The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke Volume VI Part 12

To JOHN MERLOTT, Esq., Bristol.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] An eminent merchant in the city of Bristol, of which Mr. Burke was one of the representatives in Parliament.--It relates to the same subject as the preceding Letter.

LETTERS AND REFLECTIONS

ON THE

EXECUTIONS OF THE RIOTERS

IN 1780.

LETTERS.

_To the Lord Chancellor_.

My Lord,--I hope I am not too late with the inclosed slight observations. If the execution already ordered cannot be postponed, might I venture to recommend that it should extend to one only? and then the plan suggested in the inclosed paper may, if your Lords.h.i.+p thinks well of it, take place, with such improvements as your better judgment may dictate. As to fewness of the executions, and the good effects of that policy, I cannot, for my own part, entertain the slightest doubt.

If you have no objection, and think it may not occupy more of his Majesty's time than such a thing is worth, I should not be sorry that the inclosed was put into the king's hands.

I have the honor to be, my Lord,

Your Lords.h.i.+p's most obedient humble servant,

EDMUND BURKE.

CHARLES STREET, July 10, 1780.

_To the Earl Bathurst, Lord President of the Council_

My Lord,--

I came to town but yesterday, and therefore did not learn more early the probable extent of the executions in consequence of the late disturbances. I take the liberty of laying before you, with the sincerest deference to your judgment, what appeared to me very early as reasonable in this business. Further thoughts have since occurred to me.

I confess my mind is under no small degree of solicitude and anxiety on the subject; I am fully persuaded that a proper use of mercy would not only recommend the wisdom and steadiness of government, but, if properly used, might be made a means of drawing out the princ.i.p.al movers in this wicked business, who have hitherto eluded your scrutiny. I beg pardon for this intrusion, and have the honor to be, with great regard and esteem,

My Lord,

Your Lords.h.i.+p's most obedient humble servant,

EDMUND BURKE.

CHARLES STREET, July 18, 1780.

_To Sir Grey Cooper, Bart_.[20]

Dear Sir,--

According to your desire, I send you a copy of the few reflections on the subject of the present executions which occurred to me in the earliest period of the late disturbances, and which all my experience and observation since have most strongly confirmed. The executions, taking those which have been made, which are now ordered, and which may be the natural consequence of the convictions in Surrey, will be undoubtedly too many to answer any good purpose. Great slaughter attended the suppression of the tumults, and this ought to be taken in discount from the execution of the law. For G.o.d's sake entreat of Lord North to take a view of the sum total of the deaths, before any are ordered for execution; for by not doing something of this kind people are decoyed in detail into severities they never would have dreamed of, if they had the whole in their view at once. The scene in Surrey would have affected the hardest heart that ever was in an human breast.

Justice and mercy have not such opposite interests as people are apt to imagine. I saw Lord Loughborough last night. He seemed strongly impressed with the sense of what necessity obliged him to go through, and I believe will enter into our ideas on the subject. On this matter you see that no time is to be lost. Before a final determination, the first thing I would recommend is, that, if the very next execution cannot be delayed, (by the way, I do not see why it may not,) it may be of but a single person, and that afterwards you should not exceed two or three; for it is enough for one riot, where the very act of Parliament on which you proceed is rather a little hard in its sanctions and its construction: not that I mean to complain of the latter as either new or strained, but it was rigid from the first.

I am, dear Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

EDMUND BURKE.

Tuesday, 18th July, 1780.

I really feel uneasy on this business, and should consider it as a sort of personal favor, if you do something to limit the extent and severity of the law on this point. Present my best compliments to Lord North, and if he thinks that I have had wishes to be serviceable to government on the late occasion, I shall on my part think myself abundantly rewarded, if a few lives less than first intended should be saved [taken?]; I should sincerely set it down as a personal obligation, though the thing stands upon general and strong reason of its own.[21]

FOOTNOTES:

[20] One of the Secretaries of the Treasury.

[21] It appears by the following extract from a letter written by the Earl of Mansfield to Mr. Burke, dated the 17th July, 1780, that these Reflections had also been communicated to him:--"I have received the honor of your letter and very judicious thoughts. Having been so greatly injured myself, I have thought it more decent not to attend the reports, and consequently have not been present at any deliberation upon the subject."

SOME THOUGHTS

ON THE APPROACHING EXECUTIONS,