e to Parliament, as he did in the case of Bolingbroke's
encomium, for forgetting his lesson; and, with this admonition I leave
him.

Having thus informed the Addressers of what passed at the meeting of
Parliament, I return to take up the subject at the part where I broke
off in order to introduce the preceding speeches.

I was then stating, that the first policy of the Government party was
silence, and the next, clamorous contempt; but as people generally
choose to read and judge for themselves, the work still went on, and the
affectation of contempt, like the silence that preceded it, passed for
nothing.

Thus foiled in their second scheme, their evil genius, like a
will-with-a-wisp, led them to a third; when all at once, as if it had
been unfolded to them by a fortune-teller, or Mr. Dundas had discovered
it by second sight, this once harmless, insignificant book, without
undergoing the alteration of a single letter, became a most wicked and
dangerous Libel. The whole Cabinet, like a ship's crew, became alarmed;
all hands were piped upon deck, as if a conspiracy of elements was
forming around them, and out came the Proclamation and the Prosecution;
and Addresses supplied the place of prayers.

Ye silly swains, thought I to myself, why do you torment yourselves
thus? The Rights OF Man is a book calmly and rationally written; why
then are you so disturbed? Did you see how little or how suspicious such
conduct makes you appear, even cunning alone, had you no other faculty,
would hush you into prudence. The plans, principles, and arguments,
contained in that work, are placed before the eyes of the nation, and
of the world, in a fair, open, and manly manner, and nothing more is
necessary than to refute them. Do this, and the whole is done; but if ye
cannot, so neither can ye suppress the reading, nor convict the author;
for the Law, in the opinion of all good men, would convict itself, that
should condemn what cannot be refuted.

Having now shown the Addressers the several stages of the business,
prior to their being called upon, like Caesar in the Tyber, crying to
Cassius, "_help, Cassius, or I sink_!" I next come to remark on the
policy of the Government, in promoting Addresses; on the consequences
naturally resulting therefrom; and on the conduct of the persons
concerned.

With respect to the policy, it evidently carries with it every mark
and feature of disguised fear. And it will hereafter be placed in the
hist