210 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



leagued to enslave their peoples ; and our own 

 government, supported by a demi-oligarchy, was 

 so deeply connected with them. Loan after loan 

 was wrung from the British people under various 

 pretexts, but in reality to support despotism under 

 the disguise of legitimacy. Granted, that an honest 

 House of Commons might have supported legiti- 

 macy, they should have openly expressed disap- 

 probation at the lost liberties of nations of enslaved 

 people. Protests of this kind, however, did not fit 

 with the notions of the representatives of borough - 

 mongers, who composed the majority of the honour- 

 able House, and who had long been used to treat 

 the people and their petitions with unblushing 

 neglect or contempt. 



In this state of things, politics ran high ; an 

 unpleasant ferment soured the minds of a great 

 majority of the people ; and it cannot be wondered 

 that they were, with difficulty, kept within bounds. 

 Those who had been used to batten on the wages 

 of corruption became excessively alarmed, and, 

 under the pretence of preserving the constitution, 

 resorted to a system of espionage, and of gaols 

 and bastiles, and left no stone unturned to throw 

 odium upon their opponents, the advocates of 

 liberty, who were branded with the nicknames of 

 Jacobins, Levellers, Radicals, &c., &c. The pen of 

 literature was prostituted to overshade the actions 

 of good men, and to gloss over the enormities 

 of the base. . The energies of many members 

 of both Houses of Parliament were unavailing 

 against this compact confederacy of undeserving 

 placemen and pensioners, who were bound to- 

 gether by fellow feelings of self-interest, in which 

 all ideas of public trust were lost in private con- 



