BB 4 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. 
Art.XXXIII. Fhe Substance of a Speech intended to have been spoken in the House of 
Lords, Nov. 22, 1803. By R. Watson, Lord Bishop of Llandaff. 8vo. pp. 46. 
THE short administration of the 
marquis of Lansdowne was distinguished 
by a wise selection of the objects of pro- 
motion: but a preference of candidates 
for advancement, recommended only by 
their merit, to those supported by par- 
Samentary connexion, is but too sure to 
combine against a minister the consti- 
tuted authorities. The elevation of the 
hishop of Llandaff was among the be- 
nefits conferred on Great Britain, by 
that short, but truly patriotic admini- 
stration. 
The speech before us contains three 
distinct propositions, not equally within 
the province of this venerable prelate. 
First occurs a proposal for a rotatory 
militia, for training all the young men 
of the country, who have passed their 
seventeenth year, to the use of arms 
during six successive years. "This is not 
an impracticahle, nor an absurd plan: 
the military exercises promote health, 
bestow grace, aflord amusement, and 
liberalize the manners. They tend to 
break down the barriers of rank and 
the arrogance of inequality, to open the 
gates ‘of advancement to spirit, and to 
unite a whole nation in a brotherhood 
of feeling and affection. But they also 
tend to introduce an earlier libertinism : 
and thus to increase the proportion of 
prostitution, of bastardy, and of the un- 
domesticated, uneducated, and impro- 
vident poor. Early libertinism in the 
mumerous classes is accompanied with 
heavier demands on the pocket, than the 
wages of incipient skill can usually sup- 
ply: the temptations to pecuniary im- 
probity are thus increased. In a com- 
mercial country this is a very alarming 
consideration: the exchange of honesty 
‘for honour among the industrious classes, 
is utter ruin. Impatience of confinement 
is probably another consequence of mi- 
litary habits, not very desirable in a 
mercantile nation ; so that there is reason 
to pause before the usual division of 
Jabour is abolished, and the whole mass 
of our youth is barbarized into a sol- 
diery. The bishop will not disapprove 
eur discussing the morality of his pro- 
ject. 
Secondly occurs a proposal for the 
payment of the national debt; but as 
the means of accomplishing this magni- 
ficent scheme are veiled in obscurity, we 
can neither admire the ingenuity, nor 
dispute the practicability cf the plan. 
There is a figure of rhetoric, which the 
French call a Gasconade, and which the 
English snipe denominate a Welshism, 
under which it seems most rational to 
class the eloquent passages relative to 
this expensive enterprize. ° 
Thirdly occurs a proposal for the co- 
establishment of popery, and the ex- 
tension to all dissenters of eligibility to 
office. Here the bishop is at home; he 
argues with acandour, a liberality, and 
an earnestness worthy of his generous 
cause. 
** One circumstance in the situation of 
Ireland. has always appeared to me an ;hard- 
ship, and that hardship still remains wndi- 
minished. I have always thought it. an 
hardship, that a great majority of the Irish 
people should be obliged, at their own ex- 
pence, to provide religious teachers for them- 
selves and their f*milies. I have the copy of 
a letter, in my possession, to the duke of 
Rutland when lord lieutenant of Ireland, in 
which Ef pressed upon his consideration, the 
peoenety of making a provision for the ca- 
tholic bishops and clergy in that country ; 
and J have been assured by men, well ac- 
quainted with the temper of the Irish, that 
had such a measure been then judiciousl 
adopted, a rebellion would have been setae 
and Ireland would long ago have been 
tranquillized. Whether the time for trying 
such a mean of tranquillization be now so 
passed that it cannot be recalled, 1 know 
not; but whether it be so passed or not, the 
measure itself, being founded in justice, is 
not unworthy the consideration of goyern- 
ment. I love, my lords, to have politics, 
on all occasions, founded on substantial jus~ 
tice, and never on apparent temporary expe- 
dience, in violation of justice; and it does 
appear to me to be just,—That the religious 
teachers of a large majority of a state should 
be maintained at the public expence. / 
<< If you would make men good subjects, 
deal gently with their errors ; give them time 
to get rid of their prejudices; and especially 
take care to leave them no just ground for 
complaint. Men may for a time be inflamed 
by passion, or may mistake their pertinacity 
for a virtue, or may be misled by bad asso-. 
ciates; but leave them no just ground of 
complaint, and their aberrations from recti- 
tude of public conduct will never be lasting ; 
truth and justice, though occasionally ob- 
structed in their progress, never fail at length 
to produce their proper effect. 
“* Justice, I think, may be done to the 
catholics, without injustice being done ta: 
the protestants.—The protestant clergy may 
continue to possess the tithes of the couxtry; 
