“Dear Mr.
Roscoe—I am seized alternately with stupor and indignation at the
state of public affairs. Do not suppose that I am a tame or careless observer
of the strange and disgraceful events, which have occurred at Liverpool.
Disdain, I beseech you, to repel any accusations. All wise and all virtuous men
will deplore your removal from parliament, and will detest or despise the
artifices of your opponents. Reading, reflection, the society of wise men, and
the conscious rectitude of our own intentions, will preserve you and me from
the perturbation and dismay which other men may experience in these strange and
eventful times. The yell of ‘No popery!’ has been heard even at
Cambridge; the effects of it were visible in the late election; and on the
walls of our senate-house, of Clare-Hall chapel, and of Trinity-Hall, I saw the
odious words, in large characters. The good sense of the country, dear sir,
will not speedily return. There is a great and portentous change in the public
mind; and you and I are at a loss to assign the cause, or to predict the
consequences. So it is that amidst the fury of the tempest, and the wreck of
our fairest
| 22 | MEMOIRS OF THE |
