46] 
membrance is far from being agree- 
able to the people of England ; not- 
withstanding that it produced an 
Elizabeth, whose tyrannical disposi- 
tion and maxims tarnished the lus- 
tre of all her great qualities.. The 
despotism of that house was indig- 
nantly recalled to notice on this oc~ 
casion, and the severity of the two 
acts in question, compared to the 
most arbitrary and oppressive pro- 
ceedings of the sovereigns of Eng- 
land, previous to the commencement 
of the seventeenth century. 
It was owned, at the same time, 
by every candid mind, that if, on 
the one hand, there was danger 
to be apprehended, from measures 
tending to despotism, there was, on 
the other, danger in allowing ap un- 
restrained freedom of haranguing the 
populace; a freedom that tended to 
anarchy and confusion. If, on the 
one hand, it be the nature of power 
to mount, with hasty steps, into the 
throne of despotism, it seems to be 
inseparable from ‘liberty, on the 
other, to push its claims beyond a 
‘just and reasonable degree of free» 
dom. Amidst a scarcity of grain; 
an accumulation of taxes; an un- 
successful, not to say unnecessary 
war; difficulties abroad; distresses 
at home :—when the elements were 
troubled, and a storm so greatly 
threatened, silence was imposed on 
the ship’s crew, and each man was 
fixed to his particular station. 
The danger to be apprehended 
from the operation of those laws did 
hot consist so much in any immediate 
restraint they might impose on a rea- 
sonable freedom of discussion, and 
presentation of petitions to the legis- 
lature, whether for the redress or the 
prevention of grievances, as in the 
tendency they had to enervate the 
spirit of liberty. The consequences 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1796. 
of many, nay most, innovations are 
not perceivedat first: otherwise they 
would, in many instances, beimme~ 
"diately resisted. By the time that pers 
nicious innovations are perceived, 
custom and habit have rendered 
them less odious and intolerable. 
Precedents, growing into authori« 
ties, rise into absolute dominion, by 
slow degrees; by accessions and dis- 
tant encroachments, each of which, 
singly considered, seemed of little 
importance. The vanity of resist- 
ance at last breaks the spirit of the 
people, and disposes them to unres 
served submission. Their political 
importance being wholly gone, they 
are degraded, more and more, and 
subjected to greater and greater op- 
pressions and insults.—It was obs 
served by many, even of those who 
were disposed to admit the tempora~ 
ry expediency of the twounpopular 
and odious acts, that the greater part 
by far or our new laws have a refer- 
ence, either to public revenue or to 
the security of the monarchical part 
of the constitution: and that few, of 
any extensive Operation, are.of the 
class that may be denominated po- 
pular and paternal. 
The only alleviation that accom- 
panied the two acts, was the time li- 
mited for their duration. This kept’ 
up the spirits and hopes of the people, 
that however their representatives 
might have been prevailed upon to 
suspend the exereise of those privi« 
leges, on which the national freedom 
depended, they were too wise, as 
well as too honest, to trust them in 
the hands of the executive power, 
any longer than they might be con 
yinced was requisite for the fermen- 
tation of the times to subside, and 
for the people to revert to their 
former temper. 
CHAP, — 
