Early in the year 1812, Dr. Parr went to London, and passed there several months, watching, with much anxiety, the progress of those political events, which took place about this period, and which so seriously disappointed the hopes, he, in common with many of the best friends of the country, had ventured to form and to cherish.
In consequence of the King’s lamented incapacity, the Prince of Wales had been appointed regent, under certain
restrictions, which were to expire February 1, 1812. But, even after that time, to the
regret of many persons, and to the surprise of more, though his own political principles
were avowedly different; yet the Prince thought proper to permit the ministry, of which
Mr. Perceval was the ostensible leader, to
continue in office. Certain proposals were, indeed, communicated, by order of the Regent,
“to some of those friends, with whom the early habits of his public life were
formed,” inviting them “to strengthen his hands, and to constitute a
part of
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But in the month of May, an extraordinary and tragical event deprived the administration of its principal support. This was the death of Mr. Perceval, who fell by a pistol-shot in the lobby of the Commons’ House, from the hand of an assassin, named Bellingham. Though, on inquiring into the case of this wretched man, there seemed to be strong reasons for believing that he was insane, yet the application for time to procure legal evidence of the fact was refused; and within six days he was tried, condemned, and executed. The precipitancy of these proceedings, and the general belief that Bellingham had been an injured man, and that he was disordered in mind, excited much commiseration in his favour, even in spite of the enormity of his crime. To these circumstances Dr. Parr alludes, in the following note, written from London to a friend in the country:—
“The execution of Bellingham went off quietly. The spectators, with one natural
feeling, said to him, ‘God bless you!’ I cannot write more
just now. Beware of rashness in judging others. Remember, at the same time, the
danger and the guilt of
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After the death of the premier, a new administration was to be formed; and the hopes of Dr. Parr and his political friends were again excited. It must be owned that a fair and liberal overture was now made to Lord Grey and the Whigs, through the medium of Lord Moira, which was however ultimately defeated in its object, in no small degree it seems, by the duplicity of one of their own party.1 Thus terminated in disappointment the expectation of seeing such an administration formed, as the exigencies of the time appeared to demand; and the Tories, with Lord Liverpool at their head, were left in full possession of the powers of government, which they have ever since, with one short interval, retained. Expressing his deep regret on this occasion, Dr. Parr thus writes to his friend:—“The new ministry is not yet quite formed. Some great lords will be in town tonight or to-morrow. I expect arrangements to be finished on Monday or Tuesday. There are many knotty points, yet to be settled. My friend! these are strange times; and there is in high places great wickedness. Direct your letters to me under cover to R. Adair, Esq. I dine with Lord Carrington on Wednesday. I shall leave town on the
1 See Moore’s Life of Sheridan, vol. ii. p. 425, &c. |
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Turning from the state of domestic, let the reader glance his eye over that of foreign affairs, at this momentous period; when events followed each other in rapid succession, calculated to rouse and fix the surprise, and awe the attention, of persons far less deeply interested than Dr. Parr, in the progress of human affairs, and the fate of men and nations.
The great and amazing changes which took place about this time, in the state
of the European world, will easily recur to the reader’s mind. Buonaparte, the wonder and the terror of his age, was now,
by his restless ambition and boundless usurpation, working his own destruction; and
preparing for himself a fall as signally disgraceful, as his rise had been rapid and
splendid. The universal abhorrence, excited by his many acts of perfidy and tyranny, seemed
at last to call into action the physical energies of all Europe, as if in one united mass;
which, even with the vast resources of his country, and his own genius, he found himself
unable long to resist. His misfortunes beginning with the discomfiture of his army in Spain
on the one side, and the dreadful horrors of his disastrous retreat from Moscow on the
other, were followed by his defeat in the battle of Leipzic, the capture of Paris, and his
forced abdication, April 11, 1814. His return from Elba, the next succeeding spring, and
his resumption of the imperial dignity, were but a momentary gleam of light amidst the
deepening shades which gathered round him; and his
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Though the ex-emperor of France possessed many noble qualities, which deserve, and will obtain, the admiration of the present and future generations; and though he conferred upon his country many important benefits, which will never cease to be remembered and acknowledged; yet who can forget the faults of his character? or forgive the errors and crimes of his conduct? or who can deny that his government was a military despotism? The downfall of such a despotism, therefore, could be no subject of regret to the friends of human liberty and happiness; and it would have been the source of unmingled and exulting joy, if it had not been followed, on the part of the great triumvirate, who now ruled the destinies of Europe, by measures as tyrannical and oppressive as those, from which they had proclaimed and promised deliverance.
In a letter dated April 12, 1815, the very day on which Napoleon, after his return from Elba, published, apparently with the general concurrence of France, his new “Constitutional Act,” highly favourable to popular rights; and very soon after the famous manifesto had been issued from Vienna, Dr. Parr thus writes to his friend, Mr. Parkes:—
“Dear Sir,—I have just read the Vienna decla-
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When the contest was decided, and the tremendous confederacy called the Holy Alliance, was completely formed, and its views divulged, Dr. Parr thus writes to the same friend:—
“Dear Sir,—When the Emperor
of Russia and the King of
Prussia said concisely and emphatically ‘the
confederation of the Rhine must be dissolved,’ my assent was
instantaneous and unfeigned. But after the atrocious system of usurpation,
rapine, and oppression, which has lately been formed—after the violation of
every principle, which secures the independence of nations—after an interchange
of secret articles, which unite the parties in a bond of alliance against
England, and every other country in Europe, daring to assert their social
rights, or to resist internal despotism—I say, without disguise and without
qualification, the conspiracy of Vienna must be resisted. Should the just
indignation of Norway, Italy, Belgium,
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The following letter, written soon after the battle of Waterloo, explains the grounds of those fearful apprehensions for the consequences of that event, to all the great interests of the civilised world, which then possessed the minds of many of the most enlightened men in the country:
“Dear Mr.
Roscoe,—My peace of mind has been for some months quite destroyed.
There lay before me a choice of evils; and, after the partition-conspiracy at
Vienna, followed up by proclamations worthy of Sylla, I decided for Napoleon. My friend, in these troublous times we
look about for consolation; and I have found a small portion of it in the
possible suspension of carnage, in the diminution of taxes, and the delay of
national bankruptcy. Yet, the strong question upon which kings and the people
are now at issue, and the determination of oppressors to crush all social
rights, and all social improvements, by mili-
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Among the great subjects of parliamentary inquiry during this period, it
was with high satisfaction that Dr. Parr observed the
progress of the Catholic question, which seemed to be advancing under favourable auspices,
to a happy issue. Referring to an important resolution adopted by the House of Commons in
1812, “to take into consideration the state of the laws respecting the Catholics,
at an early period of the ensuing ses-
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July 11th, 1813, is a day, which deserves to be marked, with honourable
distinction, in the history of religious toleration: as on that day one of the most cruelly
persecuting statutes, which had too long disgraced the British code, received its
death-blow; and the royal assent was given to an act repealing all laws, passed in ages of
ignorant bigotry, against those Christians, who impugn the doctrine of the Trinity. As the
writer is one of the number, benefited by that great act of public justice, he had very
soon afterwards the pleasure to receive from Dr. Parr
the most sincere and heartfelt congratulations, on the happy occasion. “Even the
very manner of passing the act,” said Dr. Parr,
“increases my satisfaction: because it seems to declare the state of public
feeling
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It was with no small degree of proud exultation, such as was always excited
in his mind, by every circumstance honourable to his church, that Dr. Parr spoke of the wise moderation of the bishops, who
concurred in the measure; and especially of the metropolitan, who not only approved it in
private, but supported it in public, by a manly speech, replete with good sense and good
feeling; in the course of which he asserted, as with truth he might, that the bill was not
called for, by any attempt to put the laws complained of in force. In proportion, however,
to the satisfaction which Dr. Parr thus felt and expressed, was his
concern, on discovering that a measure, so right and so reasonable, was resisted, when it
was first proposed, and lamented after its adoption, by a prelate—for whom he entertained
the highest veneration, as a man of learning and great moral worth. Under this painful
disappointment, he consoled himself, he said, by the assurance that Bishop Burgess, the bold advocate for persecuting laws in
the 19th century, would find himself almost, if not quite alone; and that not even the
imposing influence of courageous singularity, nor the acknowledged excellence of a pure and
elevated character, would draw after him many followers, in an age
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It was always a subject of regret to Dr.
Parr, as it is to the present writer, that the act of repeal just referred
to was not extended, so as to include the disbelievers of revelation. Dr.
Parr thought that the soundest policy, as well as the strictest justice,
calls for such extension; and that the precepts and the spirit of Christianity demand it.
He was, indeed, tremblingly alive to the evil of diffusing error, and was much too
fearfully apprehensive of the mischiefs of exciting controversy. But he dreaded far more
the greater evils of intolerance; and was, therefore, an advocate for leaving the press
open to the free discussion of all religious, as well as political questions. Aware of the
extreme difficulty of drawing the line between an exceptionable and an unexceptionable mode
of conducting disputations, he conceived, upon the whole, that it would be best to grant
unrestrained freedom of writing and publishing, even as to the manner: consigning what are
thought impious or blasphemous publications to no other punishment, but the general
contempt and abhorrence which they will be sure to excite; and which, in the end, will most
effectually counteract all their pernicious influences. With these views, on which
Dr. Parr often expatiated with great eloquence, especially in the
later years of his life, it is perhaps unnecessary to add, that he utterly condemned the
prosecution of sceptical or infidel writers; of which prosecutions, he was accustomed to
say, the only
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1 “The proper punishment of a low, mean, indecent scurrilous way of writing against religion, seems to be neglect, contempt, scorn, and general indignation. And if we leave all further punishment to Him, to whom vengeance belongs, I have thought it might be much for the honour of ourselves and our religion.”—Dr. Lardner’s Friendly Correspondence with Bishop Waddington. Works, vol. i. p. 115. |
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