VII. We may alfo gather from what we have feeii

that all declamations on univerfal philanthropy are dansrerous. Their natural and immediate eifed on the mind is to increafe the difcontents of the un~ fortunate, and of thofe in the laborious ranks of life. No one, even of the Illuminators, will deny that thofe ranks muft be filled, if fociety exills in any de- gree of cultivation whatever, and that there will al- ways be a greater number of men who have no far- ther profpecft. Surely it is unkind to put fuch men continually in mind of a ftate in which they might be at their eafe 5 and it is unkindnefs unmixed, be- caufeall the change that they will produce will be, that James will ferve John, who formerly was the fervant of James. Such declamations naturally tend to caufe men to make light of the obligations and du- ties of common patriotifm, becaufe thefe are repre- fented as llibordinate and inferior to the greater and more noble affection of univerfal benevolence. I do not pretend to fay that patriotifm is founded in a rationally perceived pre-eminence or excellence of
the
g^6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP. iv.
the foclety with which we are conneded. But if it be a fad that fociety will not advance unlefs its mem- bers take an intereft in it, and that human nature improves only in fociety, furely this interefl (fiould be cherifhed in every bread. Perhaps national union arifes from national animofity ; — but they are plainly diftinguiftiable, and union is not neceflarily produdive of injullice. The fame arguments that have any force again il patriotifm are equally good againfl: the preference which natural inllind gives parents for their children, and furely no one can doubt of the propriety of maintaining this in its full force, fubjed however to the precife laws of jullice.
But I am in the wroiig to adduce paternal or fi- lial affedion in defence of patriotifm and loyalty, fince even thofe natural inftinds are reprobated by the llluminati, as hoilile to the all-comprehending philanthropy. Mr. de laMetherie fays, that among the memorials fent from the clubs in England to the National Affembly, he read two, (printed,) in which the Affembly was requeued to eftabiifli a communi- ty of wives, and to take children from their parents and educate them for the nation. In full compli- ance v^ith this didate of univerfal philanthropy, Weifhaupt would have murdered his own child and his concubine,— and Orleans voted the death of his near relation.
Indeed, of all the confequences of Illumination, the mofi melancholy is this revolution which it feems to operate in the heart of man, — this forcible facri- fice of every affedion of the heart to an ideal divi- nity, a mere creature of the imagination. — It feems a prodigy, yet it is a matter of experience, that the farther we advance, or vainly fuppofe that we do ad- vance, in the knowledge of our mental po^vers, the more are our moral feelings fiatteiied and done away.
I remember
CMaP. iv. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3^^
I remember reading, long ago, a differtation on the nurfing of infants by a French academician, Le Cointre of Verfailles. He indelicately fupports his theories by the cafe of his own fon, a weak puny in- fant, whom his mother was obliged to keep continu- ally applied to her bofom, fo that fiie rarely could get two hours of fleep during the time of fuckling him. Mr. Le Cointre fays, that Ihe contraded for this infant *' tine partialite toutf^-a-fait deraifonahle,'' — Plato, or Socrates, or Cicero, would probably have explained this by the habitual exercife of pity, a very endearing emotion. ---But our Academician, better illuminated, folves it by ilimuli on th^ papillte and on the nerves of the fkin, and by the meeting of the humifying aura^ &:c. and does not feem to think that young Le Cointre was much indebted to his mother. It would amufe me to learn that this was the wretch Le Cointre, Major of the National Guards of Verfailles, who countenanced and en- couraged the fliocking treafon and barbarity of thofe ruffians on the 5th and 6th of Odober 1789. Com- plete freezing of the heart would (I think) be the Gonfequence of a theory which could perfectly ex- plain the affedions by vibrations or cryflallizations, — Nay, any very perfed theory of moral fentiments mull; have fomething of this tendency. — Perhaps the ancient fyftems of moral philoiophy, which were chiefly fearches after \.hQ fuvimum Lonura, and fyftems of moral duties, tended more to form and flrength- en the heart, and produce a worthy man, than the mofi: perfed theory of modern times, which explains every phenomenon by means of a nice anatomy of our affedions.
So far therefore as we are really more illuminated, it may chance to give us an ealier vidory over the natural or inftindive attachments of mankind, and make the facrifice to univerfal philanthropy lets
eofiiy
g^8 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP. iVs
coftly to the heart. I do not however pretend to fay- that this is really the cafe : but I think myfelf fully warranted to fay^ that increafe of virtuous affecflions in general has not been the fruit of modern Illumi- nation. I will not again ficken the reader, by call- ing his attention to Weilhaupt and his affociates or fucceffors. But let us candidly contemplate the world around us, and particularly the perpetual advocates of univerfal philanthropy. What have been the general effeds of their continual declama- tions? Surely very melancholy; nor can it eafily be otherwlfe.^ — An ideal Ibndard is continually re- ferred to. This is made gigantic, by being always feen indiftindly, as through a mift^ or rather a flut- tering air. in compariion with this, every feeling that we have been accuftomed to refped vanifties as iniignificant ; and, adopting the Jefuitical maxim^ that '' the great end fanclifies every mean," this fum of Cofmo-political good is made to eclipfe or cover all the prefent evils which mufi: be endured for it. The fad now is, that we are become fo familiarifed with enormities^ fuch as brutality to the weaker fex^ cruelty to t^ld age, wanton refinement on barbarit}^, that we now hear unmoved accounts of fcenes, from which, a few years ago, we wolild have fhrunk back with horror. With cold hearts, and a metaphyfical fcale, we meafure the prefent rniferies of our fellow creatures, and compare them with the accurnulated rniferies of former times, occalioned through a courfei of ages, and afcribed to the ambition of Princes. In this artificial manner are the atrocities of France ex- tenuated; and we ftruggle, and partly fucceed, in reafoning ourfelves out of all the feelings which link men together in fociety. — The ties of father, huf- band, brother, friend—- all are abandoned for an emotion which we mud even ilrive to excite, — uni- verfal philanthropy. But this is fad petverlion of
nature.
C^AP. IV. ti-iE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3
\j
49
iiature. *' He that loveth not his brother whom he hath feen, how can he love God whom he hath rcl feen r" Still lefs can he love this ideal being, of which he labours to conjure up fome indifiind and fleeting notion. It is aifo highly abfurd ; for, in trying to coliedl the circumflances which conditute the enjoyments of this Citizen of the World, we find ourfelves jufi brought back to the very moral feel- ings v/hich we are wantonly throwing away. Weif* haupt allures us by the happinefs of the patriarchal life as \.hQ/ummum bonum of man. But xi it is any thing more than eating andfleeping, and fquabbling with the neighbouring patriarchs, it mufl confill: in the domeflic and neighbourly affections, and every other agreeable moral feeling, all which are to be had in our prefent fiate, in greater abundance.
But this is all a pretence ; — the wicked corrupters of mankind have no fuch views of human felicity, nor would they be contented with it ; they want to intrigue and to lead ; and their patriarchal life an- fwers the fame purpofe of tickling the fancy as the Arcadia of the poets. Horace (hows the frivolity of thefe declamations, without formally enouncing the moral, in his pretty Ode,
Beatus ille qui procul negotils*
The ufurer, after expatiating on this Arcadian fell- city, hurries awav to change, and puts his whole cafli again out to ufury.
Equally ineffective are the declamations of Cof- jTio-politifm on a mind filled with felfiili paffions ; — • they jufl ferve it for a fubterfuge. — The ties of or- dinary life aTe broken in the firit place, and the Ci- tizen of the World is a wolf of the defart. ^ The unhappy conlequence is, that the natural progrefs of liberty is retarded. Had this ignis fa-
2 V tuus
35^
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP. 1^%
iuus not appeared and milled us, the improvements v;hich true Illumination has really produced, the increafe in fciences and* arts, and the improvement in our eftimate of life and happinefs, would hsvc continued to work fiiently and gradually in all na- tions ; and thofe which are lefs fortunate in point of government would alfo have improved, by little and little, without lofing any fenfible portion of their prefent enjoyments in the poffefTion of riches, or honours, or power. Thofe pretenfions would gra- dually have come to balance each other, and true liberty, fuch as Britons enjoy, might have taken place over all.
Inflead of this, the inhabitants of every flate are put into a iituation where every individual is alarm-* ed and injured by the fuccefs of another, becaufe all pre-eminence is criminal. Therefore there muft be perpetual jealoufy and flruggle. Princes are now alarmed, fince they fee the aim of the lower clafles, and they repent of their former liberal conceflions. All parties maintain a fullen diflance and referve ; —the people become unruly, and the fovereign hard-hearted ; fo that liberty, fuch as can be enjoyed in peace, is banifhed from the country.