wish that they should either have my support, or that of any other man. I conclude in the words of the ever-memorable Hales, of Eton: "It hath been the common dis"ease of Christians, from the beginning, "not to content themselves with that mea"sure of faith, which God and Scriptures "have expressly afforded us; but, out of "a vain desire to know more than iş "revealed, they have attempted to discuss "things, of which we can have no light, "neither from reason or Revelation: "neither have they rested here, but upon

pretence of Church authority, which is "none; or tradition, which for the most "part is but figment; they have pe"remptorily concluded, and confidently

imposed upon others, a necessity of "entertaining conclusions of that nature. "Were Liturgies and public forms of "service so framed, as that they admitted

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not of particular and private fancies, "but contained only such things, as in "which all Christians do agree, schisms ❝on opinion were utterly vanished. For, "consider

"consider of all the Liturgies that are, or

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ever have been, and remove from them "whatsoever is scandalous to any party, and "leave nothing but what all agree on, and "the event shall be, that the public service® " and honour of God shall no ways suffer."

AN

ADDRESS

TO THE

PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN.

1798.

FIFTEENTH EDITION.

MY FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN,

THE

HE sentiments which I shall, in this Address, take the liberty of stating to you on some interesting points, will, I hope, meet with your candid attention ; if not from their worth, from the consideration that they are the sentiments of an independent man. I am neither the friend or enemy of any party in the state; and am so far an impracticable man, that on all public questions of importance I will fol low the dictates of my own individual judgment.

judgment. No favour which I could reAdministration

ceive from this or from any

would induce me to support measures which I disliked; nor will any neglect I may experience, impel me to oppose measures which I approve.

A new system of finance has this year been introduced; and I fairly own it has my approbation as far as it goes. It has given great discontent to many; but it has given none to me. I lament, as every man must do, the necessity of imposing so heavy a burthen on the community; and, with a family of eight children, I shall feel it's pressure as much as most men: but I am so far from censuring the minister for having done so much, that I sincerely wish he had done a great deal more. In the present situation of Great Britain, and of Europe, palliatives are of no use, halfmeasures cannot save us. Instead of calling for a tenth of a man's income, I wish the minister had called for a tenth or for such other portion of every man's whole property

property as would have enabled him not merely to make a temporary provision for the war, but to have paid off, in a few years, the whole or the greatest part of the national debt.

A million a year has been wisely set apart for the reduction of the debt; and had we continued at peace, it's operation would have been beneficially felt in a few years: but, in our present circumstances, and with an expectation of the recurrency of war at short periods, it is not one, two, or three millions a year, that can preserve us from bankruptcy. We had better struggle to effect the extinction of the debt in five years than in fifty, though our exertion, during the shorter period, should be proportionably greater.

A nation is but a collection of individuals united into one body for mutual benefit; and a national debt is a debt belonging to every individual, in proportion to the property he possesses; and every individual may be justly called upon for his quota towards the liquidation of