tion of public character, which a Briton cannot contemplate without amazement, and which more than any thing indicates the decline of public virtue; in the increasing idleness and depravity of the lower ranks, who are the invigorating soul of a community, and who alone in the hour of danger can administer that support to a suffering country, which her exigencies may require. These symptoms, the history of every age and nation had taught him, were the sure forerunners of national decline; and whether h were justified in asserting, that his own country manifested these symptoms, must be determined by the character which she then exhibited, and has since continued to display. Yet, though he had no expectation of ever witnessing the revival of that ancient spirit, which had marked the better days of his country, this discouraging prospect did not sink him into that supine indifference, that indolent despair, which the extinction of hope produces on the minds of those who are animated to ex

ertion only by the prospect of success, and who act not from that steady adherence to principle, that conscientious discharge of duty, which are independent of circumstances, and which, aiming only at good, designs, leaves the issue of events to the disposal of a wiser being.

Mr.

In 1780, Mr. Burke brought forward his celebrated motion for a reform in the public expenditure. As a prelude to this, petitions had been presented from Yorkshire and other counties in support of the measure. Walker on this occasion exerted himself with considerable effect in procuring one from the county of Nottingham. He drew up the petition* for the occasion, and on the day of meeting supported it nearly in the following words:

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Gentlemen, I approach you as a plain "freeholder, on a level with the lowest in the "assembly. You may think perhaps, that "those who move in a higher sphere have

* See the Appendix.

"not

"not a perfect sympathy with you, and there"fore may not be displeased with the address "of one, whose sentiments, interests, and "views, must be presumed to be similar to "your own: yet even in this view I should "not think myself authorised to detain you, "if it did not appear to me, that some very "material views of the question have been left "unnoticed, even by gentlemen who have

so ably distinguished themselves in the "defence of the petition, and the petitioners' 66 cause. To these views I would confine my attention. The wisdom and expedi66 ency of the people's interfering in the bu"siness of the state rest on the supposed "abuse of the public money, and the dangerous influence, which this abuse has given "to a minister, over the freedom and in

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tegrity of Parliament. Many striking and "well selected instances of this abuse and "this influence have already been exhibited "to your view; but I am convinced, that both "the abuse and the influence are of much

"been stated. In order to produce the same "conviction in you, I beg leave to lay be"fore you a few plain facts, in which the expense of the present administration in "various departments will be compared "with the expenditure of preceding admi"nistrations in exactly similar, or rather "more urgent, circumstances.

"The expense of Embassies in the reign "of William III amounted to 45,000l. per

cr

annum, and during the last glorious and complicated war of George the Second to "50,000l. per ann., an increase only of "50001. But of late years this article has "been increased to 98,000l. per ann., exceed=

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ing the expense of embassies in both the "former reigns, and very nearly double to "the higher charge in George the Second's "reign. This proportion of doubling the ex

penditure of the most interesting periods "on every article will be found, in the sequel of comparison, to constitute the lowest "rule of ministerial extravagance in our

days; but for what benefit to the state one

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embassy under the direction of the present "minister has tended, is beyond the power of "the rack to extort from either him or his con"fidents. Another article of public expense "is Secret Service Money, which, however "invidious to the ears of an Englishman, yet, from the numberless agents that are 66 necessary to carry on an extensive plan of "policy whether in peace or in war, cannot "be altogether avoided. But as it is of this "delicate nature, and cannot for prudential

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reasons be fully subjected to account, every "minister of integrity and honour will be "sure to act therein with the greatest mo

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desty, and expect to be justified by the ap

parent benefit of which it has been productive, and of which every one may 'judge. Now in this same interesting war "of George II, when the arms and policy "of that wonderful minister, Mr. Pitt, em"braced almost the whole globe, the charge "of secret service money amounted to "44,000% per ann., while in the year 1777 "th s charge was swelled to 86,000l. per ann.,

"the