PART II. Previously to entering more at large into the effects of the Reform agitation, it will be necessary to state the excitement produced by the French Revolution. It has been shewn that the public feeling at Bristol, up to that period, was tranquil-was one of remarkable confidence in the Tory Member. It may be as well to pass over the general feverish condition which that event produced in the Radicals throughout the kingdom, and how readily it gave them the command of the desperate rabble. The course of this Narrative will be best pursued by confining the inquiry to the particulars of the reception of that event in Bristol. A meeting was held at the Guildhall, on the 9th of September, 1830, to congratulate the French on their Revolution; when the following resolutions were passed: "That the French People, by their forbearance in confining their efforts within the limits of constitutional resistance to the machinations of their late Government, so long as that Government adhered to the letter of the Charter, and by the caution, the moderation, the respect for civil order, and the sagacity with which they avail themselves of existing institutions, on the late resumption of their natural rights, have exhibited a signal and invaluable example of national wisdom and virtue, which it may be expected, under the Divine Blessing, will be crowned with an abundant harvest of prosperity to that kingdom. "That when the late infatuated French Government, by its infraction of the social compact, proclaimed itself the enemy of the rights of the nation,-the Inhabitants of Paris, by the promptitude, the energy, and the heroic self-devotion with which they defeated its treasonable attacks, entitled themselves to the approbation and gratitude of the world at large. "That the scrupulous respect for the security of persons and of property, during the Civil War which raged for three days in the streets of a populous city, and especially the humane forbearance from vindictive or needless effusion of blood, and the generous care for the security and support of the vanquished, which so honourably distinguished that memorable conflict, are unparalleled in the annals of the world, and give the fairest ground of hope that the progress of modern civilization, and the influence of popular forms of government, have already opened a new era in the History of Man. "That this Meeting is of opinion, that the grand exhibition of patriotic resistance to French Despotism, which has enobled that Nation, first manifested itself in the Province of Brittany, to the brave Inhabitants of which enlightened district the best thanks of every free man, and every friend of constitutional liberty is especially due. "That this Meeting cannot omit the opportunity of recording their profound admiration of the magnanimous patriotism which has recently crowned the eventful and virtuous life of the venerable General DE LA FAYETTE; and that the Chairman be requested to forward a Copy of these Resolutions to that distinguished ornament of the human race, to be by him communicated to the French people in such manner as he shall direct." It would have been prudence, perhaps, to have waited a little longer, to have been sure that these resolutions would have been justified by the subsequent measures of the French. It is hazardous to pour into the ears of impatient mobs idolatrous praise of revolutions-of a revolution effected in the streets, by the multitúde against the Government, their success against a military force; these are subjects for cautious admiration, nice survey,-for reflection in the closet, rather than of hasty exposition in the public streets, and applause before a giddy multitude. But the danger of such proceedings becomes apparent when, in inflammatory language, appeals are made to the passions, and they are enlisted on the side of hostility to the existing state of things in our own Constitutional Government. The dullest understanding can draw a parallel case. And "the People" return from such meetings, if wiser in the art of barricading and resistance, certainly not more contented nor more peaceable citizens they nourish within them the fire that will Will the authors of the one day break out into flame. excitation then deny that they kindled the first sparks, and supplied the fuel, that shall have burst forth into conflagration? There is reason to fear they will. Confession is the tardiest of virtues, and seldom leaves home. It would be more curious than advantageous to the cause of this Narrative, to mark the inconsistency between the resolutions passed at that meeting, and the measures of the French Government subsequent to the three days, and which certainly form a part of that Revolution. But as we are told in the first resolution to congratulate the French "on their forbearance in confining their efforts within the limits of Constitutional resistance to the machinations," &c. of "the sagacity with which they availed themselves of existing institutions," we cannot avoid now remarking what little respect they have since shown for their Constitutional Charter, and for existing and unoffending institutions. What have they done with their House of Peers? Where is the respect for the Institution of Religion? The multitude, in whose ears the praises of that day are still ringing, should at least be told by the parties who then influenced them, that these ulterior results do not merit their approbation. Nor can it be very judicious to pass a resolution at a public meeting in Bristol, expressing any "ground of hope that the progress of modern civilization, and the influence of popular forms of Government, have already opened a new era in the History of Man." But if resolutions, preconcerted and digested, are in themselves unfit for the ear of a public meeting, it can obtain but little wonder if the speeches are found of a somewhat more unbridled licence. The fears of the cautious were treated with contempt -as of those who absurdly imagined that "Thrones were to be overturned-the Altars of Christendom were to be torn down-cloud-capt temples and gorgeous palaces were to pass away-War was to issue from his lair, with Atheism and Massacre at his side While at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, shall famine, sword and fire, It is not very desirable that the people should have such passages of oratory to remember, lest they should in their madness apply them, and cry, in the words immediately preceding the quotation, "O, for a muse of Fire!" "But there was a second set of persons, (continued the speaker) who expressed their fears in a more reasonable manner. These gentlemen imagined that all this French caution, moderation and forbearance, sagacity and love for social order, were things too good a great deal to last, and they founded their fears on the circumstance of there having been no distinct recognition on the part of the French Government of Providential interference." Now, though our own Government, in their sagacity, have thought fit to imitate the French in this singular omission, it cannot be denied that the fears were reasonable. Another class of persons were thus pointed out to the people. "But there was a third class of alarmists for whom he had not so great a respect as for the last, and they were those who laboured under sensibilities and sympathies exquisitely proportioned to the large interests they had at stake, and the craft which they supposed to be in danger. These were they, who hated, as well as feared revolutions, because they lead to reformations. These were they who, could they be dragged into the temple of truth, and made to speak their undisguised sentiments, would murmur away in something like this strain: I quake for my comfortable salary so long paid to me for doing just nothing at all,' exclaims some trembling sinecurist-'I fear for my large pension, saddled on the public purse for the sake of my great grandfather,' cries a right honourable idler-I fear for 1 |