342 THE WHIGS AND THE RADICALS. [1819. 



a mere bravado. Her business, which in any circum- 

 stances must be disagreeable enough to all who cannot 

 avoid taking some part in it, would have become much 

 more so by her arrival in England. I should, however, 

 have felt some hesitation in taking upon myself the 

 responsibility of advising her not to come ; for if she 

 had done so, and played all her game, I am convinced 

 she would have beaten the Prince and his foolish 

 adviser Leach out of the field. "Whatever course this 

 business may take, we, as a party, have nothing to do 

 but to observe the most perfect neutrality, and to de- 

 cide upon the evidence as we should do in any other 

 case. This I for one feel myself enabled to do with 

 the truest impartiality, being, to use a word which 

 has acquired some celebrity, quite free from any pre- 

 dilections. 



" The Manchester business has been, you see, much 

 more serious than you apprehended. According to all 

 the statements I have got now, even those in the min- 

 isterial papers, nothing could be more unjustifiable 

 than the conduct of the magistrates in employing the 

 military as they did. Whether this will be the feeling 

 of the country remains to be seen : if not, the conse- 

 quences may prove most fatal to the freedom of the 

 country : and this indeed is one of the most mischiev- 

 ous effects of the proceedings of the Eadicals, that by 

 abusing popular privileges they establish precedents 

 for abridging them. My views of the state of the 

 country are more and more gloomy. Everything is 

 tending, and has been for some time tending, to a com- 

 plete separation between the higher and lower orders 

 of society ; a state of things which can only end in the 

 destruction of liberty, or in a convulsion which may 



