William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville Quotes

The final resolution must be now taken, either to stop the evil here, or to acquiesce in its progress until it actually brings us to insurrection and civil war.

I can see no grounds, in the state of this country, to hope for such an exception in our favour, and I do verily believe that we must prepare to meet the storm here, and that we must not count upon the continuance of a state of domestic tranquillity which has already lasted so much beyond the period usually allotted to it in the course of human events. I trust that we shall at least meet it with more firmness than our neighbours, but even in order to do this, we ought not to blind ourselves at the moment of its approach. It seems too probable that it is decreed by Providence that a stop should be put (for reasons probably inscrutable to us) to the progress of arts and civilization among us. It is a melancholy reflection to be born to the commencement of such a scene, and to be called to bear a principal share in it, but I trust we may hope that our strength may be proportioned to our trial.

Obedience to the laws was very properly regarded as a principal source of improvement. He admitted that no country could be tranquil or prosperous, where the laws were not generally obeyed; but before they could expect that general obedience, the laws themselves ought to be made equal to all.

As to the state of public affairs, it seems to me that war is inevitable—that war, if it comes, must a little sooner or a little later, place the government in Pitt's hands; and that this ought to be the wish of every man, who thinks it at all material to himself, whether Bonaparte shall or not treat us in twelve months, precisely in the style he has now treated the Swiss.

We were enfeebled, but not broken down: we were lowered, but not debased. Some of our out-works had been demolished; many of them surrendered to the foe; but the citadel yet remained; and while it was defended by the noble courage of united Britons, it would bid defiance to attack. We should meet with mortifications and disappointments; but we should, he trusted, still preserve our honour, our constitution, and our religion.

Ireland is our weakest point, and to that our attention must be most directed; for anything else I have very little apprehension.

The assertion of the House of Commons, in which their lordships committee had unanimously concurred, was, that they were satisfied there was a design now openly professed and acted upon, which aimed at nothing less than a traitorous conspiracy for the subversion of the established laws and constitution of the kingdom, and to introduce that system of anarchy and confusion which had fatally prevailed in France; and he was sorry to say, that this had not been discouraged, on the contrary it had been encouraged in many instances, and that at a time when we were at war for the maintenance of every thing that was dear to us, and to every civilized nation in the world. From the first moment that those who brought on the revolution in France found themselves strong enough to avow their real principles and designs, their mischievous system commenced, and they began to disturb this and other countries, under the name of reform.

All my ambition is that I may at some time hereafter, when I am freed from all active concern in such a scene as this is, have the inexpressible satisfaction of being able to look back upon it, and to tell myself that I have contributed to keep my own country at least a little longer from sharing in all the evils of every sort that surround us. I am more and more convinced that this can only be done by keeping wholly and entirely aloof, and by watching much at home, but doing very little indeed; endeavouring to nurse up in the country a real determination to stand by the Constitution when it is attacked, as it most infallibly will be if these things go on; and, above all, trying to make the situation of the lower orders among us as good as it can be made. In this view, I have seen with the greatest satisfaction the steps taken in different parts of the country for increasing wages, which I hold to be a point of absolute necessity, and of a hundred times more importance than all that the most doing Government could do in twenty years towards keeping the country quiet. I trust we may again be enabled to contribute to the same object by the repeal of taxes, but of that we cannot yet be sure. Sure I am, at least I think myself so, that these are the best means in our power to delay what perhaps nothing can ultimately avert, if it is decreed that we are again to be plunged into barbarism.

I cannot forbear writing one line to congratulate you and myself on the account which I have just now received, that the Bill for repealing the Roman Catholic disabilities is actually a part of the law of the land. I may now say that I have not lived in vain.

We have gone through such scenes as this country has never before known; where we have been wanting in firmness, we have suffered for it; where we have shown courage adequate to the danger, God has borne us through it; and so I trust He will do. At all events, our lives, and honour, and the existence of our country, are staked upon the issue, and nothing but resolution can save us.

In all periods of our history, instances were to be found of the evils arising from tumultuous assemblies; and experience must show, from the frequency with which they were now held, the absolute necessity for their suppression.

He should not do justice to his feelings, if he did not express to the House, and to his hon. friend, the satisfaction he had received from one of the most masterly and eloquent speeches he had ever heard; a speech which could not fail to reflect the greatest lustre upon his hon. friend, and entitled him to the thanks of that House, of the people of England, of all Europe, and of the latest posterity.

We, in the present instance, should regard the fate of the monarchy of France as a lesson; therefore, though the individuals were insignificant in number, in talents, and in character, that was no reason for not checking their proceedings, for they might soon become dangerous if suffered to proceed.

He considered the present bill as part of a system for suppressing an evil, that not only threatened the security of the subject, but menaced the very existence of the constitution. The system to overthrow all order had been gradually proceeding for three years. The fact was notorious.

Besides this, their lordships would perceive in these societies a studious imitation of the proceedings of the National Convention: they adopted all their phrases in speaking, and all their forms in transacting business. All this proved, to his mind, that their views were to familiarize the lower classes of the people of this country to these proceedings, in order to prepare them to come to a resolution, for the destruction of all rank, distinction, and order in society: every thing was to be swallowed up in the jacobinical term, citizen.