Parties for overturning the present Constitution, and for setting up something in its Stead, for which we have not yet a Name.
1st. The Idle and Dissolute among the common People are for throwing the present System into Anarchy and Confusion. They have ardently wished these many Years, for some Kind of levelling Scheme whereby they might enrich themselves at the Cost of their Masters, and rob and plunder with Impunity. If Mr. Wilkes, or any other modern Patriot can lead them into this Path of Glory, they will joyfully follow such a Leader, and become his devoted Fellow-Labourers, in the same good Work; but if not, they will forsake him with as little Ceremony as they have done some others, and look out for a new Leader.
2dly. That Species among the Whigs which is properly Republican, is violently for a Change of Government, suitable to such Principles; and these Men are now become of some Consequence, not so much on the Score of their Numbers, as on Account of their enthusiastic Zeal, and of their breaking through every Tye of Honour, Honesty, and Conscience, for accomplishing such Designs. Moreover, as they put on every Disguise; as they forge, lye, falsify; as they use the Word Liberty merely as a Blind to conceal the Batteries they are erecting against it; and as they pretend to support and uphold the Constitution, at the very Instant they are planning a Scheme to destroy it; their Designs are so much the more dangerous by appearing to fight under the same Banner with ourselves; and the Wounds they give, are the more difficult of Cure, because they stab and assassinate under the Mask of Friendship, and therefore take their Aim the better, and strike the deeper. In the former Plots and Conspiracies of the Jacobites, their Aim and Intent were to dethrone the reigning Family, and to replace another: The present Views of the Republicans, which they are incessantly pursuing by various Means, and almost contradictory Measures, are, to have no Throne at all. Hence, by a Comparison of the two Crimes, the Reader must judge, which is the greatest, and the most repugnant to the English Constitution.
3dly. The Advocates for making North-America independent of the British Parliament must, if consistent with themselves, be for turning the British Constitution into something very different from what it is at present, or ever was; for the very Plea these Men use in regard to North-America is, that Representation and Legislation (a very small Part of which is the Power of raising Taxes) must always go together; therefore as nineteen Parts in twenty of the People of England, and upwards of ninety-nine Parts in an Hundred of the People of Scotland, are not qualified to be Voters, nor ever were, be their Property ever so great, that is (according to this new-fashioned Doctrine) are not represented in Parliament; it must inevitably follow, that a vast Majority of the Inhabitants of Great-Britain, as well as British America, have a right to renounce their Allegiance to the present Government as soon as they please, and to set up for Independence. For in Fact, according to the dangerous Principles now openly avowed, all this Multitude of Non-Electors owe no Subjection to that Legislature, and to those Powers, in the Choice or Continuance of which they were not consulted. They ought not to be compelled to obey any Laws, which were made without their Consent, or Privity; and more especially where they have no Representation, they ought not to be subject to any Taxation.—So that being thus happily set free from all Coercion of Government, all Restraints of Law, and Burden of Taxes; and having learnt at last to assert those inherent and unalienable Rights, which have been so long usurped, they are now restored to a State of the most perfect Freedom, and may either chuse another Form of Government, according to their own Fancy; or else live, as they can, without any Government at all. A blessed Specimen this of patriotic Liberty! A most comprehensive Bill of Rights! sure of overturning, if carried into Execution, every Government, that either ever was, or ever can be, proposed to the World.
4thly. The honourable Society of the Outs will go as great Lengths to throw Things into Confusion as any Set of Men whatever; for as these Persons have no other End in View than to get into Power, and to share the Emoluments of the State among themselves and their Dependents, they will stick at no Measure, however unjust and unconstitutional, to compass this End: Nay, they will unsay the Things which they themselves had said in Administration; they will blame those very Measures which they themselves had planned and recommended; and, in short, they will do any Thing, and every Thing, to raise the evil Spirit of Discord and Dissention, to bring themselves in.
Lastly. The Inconstant and Disappointed, those who love to fish in troubled Waters, and those who, having spent their Fortunes, have nothing to lose, but may have a Chance to share in the Property of other Men by a general Scramble; also the Desperate and Daring of every Denomination; all these wish for some speedy Change in the Constitution.
Parties for preserving the present Constitution, and for keeping every Thing in a quiet and peaceable Condition.
1st. The greatest Part of the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom; that is, almost all those who have the greatest Property at Stake, and have the most to lose.
2dly. A vast Majority of the richest Merchants, and principal Traders and Manufacturers throughout the Kingdom, are the warm Friends of Government: The Exceptions on this Head are few, and very inconsiderable.
3dly. The Clergy of the established Church are zealously attached to the present happy Constitution, wishing to preserve, and to promote Peace on Earth, and Good-Will among Men: And in respect to the dissenting Clergy, the most eminent and respectable (tho’ it is to be feared, not the most numerous) act in the same laudable Manner, and endeavour to make their People truly sensible of the many Blessings they enjoy under the Reign of his present Majesty.