| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 455 |
From the tumult and anxiety of political controversy Mr. Roscoe was happy to turn away, and to resume those
more congenial studies, from which his mind had been now for some time diverted. The
prospect of a continued war, and a conviction of the futility of all attempts to give
effect to more pacific sentiments, induced him to abandon for the present his fruitless
opposition. “Whilst you,” he says in a letter addressed to his friend
Mr. Greswell, “still continue to live,
and converse with Horace and Virgil, with Pico and Politiano, I have launched out into the stormy ocean
of politics, and been assailed with all the artillery that the advocates for war and
desolation can bring to bear upon me. Their attacks, however, neither alter my opinions
nor disturb my peace; and my only cause of regret is, that I have not been able to
impress my own convictions more effectually on the minds of my countrymen, so as to
have prevented, if possible, the calamities which have since taken place, and of which
it is impos-
| 456 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
In the course of this year he meditated with much earnestness the commencement of a work, which his friends had long expected at his hands, and which nothing but the urgency of public affairs had prevented him from attempting,—a Life of Dr. Currie. But the leisure which he had promised himself he was deprived of by circumstances which debarred him from the performance of this grateful duty.
In the mean time, as the literary representative of Dr. Currie, he watched with solicitude over the fame of
Burns. Mr.
Cromek, an engraver, and a devoted admirer of the poet, having, with much
industry, collected a number of Burns’s letters, and some of his
unpublished poetical pieces, resolved to publish them as a supplementary volume to the
edition of the works which had appeared under the superintendence of Dr.
Currie. Before taking this step, however, he requested the advice of
Mr. Roscoe;
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 457 |
“A short time after Mr.
Cromek had begun to print his volume of Burns, the proofs of the first
sheets were sent to me, when I was equally surprised and sorry to see that the
work opened with some poems, of the admission of which I very much doubt; but
which, in that situation, would have given a very unfavourable idea of the
work. I immediately wrote to Mr. Cromek, entreating him to
stop the press till we had settled this point, as well as some others, which I
had to remark to him. In consequence of this, he got into the mail, and came to
Allerton, where we have gone over the whole work; and I am sorry to say that,
in my opinion, the seven sheets now printed must be cancelled, and the work
begun again, although it will undoubtedly be attended with a very considerable
expense. This mistake has arisen from a misapprehension; it having been settled
by Mr. Cromek and me,
| 458 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“I am particularly anxious on this subject, as I consider
it a matter of great importance not only to the character of the poet, but to
the credit and interest of those concerned in the publication. Should any thing
be admitted which may give just ground for censure, it will immediately be laid
hold of, and the book will be condemned as containing only worthless and
indecent fragments, which both the poet and Dr.
Currie had rejected; and not only would this affect the sale of
the work, but it would also injure the character of Burns; and, perhaps, depreciate, in a considerable degree, his
other writings, for the property of which you have so liberally paid. In
avoiding any imputation of this kind, the credit and interests of the author,
the editor, and the publishers, all unite; and I am truly happy to say that, in
my judgment, there is no danger of it whatever, if prudent precautions be
taken, which Mr. Cromek is not only
willing but anxious to do. The materials are, in fact, excellent, and the more
I examine them the more I am convinced that they will make a most interesting
volume. Every thing is
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 459 |
About this period Mr. Roscoe was induced, at the earnest solicitations of his publishers, Messrs. Cadell and Davies, to furnish them with a preface for their magnificent volume, “The Gallery of British Portraits,” a work in the course of which a portrait of himself, from a miniature by Mr. Moses Houghton, was published, accompanied by a short memoir.
While engaged in the political discussions of which some account has been
given in the last chapter, Mr. Roscoe sought
amusement and relief in the prosecution of some literary enquiries to which he had at
various periods of his life devoted a considerable share of attention. The history of art,
and the cause of the vicissitudes of taste had furnished him with subjects for his lectures
before the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts of Design, &c., in the year 1784,
and after that period the same subjects appear to have been frequently the objects of his
study. In the composition of the “Life of
| 460 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
In a letter to Mr. William Smith, written soon after the publication of the “Tracts on the War,” he says,—
“For a few days past I have sought for shelter from discussions
about war, and parliamentary reform, and the bullion committee, which have for some
weeks past occupied my attention, in the darkness of the middle ages; where I am
endeavouring to trace out, amidst churches, and cemeteries, and popes, and Goths, and
Vandals, the slender thread by which the arts of design were continued through the
storms and desolation of this gloomy period. Of this subject I have often thought, and
for some years past have collected memorials, as well in prints and drawings as in
books, respecting it; and, although I am aware that there is not much to be discovered
by the most diligent researches, yet I have found enough to convince me that the
remarks of Vasari, Baldinucci, and other historians of the arts, as to their total
annihilation before the time of Cimabue, are
unfounded, and that the subject deserves rather more attention than has hitherto been
paid to it; particularly as it seems to me, that if the present system
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 461 |
In a letter to Sir James Smith, written about the same period, Mr. Roscoe says, “I am also looking into the state of the arts during the middle ages for a memoir, of which I have good materials.” The collecting of these materials had been the study of many years; and he appears at this time to have reduced them into order, and to have prepared the greater part of them for publication under the title of an “Historical Sketch of the State of the Arts during the Middle Ages.” Subsequently this design was enlarged; and he contemplated a much more extended work, to which he intended to give the title of “An Historical Inquiry into the Rise, Progress, and Vicissitudes of Taste, as exemplified in Works of Literature and of Art.” Of the nature of this work, which was to be comprised in two volumes, an accurate idea may be formed from the following heads of the chapters which it was intended to contain:—
| 462 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
In another scheme of the work three additional chapters are inserted, on the Rise and Progress of Literature and Art in Italy, France, and England.
Of this extensive and interesting undertaking a small portion only was
executed. The third and fourth chapters seem to be nearly complete, and ample materials
remain for the composition of some other parts of the work. Those materials consist of
various dissertations upon different branches of art;—“On the Cultivation of the
Polite Arts and particularly those of Painting and Design,” written at an early
period; “On Painters’ Drawings;” “On the Practical Part of
Painting;” “On the German
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 463 |
In the spring of the present year (1809) Mr.
Roscoe had the misfortune to lose his friend Mr.
Rathbone, with whom he had lived for many years upon terms of the most
confidential intimacy and the most attached friendship. The affection which had so long
subsisted between them arose from the congruity of their opinions on all the most important
subjects of human judgment, and from the equal devotion of their minds to objects of
usefulness and benevolence. The character of Mr. Rathbone was of the
highest cast; and it was ever the subject of deep regret with those who knew and
appreciated him, that a genius, which might have shone with the brightest lustre in the
most extended sphere, was restricted to comparative obscurity. The talents for public life
manifested by him on various occasions, when he came forwards in support of liberal
principles, were of the first order. A friend to peace, to toleration, and to improvement,
had he been placed in a situation where scope could have been given to his lofty and
benevolent views, his name must have been for ever associated with his country’s
happiness and honour; but confined to the narrow limits of a private station, a man framed
of the clay from which in former days heroes and martyrs were
| 464 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
* “You will have heard with sorrow of the loss of our invaluable friend Rathbone, who bore his sufferings with the patience of a martyr, and died with the fortitude of a hero. His character was not only excellent but of a peculiar kind of excellence, which, if accurately described, must render it interesting. It is my intention to attempt a brief delineation of it, for the ‘Athenæum,’ which may perhaps occupy a page or two; and if you will have the goodness to reserve a space for it in your obituary for the present month, I will take care it shall be with you by the end of next week, or sooner if necessary.”—Mr. Roscoe to Dr. Aikin. |
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 465 |
“For a long time, the declining state of Mr. Rathbone’s health had caused the most
serious apprehensions to his friends; but a few months since, his complaints attained a
more alarming form, and he had to struggle with sufferings beyond what generally fall
to the lot of humanity.
| 466 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“In the last period of the life of Mr. Rathbone, this spectacle was most eminently displayed. The moments that could be spared from actual suffering were assiduously devoted to the consolation of his affectionate family, and the society of his friends, with whom he conversed on his approaching death, not only with fortitude, but with cheerfulness. The faculties of his mind were unimpaired to the last moment; when, without a struggle, he resigned his spirit into the hands of his Creator.
“Thrice happy! who the blameless road along Of honest praise hath reach’d the vale of death! Around him, like ministrant cherubs, throng His better actions—to the parting breath Singing their blessed requiems; he the while, Gently reposing on some friendly breast, Breathes out his benisons; then, with a smile Of soft complacence, lays him down to rest, Calm as the slumbering infant.” |
It had been the custom of Mr.
Rathbone to inscribe, in a book devoted to that purpose, the names of those
of his family, whom he had lost by death. In this volume, Mr.
Roscoe has, in
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 467 |
“William Rathbone, died at nine o’clock in the morning, aged 51 years and 8 months.
“This domestic record, which contains the brief memorials of many of his beloved and respected relatives, registered by his own hand, and endeared by the warm expression of his affection, now receives the honoured name of
WILLIAM RATHBONE, Of Liverpool, Merchant. |
“Through life beloved! O let this votive line Unite in death its author’s name with thine. “William Roscoe.” |
| 468 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
In the following sonnet, also, he has recorded the character and virtues of his friend:—
“Doom’d for a season to that frail disguise, Whilst yet thy spirit felt its bonds of clay, How through the gloom shone forth the imprison’d ray Beam’d in thy smile and sparkled in thine eyes! Prompting thee on to deeds of high emprise, To plant thy foot athwart Oppression’s way; To shield the weak, the sufferer’s pangs allay, And soothe the widow’s woes, the orphan’s cries. Thy mission now is closed. The sacred flame From earth released, in other worlds expands, Midst the blest regions of eternal love. O glorious hour! when, midst her falling frame, The imperishable soul superior stands, Spurns her frail chain, and soars to realms above.” |
From the period when, in 1806, Mr.
Roscoe had assisted in founding the African Institution, he had actively
endeavoured on all occasions to forward the objects of that association. Not only did he
maintain a frequent correspondence with the President the Duke of
Gloucester, and with Mr. Zachary
Macaulay the Secretary, in which he offered many suggestions with regard to
their course of proceeding, and urged especially the great necessity of prevailing upon
foreign nations to abolish the Slave Trade; but he also zealously exerted himself in
procuring
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 469 |
Amongst the papers which he occasionally communicated to the Institution was one, in the shape of a letter to the Duke of Gloucester (dated March 20, 1809), in which he urged the necessity of encouraging a trade with Africa, as one of the surest means of promoting the civilisation of that country. Upon this letter, which appeared in the Appendix to the third annual Report of the Society, Mr. George Harrison, a warm friend to the improvement of the Africans, made some remarks, which were afterwards published in a periodical work called the Philanthropist.* Amongst other observations this gentleman expressed his apprehensions lest the communication of Mr. Roscoe “might have the effect of damping the hopes and disappointing the expectations of many warm well-wishers to the cause of civilisation.” To a charge like this, publicly made, Mr. Roscoe conceived it to be incumbent upon him to give some answer; and accordingly, in the spring of 1811, he printed a very short tract, under the title of a “Reply to some Remarks by George Harrison, on a Communication from William Roscoe to the
* No. II., Jan. 1. 1811. |
| 470 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
In this little tract he defends (what seems scarcely to have required defence) the proposition, that in attempting to civilise the natives of Africa the greatest assistance would be derived from a friendly and honourable traffic with them; “that whilst proper methods were adopted for civilising and instructing the inhabitants of Africa, the peaceful and friendly interchange of the conveniences and necessaries of life might assist in rousing their faculties to action, and engaging them by the most powerful principle in human nature to contribute to their own improvement.”—“In the consideration of this question it would have been incumbent on Mr. Harrison to have shown, from the history of past events, that countries in a state of barbarism have been civilised by persons sent as professed instructors; and to have demonstrated, on the other hand, that the production and interchange of the necessaries of life had no share, or at least a very inferior share, in producing that civilisation which has extended over no inconsiderable portion of the globe.”
On the subject of this controversy he addressed the following letter to the Duke of Gloucester, as President of the African Institution.
“Your Royal Highness will, I trust, excuse
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 471 |
“I confess, that as far as these remarks relate to myself, they appear, from his own statement, to be so unfounded, that I should willingly have left the decision to the candid judgment of his readers, but on further consideration, it appeared to me, that the sentiments avowed by Mr. Harrison were not only inconsistent with those enlightened views upon which the Institution has hitherto acted, but likely to prove injurious to the best interests of those for whose benefit it was established. In fact, a considerable degree of prejudice seems to prevail against all those who have engaged in a direct and legitimate trade with Africa, although their motives and conduct are as different from those of their predecessors as light from darkness, and the existence of such an intercourse is indispensably necessary to the civilisation of those countries.
“An idea has, I find, been entertained, that I had myself
engaged in this trade; but, in fact, I never had in my life any share or
concern in any ship or adventure. My second
son is, indeed, a partner in a mercantile house in Liver-
| 472 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“Anxious as I am that every measure should be adopted that may eradicate the traffic for slaves, I cannot perceive that the regulations now proposed to parliament for that purpose will be more effectual than those which preceded them. The former act has been evaded, not because of the inadequacy of the penalties, but because of the difficulty of conviction, in an intercourse which can be carried on between the coast of Africa and foreign ports, though with the property and for the use of British subjects.
“To increase these penalties will, therefore, only induce
the slave-dealers to redouble their precautions; and if they have not been
convicted when punishable only by fine, they will certainly not be convicted
when punishable by transportation or death. I have already too far intruded on
your Royal Highness’s indulgence on this subject, but I cannot relinquish
my decided conviction, that it is only by one great and virtuous effort that
the slave trade can be effectually abolished, and until it can be demonstrated
that power is improperly exercised when employed
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 473 |
“Should the enclosed paper accord with the sentiments entertained by your Royal Highness on the subject in discussion, it will give me the greatest satisfaction.”
The subject adverted to at the conclusion of the foregoing letter had
occupied much of Mr. Roscoe’s attention. After
the abolition of the slave trade by Great Britain, other states still continued to carry it
on, and under the protection of their flags, British subjects, in many instances, were
still engaged in the traffic. The consequence of this was, that the natives of Africa were
deprived of the full benefit of the sacrifice made by this country, and that all hopes of
permanently improving their condition were at an end, so long as the European nations were
permitted to carry on the traffic for slaves. It therefore became a matter of the highest
importance to ascertain the right of this country to interfere with other nations, and to
insist upon the abandonment of a trade contrary to the first principles of humanity and
justice. This inquiry, involving a consideration of the great principles of general and
international law, Mr. Roscoe entered upon with much industry and
solicitude, and the result was a Dissertation of considerable length “on the Right of Great Britain to prevent other Nations
| 474 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“By such representations as these, conveyed in that firm and
temperate language which becomes a powerful nation, acting in a just and generous
cause, there can be no doubt that all reasons for hostility would be avoided, and that
the object would be accomplished not only without injury and without danger, but with
the highest honour to this country. If, however, these expectations should be
disappointed; if motives of pride, of obstinacy, or of interest, a predilection for
tyranny and oppression, and an insatiable thirst of African blood, should frustrate the
pacific efforts of this country to relieve the injured from the jaws of the oppressor,
and to deliver him that is ready to perish, let her rise in her terrors, and repress
the impious rage of the enemies of their kind. Let her venge-
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 475 |
How deeply he was interested in this subject appears by the following letter to the Duke of Gloucester, to whom he communicated the dissertation.
“I now perform a promise, which I some time since made to
your Royal Highness, and take the liberty of submitting to you the result of my
further thoughts on the means that yet remain to be adopted for terminating the
African slave trade. The ideas principally intended to be illustrated are, the
necessity of the immediate interference of this country to induce foreign
states to assent to its abolition, and the propriety and justice in case of
refusal, of capturing all such vessels, of whatever country, as may be found
engaged in the trade. Your Royal Highness will, perhaps, recollect that this
idea was first started in a conversation which I had the honour to have with
you at High Legh, and it seemed to me at that time to be a consequence of some
observations which your Royal Highness had made on the subject. I afterwards
reconsidered an assertion, which, I
| 476 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“The question of the expediency of such an interference,
under present circumstances, as it involves the deepest considerations of
national interest, is of more difficult solution, and on this account I
postponed, in my last communication to your Royal Highness, entering upon its
consideration, under an apprehension that a hasty and imperfect defence of it
might rather injure than promote a cause on which so much depends. Since that
time, I have deliberately reconsidered my former statement, and compared it
with the opinions of the principal writers on general law, and the pages I now
transmit to your Royal Highness are the result of this consideration. I cannot
but be sensible, that the proposing any measures which may possibly tend to
increase the causes of hostility between nations, unless such measures be
indispensably necessary, is highly culpable, and I should consider myself as
acting in contradiction to every principle and feeling of my life, if I were to
place myself in such a predicament. But, greatly as I deprecate it, and
thoroughly convinced as I am that war is often resorted to
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 477 |
In the year 1809 Mr. Roscoe was so
fortunate as to receive the thanks of the African Institution, for his services in
assisting to rescue some Negroes from an attempt to re-capture them in this country. A
Brazilian vessel, called the Monte de
Carino, under the command of a person whose name was Joze Antonio
Cardozo, having arrived at the port of Liverpool, nine of the crew, who were
Negroes, and had been slaves in Brazil, were immediately arrested under process from the
Borough Court of Liverpool, at the suit of the captain, Cardozo, and
lodged in the borough gaol. The affidavit of debt, upon which this
| 478 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“A letter from Mr. Roscoe to the Secretary, dated the 22d November, 1809, having been read,
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 479 |
“It was unanimously resolved,
“That the thanks of this Committee, in the name of the African Institution, be given to Mr. Roscoe for his humane and successful interposition on behalf of nine black men, lately confined in the borough gaol of Liverpool by process for debt sued out by a Portuguese ship-master, with the purpose of securing them till he should be ready to sail, and then forcibly carrying them into slavery. The Committee congratulate Mr. Roscoe on his having thus been the instrument of delivering nine human beings from the dreadful state of Negro slavery, and vindicating at the same time the justice of the British laws, which were fraudulently abused for purposes of oppression. The Committee also request the favour of Mr. Roscoe to communicate the thanks of the Institution to Messrs. Stanistreet and Avison, whose humane and liberal conduct and assistance in this business he acknowledges; and also to the keeper of the prison, by whose humanity the fraudulent and iniquitous purpose of the Portuguese master and his accomplices was frustrated, when it might otherwise have been carried into effect. The Secretary, in communicating this resolution, is requested further to thank Mr. Roscoe for his remarks on the general means of effecting more fully the abolition of the Slave Trade.”
| 480 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
Though Mr. Roscoe seems to have
made a resolution, after the publication of his pamphlets on the war, in 1808, to renounce,
as vain, the attempt to promote the cause of peace, yet the interest with which he viewed
the subject would not permit him to remain a passive spectator of the events around him. He
determined to make one effort more to enforce the opinions which he deemed so essential to
the safety of the country; and with this view he collected and published, in one volume,
the various tracts which, since the commencement of the French war, he had given to the
world in favour of peace. This collection contained three pamphlets, already noticed, which
he had published anonymously:—“Thoughts
on the Causes of the present Failures:” “Strictures on Mr. Burke’s two Letters, addressed to
a Member of the present Parliament;” and “Observations on the relative Situation of Great Britain
and France.” To these were added the two pamphlets published in 1808, of
which some account has been given:—“Considerations on the Causes, Objects, and
Consequences of the present War, and on the Expediency or Danger of Peace with
France;” and “Remarks
on the Proposals made to Great Britain for opening Negotiations for Peace in
1807.” The volume concludes with “Brief Observations on the Ad-
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 481 |
That his expectations of making any impression upon the country by his arguments were very humble, appears from the following extract from a letter to Mr. Whitbread, written shortly before the publication of his “Tracts.”
|
* Post, p. 487. |
| 482 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“Having, at different periods since 1793, published my sentiments on the subject of the war (some of the earlier tracts anonymously), I have lately collected together and reprinted these pieces in an octavo volume, of which I hope soon to have the pleasure of sending you a copy. Should you ever find leisure to look into these melancholy and fruitless labours, I trust at least you will find nothing in the earlier part of them inconsistent with the latter,—a kind of merit which, in these days, must from its very rarity be of some value.”
In a letter to Mr. William Taylor,
of Norwich, he says, “How little I expect from these efforts I need scarcely state
to you. The question of peace or war is long since gone by. There may, indeed, be some
shades of difference in opinion as to the best mode of prosecuting the war; but, in the
necessity of its continuance, all are agreed,—ministerialists, oppositionists, and
reformers. The favourite doctrine of the latter is ‘that peace can only be
substantially obtained through the medium of reform.’ I hold the converse of this
to be true, and that no reform is likely to take place while we have to contend with a
foreign enemy. Experience, ancient and modern, has shown, that, in proportion as
nations have been endangered by war, their governments have become more despotic. This
effect is inevitable. The foreign
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 483 |
To Mr. Wilberforce he expressed, in the following letter, the painful feelings with which he regarded the continuance of the war, and the impossibility of giving a more pacific tone to the public mind:—
“Accept my thanks for the few lines with which you were
so good as to honour me on the receipt of a copy of my Tracts on the War. I know of no right
that I have to intrude upon you with opinions in which, I fear, you cannot
agree; but I was desirous you should see that the pacific sentiments which I
have of late avowed, and which have drawn down upon me so much odium and
misrepresentation, are not new to my mind; but are the result of a serious and
deliberate conviction, maintained through all the changes and fluctuations of
the contest, and founded on a sincere and earnest desire to promote the
interests and happiness of my country. I had certainly, at times, flattered
myself with hopes that these efforts might have contributed to much more
important purposes; but the obloquy I have met with from some quarters, and the
neglect I have experienced from the community at large, have but too feelingly
convinced
| 484 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“But I have already said more to you on this subject in the way of complaint than I have ever said to any other person; and I will not, therefore, conceal from you that, in a general view, I am tranquillised and consoled by the reflection that the Great Disposer of events stands in need of no such feeble aid as any of his creatures can give, for accomplishing any purpose which he may in the course of his providence see proper to carry into effect; and that, therefore, to lament the failure of our individual efforts is equally wicked and presumptuous.”
In the same tone of depression, or rather of resignation to evils which he had no power to remove, he addressed Sir Philip Francis, from whom he received the following answer:—
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 485 |
“I am not surprised at your giving up all hope of the
country, much less at your intention to withdraw yourself from political
discussion. An author whom I greatly respect has told me ‘that in all
ages the rage of popular violence has been principally directed against the
best friends and benefactors of mankind.’ So, if you are
fortunate enough to escape unpunished from the public service, you must be
satisfied with impunity, and consider it as a reward. There may, probably, be
an exception in your favour, but the general rules of human justice are against
you. The only traveller I know of whose
veracity is not to be suspected, informs us that, in the island of Glubdubdrib,
he had an opportunity of conversing with the spirits of the dead; and he says,
that ‘having read of some great services done to princes and states,
he desired to see the persons by whom those services were performed. On
enquiry, he was told that their names were to be found on no record, except
a few of them whom history hath represented as the vilest rogues and
traitors. As to the rest, he had never once heard of them. They all
appeared with dejected looks, and in the meanest habit; most of them
telling him they died in poverty and disgrace, and the rest of them on a
scaffold or a gibbet.’ Nevertheless, if you believe, as I do,
that great faculties are given in trust, and that duty may survive hope, I
cannot
| 486 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
While the collection of
tracts on the war was in the press, an address to the King was moved by
Earl Grey in the House of Lords, on the subject of
the war, which left little hope of peace from the exertions of any party in this country.
The advocates of peace had gradually deserted her ranks, till at length Lord Liverpool triumphantly declared, that whatever
difference of opinion formerly existed on the subject of the
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 487 |
The motion of Lord Grey occasioned the
deepest feelings of regret in the mind of Mr.
Roscoe. He saw those to whom alone he could look for support, yielding to the
torrent which he had vainly endeavoured to stem; yet even this circumstance did not lead
him to forego his own individual efforts in the cause he loved. Anxious to counteract, as
far as lay in his own power, the effect of Lord Grey’s motion,
he immediately sent to press a short pamphlet, to which he gave the title of “Brief Observations on the Address to his Majesty,
proposed by Earl Grey, in the House of Lords, 13th June, 1810,” which he
printed also at the conclusion of his
| 488 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“The Creator of the universe has not so disposed his works that
the prosperity or aggrandisement of one state must necessarily imply the debasement or
misfortune of another; and the two great communities of Great Britain and France are
not less calculated to assist each other in the cause of national honour and felicity,
than they are to oppose each other by arms and violence. It must, however, unhappily be
admitted, that so fortunate a result must be the offspring of more generous sentiments
and more enlightened views, than are at present to be expected from the recent conduct
of either of those two powerful countries; and that until such an event takes place, it
will be incumbent on us, by every fair and justifiable effort, to maintain ourselves
upon an equality at least with our rival state; but it would be no less criminal than
it would be absurd to suppose, that the mere
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 489 |
Upon the scheme of a defensive and protracted warfare, to which Lord Grey appeared to be favourable, Mr. Roscoe observes, “That war, under every form, is
an evil greatly to be deprecated will readily be allowed: but when the passions are
irritated by wrongs, and inflamed by resentment; when to these are superadded the love of
glory and the thirst of revenge, we feel, from the sentiments of our common nature, a
sympathy with those who engage in the contest, which, in victory, elevates and expands,
| 490 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“From the infirmities of our nature, war, as an ultimate appeal,
is at times inevitable; but the common interest and the common consent of mankind
require that the struggle should be speedy and decisive, and that the miseries of those
who suffer by its consequences, without being partakers in its guilt, should not be
unnecessarily prolonged. The thunder may roll, and the bolt may fall; but when the
storm is passed, let us hope once more to see the atmosphere clear, and to enjoy the
brightness of day. The calamities of the physical world are temporary. Earthquakes,
plagues, and tempests have their season; but a protracted warfare is a perpetual
earthquake, a perpetual pestilence, a perpetual storm; and to propose to any people the
adoption of such a system, is to propose that they should resolve, not only to live in
sorrow, in wretchedness, and in peril
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 491 |
Such were the sentiments which Mr. Roscoe wished to substitute for the violent, unjust, and destructive maxims, by which, at that time, the Government of this country were swayed. But these sentiments, as he himself truly said, were given to the winds; and the resources of the country were taxed to their utmost to support the sanguinary struggle.
In transmitting this pamphlet to Lord Erskine, he accompanied it with the following letter:—
“The decided opposition which your Lordship has uniformly shown to the war with France, from its unhappy commencement in 1793 to the present time, and the great and patriotic effects which you have repeatedly made to terminate so disastrous a contest, induce me to intrude upon you with a short publication, in reply to such part of Earl Grey’s speech in the House of Lords, on the 18th June last, as relates to the subject of peace.
“Your Lordship will readily believe that it is not
without great regret that I have undertaken thus publicly to controvert the
opinions of one whom I so highly respect as Earl
Grey, and that in this instance I fully participate in the
feelings expressed by your Lordship on the debate; but I know your Lordship
would be the last man to suppose that any motives of this
| 492 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“At the time the debate took place, I had collected together a few tracts which I had published at different times, from the year 1793, on the subject of the war, and reprinted them in one octavo volume, which was just ready for publication, when the unexpected avowal of Lord Grey’s sentiments, including the express assent of Lord Grey in favour of the prosecution of an indefinite war, deprived me of the hope of producing the slightest effect upon the public by any arguments which had been before advanced. I therefore thought it incumbent on me to obviate, as far as was in my power, any thing that might appear like new reasons for the continuance of hostilities; and if in this I have not been able to succeed, I am well convinced it is not because of the validity of such reasons, but of the inability of their opposer.”
The public mind had become averse to the idea of peace, and Mr. Roscoe had to regret the little effect which his
pamphlet appeared to pro-
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 493 |
“How I can have delayed so long to thank you for your
last kind letter, appears to me perfectly unaccountable. It is natural in
sickness to reflect on our sins, and in the course of a ten days’
confinement, I vowed to St. Cosmus and St.
Damienus, that as soon as I was able to hold a pen I would
employ it in writing to you, and telling you how much I was gratified in
finding that the observations
I had ventured to publish on Lord
Grey’s speech coincided so nearly with your own
sentiments. This vow I now perform, and assure you most sincerely, that nothing
could have been more gratifying to me than to find my statements approved by
one who can look with an impartial eye, not only on the politics and parties of
one country, but on the relative situation, conduct, and pretensions of all. It
is to such critics alone that I confess I should wish to appeal; but, as they
are of rare occurrence, I must not be surprised that this last effort should
share the fate of all the rest of the same nature, and should be equally
disregarded by those who are in and those who are out of office; by the friends
of corruption and the friends of reform; all of whom labour on in their
purblind occupations with as obstinate a blindness to all general views, as if
they had no more
| 494 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
From Sir Samuel Romilly, to whom he had presented a copy of his “Observations,” he received the following letter:—
“I return you many thanks for your ‘Observations on Lord Grey’s Address.’ I have read them with the greatest interest. To all your general reasonings I entirely agree; and I have been very much struck with the great force and irresistible eloquence of the concluding passages. I cannot, however, but confess to you, that the present state of Spain appears to me to throw very great difficulty in the way of making an immediate peace. I agree that there seems very little prospect of the Spaniards succeeding ultimately against their oppressors; but as long as there is a possibility of their success, I cannot think that we ought, by abandoning them, to seal their doom.* It is very true, that in an answer to Lord Grey, it was by no means necessary to discuss this difficulty, but I own I should have been extremely glad to have seen how you had considered it.
“I am very highly gratified by the kind things you say of me, and of the late unsuc-
* Mr. Roscoe’s sentiments on this question have been stated in a previous page. |
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 495 |
With this tract terminated Mr. Roscoe’s publications against the war, which had appeared at intervals, during the course of nearly twenty years. The motives by which he had been actuated in these long-continued endeavours to prevent the effusion of blood, were founded not only upon principles of political expediency, but upon more extended views of human conduct. He regarded war as one of the worst of human evils, not only inconsistent with the interests of mankind, but in direct opposition to those Christian precepts by which the nations of Europe profess to be governed. Yet the peace which was the ardent object of Mr. Roscoe’s wishes, was far from being the peace which is coveted by the timid or the servile: it was the peace which arises from the removal, by the exercise of reason and of justice, of all the causes of contention—the peace which coexists with freedom, with honour, and with virtue.
In a short paper, written apparently about the year 1790, to which
Mr. Roscoe had given the form of a sermon, and
prefixed the text of
| 496 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“That the peace-maker is in a high degree acceptable to the Supreme Being, is evident from the positive assurance of our Saviour; but, in endeavouring to obtain this honourable distinction, it is indispensably requisite that we should form proper notions of the character and office of a peace-maker, for until we know its proper scope and aim, our endeavours to attain it will be to no purpose. In all our concerns we should take care that we distinguish the mark before we draw the bow, and we shall then be sure our exertions, be they what they may, are not misdirected.
“Accustomed as we are to confine our views to the little circle
that surrounds us, we often lose, or, at least, weaken, the spirit and purport of the
moral precepts of our Saviour. Instead of taking them in the full extent in which he
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 497 |
“Nothing can be more clear, than that he who employs his time
and labour in reconciling those who are at variance, without removing the cause of contention, has ill performed the office he
undertook,—such reconciliations, however sincere they may be in appearance, are seldom
| 498 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 499 |
“Who, then, is the true peace-maker? Not he who, sitting in voluptuous apathy, exclaims against every attempt to improve society, and remove the causes of contention, as an infringement on the doctrines of peace. Not he whose mild and timid disposition leads him to soften, to soothe, and to accommodate the dissensions that may sometimes occur, by prevailing on the unjust man to relax his harsh pretensions, or on the oppressed to submit to his further oppression.
“These are neither peace-makers, nor the true friends of peace.
“But, blessed is the man who, with undeviating rectitude,
endeavours to procure for every one that to which he is justly and indisputably
entitled; who, instead of reconciling the master to the slave, dissolves the odious
relation; who, instead of teaching to one sect of religion, principles of toleration,
and inculcating on others a factitious gratitude, contends for an universal liberty of
sentiment; who, in a nation whose high privileges are reserved to one class of its
inhabitants and refused to others, instead of exhorting the injured to acquiesce in
their deprivations, adopts every firm and manly method of abolishing such absurd
distinctions, and thereby placing all around him upon a just
| 500 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“The peace recommended in the text is not the peace of tyranny
and subjection, it is the peace of equality and brotherhood. The despot may hold in awe
his trembling slaves, who may quietly submit to his imperious commands; but the
peace-maker, whom our text pronounces blessed, will neither be found in him who orders
nor in those who obey. Let him, then, who aims at the glorious distinction, begin by
divesting himself of his unjust pretensions, and removing from himself the causes of
offence; let him be as willing to impart as he is to receive; and when he has placed
himself on a fair equality with those around him, he will then have proceeded so far
towards meriting the appellation of a peace-maker, as not to be a maker of dissensions.
He will have attained, at least, a degree of negative virtue that must, in its nature,
precede any positive acquirements. And let me be allowed to remark, that it is on the
exercise of this disposition, that every noble and generous effort, every expectation
of public and private happiness, depends. So much, then, for the character of a
peace-maker, as it is connected
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 501 |
“But, alas! the admonitions of reason are too ineffectual to control the passions of mankind, by which they are continually prompted to seize with avidity every opportunity of personal aggrandisement and selfish gratification. Here, then, a wider field is opened for the exertions of the virtuous and the just. And it is only in performing their part with firmness, that they can entitle themselves to the full reward that attends on the promoters of peace, and the friends of human kind. Raise, then, thy views, thou who aspirest to this dignified character, beyond the narrow limits of private life; and contemplate, as far as is allowed to mortal faculties, the views and dispensations of Providence. There wilt thou discover that the intention of the great Creator of all, is the happiness of all His creatures; and thou wilt thence feel it thy most important duty to concur, as far as lies in thy power, in promoting that beneficent end.”
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