Journal of the Plague Year

continued, by a Gentleman

I heare the moſt diſturbing Tidings, namely that our noble Prime Miniſter hath been induced to proclaim his own Self reſponſible for the Actions of Her Majeſty's Government and to ſtate, with a weak apologetick Frenchneſs of Demeanour, that the ſayed Government hath done all it could againſt the Heathen Depredations of the Woo Han Peſtilence. This is a moſt cowardly puſillanimous Proclamation, which hath cauſed a Swelling of my ſeverall Gouts and Goitres, ſuch as to burſt aſunder ſundry Guſsets even before Luncheon, which is by no means my Cuſtom. This moſt untimely and diſguſting Acceſs of Foppiſhneſs hath unqueſtionably been forced upon our great Leader by the Machinations of ſome unmanly Adviſer or Vizier in the French Style, for never ſhall I believe that ſuch foul Sentiments were bred of his owne mighty Britiſhneſs. For if the Government were reſponſible, then to what abject State would our Countrie come, and to what Nature or Faſhion of Realm might we hope to aſpire thereafter? How could any free individual Subject of the Crown be ſaid to have ſtayed alert, helped out by eating out, or took it on the Chine, were Her Majeſty's Government to hold its own Self reſponſible for every ſignificant Demiſe that reſulted from ſuch enterpriſing and buccaneering Activities? Nay, if the Powers of Government rob Her Majeſty's moſt enterpriſing Subjects of their Liberty, how ſhall the very March of Hiſtory be allowed to continue on upon its inexorable Path along the Road of hiſtorick Glory, without the precious Balm of Liberty to bind up the Wounds of unpredictable Fate and call forth that pious Reſignation to the Divine Will, that is the Birth-right of every communicating Member of the Anglican Church? It is a moſt profound and weighty Queſtion, which would be the better for due and full Conſideration by appropriately qualified Perſons, antecedently unto the Ejaculation of any further raſh and ill thought out Sentiments.