rves but to root it more
firmly than before. There is another case, also, which is very
applicable at the present moment. If there be something in the nature
and designs of the conspiracy, so odious in its means, its character,
and its objects, as to enlist against the conspirators sensations of
horror, indignation, and contempt, one gains from public feeling very
much more by its discovery and exposure, than even by the power of
fear over the disaffected, and the elevation of triumph on the part
of the well disposed. But in other circumstances, either when partial
discoveries are made, when the success is not of the most absolute,
general, and distinct kind, when the objects of the conspirators
excite many sympathies, the errors they commit admit of easy
palliation, the means they employ are noble, generous, and
chivalrous, and the fate they undergo is likely to produce
commiseration, the detection and crushing of them only tends to
multiply and strengthen similar endeavours. With such conspiracies as
these, no wise minister will ever meddle, if he can help it; the more
quiet the means he can adopt to frustrate them, the better; the less
he exposes them and brings them into light, the greater will be his
success; for they are like the Lernwan serpent, whose heads
multiplied as they were smitten off; and it is far more easy to
smother them privately than to smite them in public. This is the view
I myself take of the matter; this is the view the King takes of it;
and you may have remarked that there has been no attempt made for
many years to investigate or punish plots here and there, although we
have had the proofs that hundreds existed every year. In this
instance, however, the matter is different. There is reason to
believe that the present conspiracy is one of such a dark and
horrible nature, as instantly to excite the indignation of the whole
people, to make all the better part of the Jacobites ashamed of the
deeds of their friends, and to rouse up universal feelings of loyalty
throughout the land. The fact is, the thing is already discovered.
Information has long been tendered to the government by various
persons implicated: but acting upon the plan which we have generally
pursued, such advances have been met coldly, till last night more
distinct, and definite information was given by some one, who, instead
of being actuated by motives of gain, or of fear, as we suspected in
all other cases, came forward, it seems, from personal feelings of
gratitude