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    adjects . At the rime that the utmost energy aud unaaimky were required , distraction has prevailed ; and the members of the king ' s council have not kept their indiscretions to themselves . They have suffered a fatal truth to he known ; and their animosity has arisen to a height , that nothing but the shedding of blood could appease : A political writer of the day has observed , that , without any methodisticai notions on the subject of duelling , he could not but mark , with the strongest

    disapprobation , an appeal to arms on a subject , relative to the king ' s counsels : and he brings a number of very sound reasons , founded on mere worldly policy , why such an appeal is unjustifiable , indecent equally to the sovereign and to the people . We have no fear of the term

    xnethodist ; and instead of a disgrace , we think it an honour to the sect or to any sect , to have farther reasons for expressing their marked disapprobation of such conduct . No methodist in this king * dom can go farther than we do upon this point ; and if duelling could be vindicated in the lower classes ^ of society , in the more fashionable world , such a

    disregard of the laws both of God and of the kingdom is in the highest degree discreditable to those who are bound by their honour and their oaths to assist the king with their counsels . What is this appeal to arms to effect ? Is it to convince the kingdom that one or other has

    been guilty of giving pernicious advice r Can a pistol-ball determine the guil ^ of either party ? The folly of such an appeal must be acknowledged by every one who is not carried away by that unhappy prejudice , which shuts the eyes % S ignorance te the noon-day splendour o / truth .

    But two members of his majesty 3 council have thought otherwis e * They have met , accompanied by their seconds , and fired twice at each other . Only one tall toot effect , and the wounded per - soo , who , we understand , was not the challenger , has thus , according to the vulgar phrase , given satisfaction . The point in dispute remains exactly where it was : bttt the honour of the two

    distinguished persons is now not to be impeached . Not to be impeached ? To ? lt appears ithat the honour of one or wh of them is now , completely conv fitted . Would they have endeavoured to take away each other ' t E * r <* without .

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    on the one part * Some violent aggression , or on the other , implacable resentment ? We lament the situation of the sovereign who has had near him sueh counsellors . If these gentlemen talk of satisfaction , they ought to know that the satisfaction which has arisen from their conduct , is that both are no longer in the cabinet ! Both , it is evident , could not stay there ; and surely a duellist is not a fit character for the councils of a nation . We enter

    not into the presumed necessity of duelling in a certain class of society , which , having lost its reverence of the Supreme Being , and holding in contempt the laws of the land , set up in their petty circle the immoralities of their own code as a sufficient rule for their actions . But

    whatever may be the licentiousness of such a class , the sacred character of the king ' s adviser ought not to be lowered by an attachment to its maxims . To fear God and to honour the king is the duty of all , but how much more of those who approach the nearest to the throne . As to the unfortunate men who have

    beeu led away by their passions to the commission of such an atrocity , they must feel severely , both in their own consciences , and in the public censure , the injury they have done to their cha- » racter . But the public has received a shock which cannot easily be effaced . It is evident that discord has entered into

    the cabinet ; and , who can tell , what effects it may have produced in the formation of plans , or the execution , of those -which had been adopted . The failures abroad are notorious j are they to be attributed to a defect in council , or to the " want of means or energy in those , to whom the execution has been

    committed ?^ If the members of the council pistol each other , it is evident , that the blame cannot be inconsiderable .

    A change of ministry was the necessary consequence of these disputes , aad conjecture was for a long time on float on the new appointments * It seemed to be most prooabic that it would b £ a change merely of men , and that a similarity of measures would be continued . If recourse "was had to the late

    administration , a different system must , in sonic respects , be necessarily pursued . One truth however was acknowledged , that at no time was the assistance of able and prudent counsellors more to be desired . Whoever came in , had much * to do ; and the disasters in Spain and Holland , and the formidable state of thtr

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    State of Public Affairs . 523

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    V IV .. * $

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1809, page 523, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1740/page/49/