Our opponents had taken advantage of the long delay
which the examination of evidence had occasioned, to prejudice the minds
of many of the members of the House of Commons against us. The old
arguments of emancipation, massacre, ruin, and indemnification, had been
kept up; but, as the day of final decision approached, they had been
increased. Such was our situation at this moment, when the current was
turned still more powerfully against us by the peculiar circumstances of
the times. It was, indeed, the misfortune of this great cause to be
assailed by every weapon which could be turned against it. At this time,
Thomas Paine had published his _Rights of Man_. This had been widely
circulated. At this time, also, the French revolution had existed nearly
two years. The people of England had seen, during this interval, a
government as it were dissected. They had seen an old constitution taken
down, and a new one put up, piece by piece, in its stead. The
revolution, therefore, in conjunction with the book in question, had had
the effect of producing dissatisfaction among thousands; and this
dissatisfaction was growing, so as to alarm a great number of persons of
property in the kingdom, as well as the government itself.
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