Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Sir Walter Scott to Henry Francis Scott of Harden, 10 January 1831
“Abbotsford, 10th January, 1831.
“ * * * Unassisted by any intercourse with the
existing world, but thinking over the present state of matters with all the
attention in my power, I see but one line which can be taken by public men,
that is really open, manly, and consistent. In the medical people’s ![]()
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phrase, Principiis
obsta: Oppose any thing that can in principle innovate
on the Constitution, which has placed Great Britain at the head of the world,
and will keep her there, unless she chooses to descend of her own accord from
that eminence. There may, for aught I know, be with many people reasons for
deranging it; but I take it on the broad basis that nothing will be ultimately
gained by any one who is not prepared to go full republican lengths. To place
elections on a more popular foot, would produce advantage in no view whatever.
Increasing the numbers of the electors would not distinguish them with more
judgment for selecting a candidate, nor render them less venal, though it might
make their price cheaper. But it would expose them to a worse species of
corruption than that of money—the same that has been and is practised more or
less in all republics—I mean that the intellects of the people will be liable
to be besotted by oratory ad
captandum, more dangerous than the worst intoxicating
liquors. As for the chance of a beneficial alteration in the representatives,
we need only point to Preston, and other such like places, for examples of the
sense, modesty, and merit which would be added to our legislation by a
democratic extension of the franchise. To answer these doubts, I find one
general reply among those not actually calling themselves Whigs who are now too
deeply pledged to acknowledge their own rashness. All others reply by a
reference to the spirit of the people—intimating a
passive, though apparently unwilling resignation to the will of the multitude.
When you bring them to the point, they grant all the dangers you state, and
then comes their melancholy—What can we do? The fact is,
these timid men see they are likely to be called on for a pecuniary sacrifice,
in the way of income-tax or otherwise, perhaps for military service in some
con-![]()
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stitutional fashion, certainly
to exert themselves in various ways, and rather than do so they will let the
public take a risk. An able young man, not too much afraid of his own voice,
nor over-modest, but who remembers that any one who can speak intelligibly is
always taken current at the price at which he estimates himself, might at this
crisis do much by tearing off the liniments with which they are daubing the
wounds of the country, and crying peace, peace, when we are steering full sail
towards civil war.
“I am old enough to remember well a similar crisis.
About 1792, when I was entering life, the admiration of the godlike system of
the French Revolution was so rife, that only a few old-fashioned Jacobites and
the like ventured to hint a preference for the land they lived in; or pretended
to doubt that the new principles must be infused into our worn-out
constitution. Burke appeared, and all
the gibberish about the superior legislation of the French dissolved like an
enchanted castle when the destined knight blows his horn before it. The
talents, the almost prophetic powers of Burke are not
needed on this occasion, for men can now argue from the past. We can point to
the old British ensign floating from the British citadel; while the tricolor
has been to gather up from the mire and blood—the shambles of a thousand
defeats—a prosperous standard to rally under. Still, however, this is a moment
of dulness and universal apathy, and I fear that, unless an Orlando should blow the horn, it might fail to
awaken the sleepers. But though we cannot do all, we should at least do each of
us whatever we can.
“I would fain have a society formed for extending
mutual understanding. Place yourselves at the head, and call yourselves sons of
St Andrew, any thing or nothing—but let there be a mutual understanding. Unite
and combine. You will be surprised to see how soon you ![]()
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will become fashionable. It was by something of this kind that the stand was
made in 1791-2; vis unita fortior. I
earnestly recommend to Charles Baillie,
Johnstone of Alva, and yourself, to
lose no opportunity to gather together the opinions of your friends; especially
of your companions, for it is only among the young, I am sorry to say, that
energy and real patriotism are now to be found. If it should be thought fit to
admit peers, which will depend on the plans and objects adopted, our Chief
ought naturally to be at the head. As for myself, no personal interests shall
prevent my doing my best in the cause which I have always conceived to be that
of my country. But I suspect there is little of me left to make my services
worth the having. Why should not old Scotland have a party among her own
children? Yours very sincerely, my dear Henry,
Charles Baillie, Lord Jerviswoode (1804-1879)
The son of George Baillie, MP; educated at St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities, he was
called the bar in 1830 and raised to the bench in 1859; he was briefly MP for
Linlithgowshire (1859).
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Irish politician and opposition leader in Parliament, author of
On the
Sublime and Beautiful (1757) and
Reflections on the Revolution
in France (1790).
James Johnston of Alva (1801-1888)
Scottish barrister, the son of James Raymond Johnstone (d. 1830); he was MP for
Clackmannan (1851-57).
