eaking of one
of the imaginary popish plots, Mr. Fox expresses himself thus: "Wherefore,
if this question were to be decided upon the ground of authority, the
reality of the plot {41} would be admitted; but there are cases, where
reason speaks so plainly, as to make all argument drawn from authority of
no avail, and this is surely one of them." And, a few pages after, we have
the following striking passage: "Even after the dissolution of his last
parliament, when he had so far subdued his enemies as to be no longer under
any apprehensions from them, the king did not think it worth while to save
the life of Plunket, the popish archbishop of Armagh, of whose innocence no
doubt could be entertained. But this is not to be wondered at, since, in
all transactions relative to the popish plot, minds, of a very different
cast from Charles's, became, as by some fatality, divested of all their
wonted sentiments of justice and humanity. Who can read, without horror,
the account of that savage murmur of applause, which broke out upon one of
the villains at the bar swearing positively to Stafford's having proposed
the murder of the king? And how is this horror deepened when we reflect,
that in that odious cry were, probably, {42} mingled the voices of men to
whose memory every lover of the English constitution is bound to pay the
tribute of gratitude and respect! Even after condemnation, lord Russel
himself, whose character is wholly (this instance excepted) free from the
stain of rancour or cruelty, stickled for the severer mode of executing the
sentence, in a manner which his fear for the king's establishing a
precedent of pardoning in cases of impeachment (for this, no doubt, was his
motive) cannot satisfactorily excuse[20]." Now what does the writer of the
pamphlet before me say? "It is fashionable, with many reasoners, to treat
all history as a fable, and to set up for themselves in matters of policy,
in defiance of the testimony of antiquity. These persons would assign the
same office to the records of past ages, as they would to the _stern
lights_ of a vessel, which serve only to throw a light over the path which
has been passed, and not over that which lies before us. I trust, however,
that there are yet many among us who {43} have not been so taught." It is,
indeed, but too fashionable to put up fantastic reasoning against
authority, and particularly against sacred authority; but reason, which
knows to distinguish the nature of