisable for me to withdraw, I shall respectfully retire; if you think otherwise. shall go directly to the Council-house and to the Change, and, without a moment's delay, begin ny canvass. BRISTOL, September 6, 1780. Ar a great and respectable meeting of the friends of EDMUND BURKE, Esq. held at the Guildhall this day; The Right Worshipful the Mayor in the Chair: Resolved, That Mr. Burke, as a representative for this city, has done all possible honour to himself as a senator and a man, and that we do heartily and honestly approve of his conduct, as the result of an enlightened loyalty to his sovereign; a warm and zealous love to his country, through its widely-extended empire; a jealous and watchful care of the liberties of his fellow-subjects; an enlarged and liberal understanding of our commercial interest; a humane attention to the circumstances of even the lowest ranks of the community; and a truly wise, politick, and tolerant spirit, in supporting the national church, with a reasonable indulgence to all who dissent from it; and we wish to express the most marked abhorrence of the base arts which have been employed, without regard to truth and reason, to misrepresent his eminent services to his country. Resolved, That this resolution be copied out, and signed by the chairman, and be by him pre sented to Mr. Burke, as the fullest expression his merits and services, public and private, to the the respectful and grateful sense we entertain citizens of Bristol, as a man and a representative Resolved, That the thanks of this meeting he given to the right worshipful the Mayor, who s ably and worthily presided in this meeting. Resolved, That it is the earnest request of tas meeting to Mr. Burke, that he should again of himself a candidate to represent this city in par liament; assuring him of that full and strenuc support which is due to the merits of so excelle a representative. THIS business being over, Mr. Burke went t the Exchange, and offered himself as a candida in the usual manner. He was accompanied to t Council-house, and from thence to the Exchan by a large body of most respectable gentlemes. amongst whom were the following members of th corporation, viz. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Alderman Smak Mr. Alderman Deane, Mr. Alderman Gordon William Weare, Samuel Munckley, John Mel John Crofts, Levy Ames, John Fisher Weare. Bejamin Loscombe, Philip Protheroe, Samuel St Joseph Smith, Richard Bright, and John Nick. Esquires. MR. BURKE'S SPEECH AT BRISTOL, ON DECLINING THE POLL. 1780. BRISTOL, Saturday, Sept. 9, 1780. This morning the sheriff and candidates assembled as usual at the Council-house, and from thence proceeded to Guildhall. Proclamation being made for the electors to appear and give their votes, Mr. BURKE stood forward on the hustings, surrounded by a great number of the corporation and other principal citizens, and addressed himself to the whole assembly as follows: GENTLEMEN, I DECLINE the election. It has ever been my rule through life, to observe a proportion between my efforts and my objects. I have never been remarkable for a bold, active, and sanguine pursuit of advantages that are personal to myself. I have not canvassed the whole of this city in form. But I have taken such a view of it as satisfies my own mind, that your choice will not ultimately fall upon me. Your city, gentlemen, s in a state of miserable distraction; and I am resolved to withdraw whatever share my pretensions may have had in its unhappy divisions. I have not been in haste; I have tried all prudent Leans; I have waited for the effect of all contingencies. If I were fond of a contest, by the paruality of my numerous friends, (whom you know to be among the most weighty and respectable people of the city,) I have the means of a sharp one in my hands. But I thought it far better with my strength unspent, and my reputation unimpaired, to do, early and from foresight, that which might be obliged to do from necessity at last. I am not in the least surprised, nor in the least angry at this view of things. I have read the book life for a long time, and I have read other books a little. Nothing has happened to me, but what has happened to men much better than me, and n times and in nations full as good as the age and ountry that we live in. To say that I am no way concerned, would be neither decent nor true. The representation of Bristol was an object on many accounts dear to me; and I certainly should very far prefer it to any other in the kingdom. My habits are made to it; and it is in general more unpleasant to be rejected after long trial, than not to be chosen at all. But, gentlemen, I will see nothing except your former kindness, and I will give way to no other sentiments than those of gratitude. From the bottom of my heart I thank you for what you have done for me. You have given me a long term, which is now expired. I have performed the conditions, and enjoyed all the profits, to the full; and I now surrender your estate into your hands, without being in a single tile or a single stone impaired or wasted by my use. I have served the publick for fifteen years. I have served you in particular for six. What is passed is well stored. It is safe, and out of the power of fortune. What is to come, is in wiser hands than ours; and he, in whose hands it is, best knows whether it is best for you and me that I should be in parliament, or even in the world. Gentlemen, the melancholy event of yesterday. reads to us an awful lesson against being too much troubled about any of the objects of ordinary ambition. The worthy gentleman,* who has been snatched from us at the moment of the election, and in the middle of the contest, whilst his desires were as warm, and his hopes as eager as ours, has feelingly told us, what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue. It has been usual for a candidate who declines, to take his leave by a letter to the sheriffs; but I received your trust in the face of day, and in the face of day I accept your dismission. I am not,I am not at all ashamed to look upon you; nor can my presence discompose the order of business here. I humbly and respectfully take my leave of the sheriffs, the candidates, and the electors; wishing heartily that the choice may be for the best, at a time which calls, if ever time did call, for service that is not nominal. It is no plaything you are about. I tremble when I consider the trust I have presumed to ask. I confided perhaps too much in my intentions. They were really fair and upright; and I am bold to say, that I ask no ill thing for you, when on parting from this place I pray that whomever you choose to succeed me, he may resemble me exactly in all things, except in my abilities to serve, and my fortune to please you. MR. BURKE'S SPEECH, ON THE FIRST OF DECEMBER, 1783, UPON THE QUESTION FOR THE SPEAKER'S LEAVING THE CHAIR, IN ORDER FOR THE HOUSE TO RESOLVE ITSELF INTO A COMMITTEE, ON MR. FOX'S EAST-INDIA BILL. MR. SPEAKER, unfitness of the plan to attain the direct object it I THANK you for pointing to me. I really wished much to engage your attention in an early stage of the debate. I have been long very deeply, though perhaps ineffectually, engaged in the preliminary enquiries, which have continued without intermission for some years. Though I have felt, with some degree of sensibility, the natural and inevitable impressions of the several matters of fact, as they have been successively disclosed, I have not at any time attempted to trouble you on the merits of the subject; and very little on any of the points which incidentally arose in the course of our proceedings. But I should be sorry to be found totally silent upon this day. Our enquiries are now come to their final issue:-It is now to be determined whether the three years of laborious parliamentary research, whether the twenty years of patient Indian suffering, are to It has been a little painful to me to observe th produce a substantial reform in our eastern admi-intrusion into this important debate of such co nistration; or whether our knowledge of the grievances has abated our zeal for the correction of them, and our very enquiry into the evil was only a pretext to elude the remedy, which is demanded from us by humanity, by justice, and by every principle of true policy. Depend upon it, this business cannot be indifferent to our fame. It will turn out a matter of great disgrace, or great glory, to the whole British nation. We are on a conspicuous stage, and the world marks our de meanour. I am therefore a little concerned to perceive the spirit and temper in which the debate has been all along pursued upon one side of the house. The declamation of the gentlemen who oppose the bill has been abundant and vehement; but they have been reserved and even silent about the fitness or pany as quo warranto, and mandamus, and err tiorari; as if we were on a trial about mayors a aldermen, and capital burgesses; or engaged suit concerning the borough of Penryn, or Saltist or St. Ives, or St. Mawes. Gentlemen have arg with as much heat and passion, as if the first th in the world were at stake; and their topicks & such as belong only to matter of the lowest a meanest litigation. It is not right, it is not worth of us, in this manner to depreciate the value.# degrade the majesty, of this grave deliberation f policy and empire. For my part, I have thought myself bec when a matter of this extraordinary weight ca before me, not to consider (as some gentlemen ar so fond of doing) whether the bill originated £- a a secretary of state for the home department. from a secretary for the foreign, from a minister 1st. That the bill is an attack on the chartered rights of men. 2dly. That it encreases the influence of the crown. 3dly. That it does not encrease, but diminishes, the influence of the crown, in order to pro mote the interests of certain ministers and their party. 4thly. That it deeply affects the national credit. As to the first of these objections; I must observe that the phrase of " the chartered rights of men," is full of affectation; and very unusual in the discussion of privileges conferred by charters of the present description. But it is not difficult to discover what end that ambiguous mode of expression, so often reiterated, is meant to answer. The rights of men, that is to say, the natural rights of mankind, are indeed sacred things; and if any publick measure is proved mischievously to affect them, the objection ought to be fatal to that measure, even if no charter at all could be set up against it. If these natural rights are further af It is not only agreed, but demanded, by the right honourable gentleman,† and by those who act with him, that a whole system ought to be produced; that it ought not to be an half measure; that it ought to be no palliative; but a legislative provision, vigorous, substantial, and effective. I believe that no man who understands the sub-firmed and declared by express covenants, if they ect can doubt for a moment, that those must be he conditions of any thing deserving the name of a reform in the Indian government; that any hing short of them would not only be delusive, ut, in this matter which admits no medium, oxious in the extreme. To all the conditions proposed by his adversaries he mover of the bill perfectly agrees; and on his erformance of them he rests his cause. On the ther hand, not the least objection has been taken, ith regard to the efficiency, the vigour, or the ompleteness of the scheme. I am therefore waranted to assume, as a thing admitted, that the ills accomplish what both sides of the house deand as essential. The end is completely answerd, so far as the direct and immediate object is oncerned. But though there are no direct, yet there are arious collateral, objections made; objections from e effects which this plan of reform for Indian adnistration may have on the privileges of great ublick bodies in England; from its probable inuence on the constitutional rights, or on the freeom and integrity, of the several branches of the gislature. Before I answer these objections, I must beg leave › observe, that if we are not able to contrive me method of governing India well, which will ot of necessity become the means of governing ireat Britain ill, a ground is laid for their eternal paration; but none for sacrificing the people of at country to our constitution. I am however ar from being persuaded that any such incompaibility of interest does at all exist. On the conrary, I am certain that every means, effectual to reserve India from oppression, is a guard to preerve the British constitution from its worst coruption. To shew this, I will consider the objecons, which I think are four: • An allusion made by Mr. Powis. are clearly defined and secured against chicane, against power, and authority, by written instruments and positive engagements, they are in a still better condition: they partake not only of the sanctity of the object so secured, but of that solemn publick faith itself, which secures an object of such importance. Indeed this formal recognition, by the sovereign power, of an original right in the subject, can never be subverted, but by rooting up the holding, radical principles of government, and even of society itself. The charters, which we call by distinction great, are publick instruments of this nature; I mean the charters of King John and King Henry the third. The things secured by these instruments may, without any deceitful ambiguity, be very fitly called the chartered rights of men. Of These charters have made the very name of a charter dear to the heart of every Englishman.— But, Sir, there may be, and there are charters, not only different in nature, but formed on principles the very reverse of those of the great charter. this kind is the charter of the East-India company. Magna charta is a charter to restrain power, and to destroy monopoly. The East-India charter is a charter to establish monopoly, and to create power. Political power and commercial monopoly are not the rights of men; and the rights of them derived from charters, it is fallacious and sophistical to call "the chartered rights of men." These chartered rights (to speak of such charters and of their effects in terms of the greatest possible moderation) do at least suspend the natural rights of mankind at large; and in the very frame and constitution are liable to fall into a direct violation of them. It is a charter of this latter description (that is to say a charter of power and monopoly) which is affected by the bill before you. The bill, Sir, does, without question, affect it; it does affect it essen ↑ Mr. Pitt. tially and substantially. But having stated to you | of what description the chartered rights are which this bill touches, I feel no difficulty at all in acknowledging the existence of those chartered rights, in their fullest extent. They belong to the company in the surest manner; and they are secured to that body by every sort of publick sanction. They are stamped by the faith of the king; they are stamped by the faith of parliament; they have been bought for money, for money honestly and fairly paid; they have been bought for valuable consideration, over and over again. I therefore freely admit to the East-India company their claim to exclude their fellow-subjects from the commerce of half the globe. I admit their claim to administer an annual territorial revenue of seven millions sterling; to command an army of sixty thousand men; and to dispose (under the controul of a sovereign, imperial discretion, and with the due observance of the natural and local law) of the lives and fortunes of thirty millions of their fellow-creatures. All this they possess by charter, and by acts of parliament, (in my opinion,) without a shadow of controversy. Those who carry the rights and claims of the company the furthest, do not contend for more than this; and all this I freely grant. But granting all this, they must grant to me in my turn, that all political power which is set over men, and that all privilege claimed or exercised in exclusion of them, being wholly artificial, and for so much a derogation from the natural quality of mankind at large, ought to be some way or other exercised ultimately for their benefit. If this is true with regard to every species of political dominion, and every description of commercial privilege, none of which can be original, self-derived rights, or grants for the mere private benefit of the holders, then such rights, or privileges, or whatever else you choose to call them, are all in the strictest sense a trust; and it is of the very essence of every trust to be rendered accountable; and even totally to cease, when it substantially varies from the purposes for which alone it could have a lawful existence. This I conceive, Sir, to be true of trusts of power vested in the highest hands, and of such as seem to hold of no human creature. But about the application of this principle to subordinate, derivative trusts, I do not see how a controversy can be maintained. To whom then would I make the East-India company accountable? Why, to parliament, to be sure; to parliament, from which their trust was derived; to parliament, which alone is capable of comprehending the magnitude of its object, and its abuse; and alone capable of an effectual legislative remedy. The very charter, which is held out to exclude parliament from correcting malversation with regard to the high trust vested in the company, is the very thing which at once gives a title and imposes on us a duty to interfere with effect, wherever power and authority originating from ourselves are perverted from their purposes, and become instruments of wrong and violence. If parliament, Sir, had nothing to do with this charter, we might have some sort of Epicurean excuse to stand aloof, indifferent spectators of what passes in the company's name in India and in London. But if we are the very cause of the evil, we are in a special manner engaged to the redress; and for us passively to bear with oppressions committed under the sanction of our own authority. is in truth and reason for this house to be an active accomplice in the abuse. That the power, notoriously, grossly abused, has been bought from us is very certain. But this circumstance, which is urged against the bill, becomes an additional motive for our interference: lest we should be thought to have sold the blood of millions of men, for the base consideration of money. We sold, I admit, all that we had t sell; that is, our authority, not our control. We had not a right to make a market of ou duties. I ground myself therefore on this principlethat if the abuse is proved, the contract is broker and we re-enter into all our rights; that is, int the exercise of all our duties. Our own authority is indeed as much a trust originally, as the con pany's authority is a trust derivatively; and it the use we make of the resumed power that me justify or condemn us in the resumption of When we have perfected the plan laid before y by the right honourable mover, the world w then see what it is we destroy, and what it is create. By that test we stand or fall; and t that test I trust that it will be found in the issue that we are going to supersede a charter abuse to the full extent of all the powers which it ch abuse, and exercised in the plenitude of despots tyranny, and corruption; and that in one and t same plan, we provide a real chartered secur for the rights of men, cruelly violated under t charter. This bill, and those connected with it, are tended to form the magna charta of Hindoste Whatever the treaty of Westphalia is to the libert of the princes and free cities of the empire, to the three religions there professed-What, ve the great charter, the statute of tallege, the tion of right, and the declaration of right, are Great Britain, these bills are to the people of is dia. Of this benefit, I am certain, their condas is capable; and when I know that they are cap ble of more, my vote shall most assuredly be our giving to the full extent of their capacity receiving; and no charter of dominion shall stat as a bar in my way to their charter of safety protection. The strong admission I have made of the e pany's rights (I am conscious of it) binds me ti do a great deal. I do not presume to condr** those who argue a priori, against the propret leaving such extensive political powers in the harfi of a company of merchants. I know much is, ** 2 much more may be, said against such a sys6 7 |