II. We have learned the fum total of this politi-

cal Illumination, and fee that, if true, it is melancho- ly, deftruclivc of our prefent comforts, numerous as
they
CHAP. iv. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 323
they are, and affords no profped of redrefs from which we can profit, but, on the contrary, plunges mankind into diffention, mutual injury, and univer- fal mifery, and all this for the chance only of prevail- ing in the contefi, and giving our pofterity a chance of going on in peace, if no change ihaii be produced, as in former times, by the efforts of ambitious men. But the Illumination appears to be partial, nay falfe. What is it ? It holds out to the prince nothing but the relignation of all hispofleffions, rights and claims, fandioned by the quiet poffeffion of ages, and by all the feelings of the human heart which give any no- tion of right to his lowed fubjed. All thefe poffef- lions and claims are difcovered to have arifen from ufurpations, and are therefore tyranny. It has been difcovered, that all fubordinate fubjedions were en- forced, therefore their continuance is Jlavery, But both of thefe hiflorical aflertions are in a great de- gree falfe, and the inferences from them are unrea- fonable. The world has gone on as we fee it go on at prefent. Moft principalities or fovereignties have ariien as we fee perfonal authorities and influence arife every day among ourfelves. Bufinefs for the whole muff be done. Moil men are fufiiciently oc- cupied by their private affairs, and they are indolent even in thefe — they are contented when another does the thing (or them. There is not a little vil- lage, nor a fjciety of men, where this is not feen every day. Some men have an enjoyment in this kind of vicarious employment. Other men like influence and power, and thus are compen- fated for their trouble. Thus many petty mana- gers of public affairs arife in every country. The mutual animofities or individuals, and ffiil more, the animohties of tribes, clans, and different af- fociations, give rife to another kind of fuperiors — io leaders, who dired the ffruggles of the reft,
whether
324 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAF. iv.
whether for offence or defence. The defcendants of Ifrael faid, *' they wanted a man to go out before '' the people, like other nations." As the fmall buii- nefs of a few individuals requires a manager or a leader, fo do fome more general affairs of thefe petty fuperiors.-— Many of thefe alfo are indolent enough to wiih this trouble taken off their hands ; and thus another rank of fupericrs aiifes, and a third, and fo on, till a great State may be formed ; and in this gradation each clafs is a competent judge of the condud of that ciafs only which is immediately
above it.
All this may arife, and has often arifen, from vo- luntary conceflion alone. This concellion may pro- ceed from various caufes, — from confidence in fu- perior talents — from confidence in great worth, — mofi: generally from the refped or deference which all men feel for great poffeffions. This is frequent- ly founded in felf-intereff and expedations of ad- vantage ; but it is natural to man, and perhaps fprings rom our inflindive fympathy with the fatisfadions of others— we are unwilling to dillurb them, and even wi(h to promote them.
But this fubordination may arife, and has often arifen, from other caufes — from the love of power and influence, which makes fome men eager to lead others, or even to manage their concerns. We fee this every day, and it may be perfedly innocent. It often arifes from the defire of gain of one kind or another. ---This alfo may frequently be indulged with perfed innocence, and even with general ad- vantage. Frequently, however, this fubordination J,s produced by the love of power or of gain pufhed loan immoderate degree of ambition, and rendered unjufl:. Now there arife oppreffion, tyranny, fuf- Jenngs, ^nd fiavrry. Now appears an oppofftion between the rights or claims of the ruler and of the
people.
CfiAP. iv. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 3^^
fjeople. Now the rulers come i6 confider them- ielves as a d ifferentclafs, and theirtranfadionsai enow- only with each other.— Prince becomes the rival or the enemy of Prince; and in their Cornells one pre- vails, and the dominion is enlarged. This rivalfhip may have began in any rank of fuperiors ; even be- tween the firli managers of the affairs of the fmalleft communities ; and it muft be remarked that thev only are the immediate gainers or lofers in the con- teli, while thofe below them live at eafe, enjoying many advantages of the delegation of their own concerns.
No human fociety has ever proceeded purely in either of thefe two ways, but there has alwavs been a mixture of both. — But this procefs is indifpenfa- bly neceffary for the formation of a great nation, and for all the confequences that refult only from fuch a coalition.— Therefore it is neceffary forgiv- ing rife to all thofe comforts, and luxuries, and ele- gances, which are to be fotind only in great and Cultivated ftates. It is neceffary for producing fuch enjoyments as we fee around us in Europe, which we prize f© highly, and for which we are making ali this ftir and diftarbance, I believe that no man who expeds to be believed will pofitively affert that human nature and human enjoyments are not me- liorated by this cultivation.— It feems to be the in- tention of nature, and, notwithftanding the follies and vices of many, we can have little hefitation va fay- ing that there are in the mod cultivated nations of Europe, and even in the higheft ranks of thofe na- tions, men of great virtue and worth, and of high ^ccomplifhment- — Nor can we deny that fuch men are the finefl: fpecimens of human nature. Roffeau indeed wrote a whiraiical pamphlet, in which he had the vanity to think that he had proved that all thefe fruits of cultivation were ioffes to humanity and vir- tue—Yet Rouffeau could not be contented with the
2 S fociety
3^6 TftE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP. iV-
focicty of the rude and unpoliflied, although he pre- tended that he was aKiioft the fole vvorfiiipper of pure virtue. — He fupported himfeh', not by alFifting the iimple peafant,. but by wriung inufic and lufcious novels for the pampered rich.
This is the circumftance entirely overlooked, or anfully kept out of fight, in the boafted Illumina- tion of thefe days. No attention is paid to the im- portant changes which have happened in national greatnefs, in national connedion, in national im- provement— -yet we never think of parting with any of the advantages, real or imaginary, which thefe changes have produced — nor do we refled that in order to keep a great nation together — to make it ad with equality, or with preponderancy, among other nations, the individual exertions muft be con- centrated, mull be direded — and that this requires a ruler vefted with fupreme power, and interefied by fome great and endearing motive^ liich as hereditary pofleilion of this power and influence, to maintaiii and defend this coalition of men. — All this is over- looked, and we attend onlv to the fubordination which is indifpenfably neceffary. Its grievances are immediately felt, and they are heightened tenfold by a delicacy or fenfibility which fprings from the great improvements in the accommodations and enjoy- ments of life, which the gradual ufurpation and fub- iequent fubordination have produced, and continue to fupport. But we are determined to have the elegance and grandeur of a palace withoi;t the prince. — We will not give up any of our luxuries and refinements, yet will not fupport thofe high ranks and thofe nice minds which puoduced them, and which mull continue to keep them from degene- rating into barbarous hm.plicity and coarfe fenfuality. We would keep the philofophers, the poets, the artiiis, but not the Maeccnafes. It is very true that in fuch a ilate there would be no Conjiiraiion des
Philofopkes ;
onAP. ir. THE FRENCH IMtVOLUTlO:^. 327
Philofophes ; for in fuch a fiate this vermin oi pbilo- fophes and fcribblers would not have exifled. In (hort, we would have what is impoflTible.
I have no hehtation in faying, that the Britidi Conflitution is the form of government for a ^reat and refined nation^ in which the ruling fenti- ments and propenhties of human nature feem moil happily blended and balanced. There is no occaiion to vaunt it as the ancient rights of Bri- tons, the wifdom of ages, &c. It has attained its prefent pitch of perfedion by degrees, and this not by the efforts of wifdom, but by the flruggles of vice and folly, working on a rich fund of good nature, and of manly fpirit, that are confpicuous in the Britifh charadler. I do not hefitate to fay- that it is the only form of government which will admit and give full excrcife to all the refpedlable propenfities of our nature, with the leail chance of difturbance and the greateft probability of man's arriving at the highefl: pitch of improve- ment in every thing that raifes him above the beads of the iield. Yet there is no part of it that may not, that is not, abufed, by pufhing it to an improper length, and the fame w^atchful care is neceifary for preferving our ineftimable bleilings that was employed in acquiring them. This is to be done, not by flying at once to an abfcradt theory of the rights of man. There is an evident folly in this procedure. What is this theory ? It is the beft general flietch that we can draw of focial life, deduced from our knowledge of human nature. And what is this knowledge? It is a well digefled abflra6t, or rather a declaration of uohat we have obfervedo^ human adlions. What is the uie tiiere- fore of this intermediate pi£lure, this theory of the rights of man ?—It has a chance of being un- like the original it muft certainly have imper-
fe(ftions,
*
358 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, CHAP. iv.
feclions, therefore it can be of no ufe to us. We iliould go at once to the original — we {honld con-' fider how men have adted-. — what have been their mutual expedlations — their fond propenfities — ^ what of theie are inconfiftent with each other — what are the degrees of indulgence which have been admitted in them all without difturbance. — I will venture to fay that whoever does this, will find himfeif imperceptibly led to contemplate a mixed hereditary monarchy, and will figure to himfeif a parliament of King, Lords, and Com- mons, all looking at each othe^' with fomewhatof a cautious or jealous eye, while the reft of the na- tion are fitting, '' each under his ovvm vine and *' under his own fig-tree, and there is none to " make him afraid ;"— in one word, the Conlli- tution of Great Britain.
A mod valuable r'fult of fuch contemplation will be a thorough convidlion that the grievance which is moft clamoroufly infilled on is the inevi- table confequence of the liberty and fecurity which we enjoy. I mean minifterial corruption, with all the dilmal tale of placemen, and penfioners, and rotten boroughs, &c. &c. Thefe are never fcen
in a defpotic government there they are not
Wanted — nor can they be very apparent in an un- cultivated and poor date — but in a luxurious na- tion, where pleafures abound, whete the returns of induftry are fecure; here an individual looks on every thing as his own acquifition- — he does not feel his relation to the flate — has no patriotifm— thinks that he would be much happier if the ftate would let him alone. He is fretted by the re- ftraints which the public weal lays on him — there- fore government and governors appear as checks and hindrances to his exertions— hence a general inclination to refill adminillration. Yet public
bufmefs
CHAP. IV. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 32^
bufinefs muft be done, that we may He down and rife again in fafety and peace. Admiifiilration mud: be fupported — there are always perions who wifii to poffefs the power that is exercifed by the pre- lent minifters, and would turn them out. How is all this to be remedied ? I ice no way but by ap- plying to the felfiQi views of individuals— by re- warding the friends of adminifbration — This may be done with perfect virtue— and from this the felfifli will conceive hopes, and will fupport a vir- tuous minidry— but they are as ready to help a wicked one. This becomes the greatefl misfor- tune of a free nation. Miniflers are tempted to bribe — and, if a fyilematic oppofition be coniider- ed as a neceffary part of a practical conftitution, it is almoft indifpenfable — and it is no where lb prevalent as in a pore democracy. Lav/s may be contrived to make it very troublefome, but can never extirpate it nor greatly diminifn it : this can be done only by defpotifm, or by national virtue. It is a (hameful complaint we (hould not repro- bate a few miniflers, but the thoufands who take the bribes. Nothing tends fo much to diminifli it in a corrupted nation as great limitations to the eligibility of reprefentatives — and this is the beauty of our conftitution.
JVe have not difcovered^ therefore, by this boafl- ed Illumination, that Princes and fuperiors are nieiefs, and mud vanifh from the earth ; nor that the people have now attained full age, ?-nd are fit to govern themfelves. We want only to revel a little on the laft fruits of national cultivation, which we would quickly confume, and never al- low to be railed again. No matter how this pro- grefs began, whether from conceflion or ufurpa- tion — We pofTefs it, and, if wife, we will preferve it, by preferving its indifpenfable fupports. They
have
ti
330 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. CHAP. IV.
have indeed been frequently employed very im- properly, but their mo(l pernicious abufe has been this breed of fcribbling vermin, which have made the body politic fmart in every limb.
Hear what opinion was entertained of the fages of France by their Prince, the father of Louis XVL the unfortunate martyr of Monarchy. *' By " the principles of our new Philofophers, the " Throne no longer wears the fplendour^t^f divi* nity. They maintain that it arofe from vio- lence, and that by the fame juitice that force erected it, force may again (hake it, and over- " turn it. The people can never give up their " power. They only let it out for their own ad- *' vantage, and always retain the right to refcind " the contract, and rcfume it whenever their per- ^' fonal advantage, their only rule of condu£t, " requires it. Our philofophers teach in public *' what our pailions fuggefl only in fecret. They ** fay to the Prince that all is permitted only " when all is in his power, and that his duty is " fulfilled when he has pleafed his fancy. Then, *' furely, if the laws of felf-interelt, that is, the '' felf-will of human paHions, (liall be fo generally " admitted, that we thereupon forget the eternal '' laws of God and of Nature, ?dl conceptions of '^ right and wrong, of virtue and vice, of good " and evil, mud be extirpated from the human *' heart. The throne mud totter, the fubjefts *' mud become unmanageable and mutinous, and '' their ruler hard-hearted and inhuman. The " people will be inceifantly oppreffed or in an " uproar."—" What fervice will it be if I order " fuch a book to be burnt, ^ — the author can Vv^rite *' another to-morrow,'' This opinion of a Prince is unpoHQicd indetd, and homely, hut itJs juft.
Weiihaupt
CHAP. iv. T«E FRENCH REVOLUTION, 33I
Wciftiaupt grants, that " there will be a terri- " ble convulfion, and a ftorm — but this Vvill be " fucceeded by a calm— -the unequal will now be " equal — and when the caufe of difienlion is thus *' removed, the world will be in peace."-— True, when the caufesof diiFenfion are removed. Thus, the deflrudtion of our crop by vermin is at an end when a flood has fwcpt every thing away — but as new plants will fpring up in the wade, and, if not indantly devoured, will again cover the ground with verdure, fo the induftry of man, and his de- lire of comfort and confideration, will again ac- cumulate in the hands of the diligent a greater proportion of the good things of life. In this in- fant (late of the emerging remains of former cul- tivation, comforts, which the prefent inhabitants of Europe would look on with contempt, will be great, improper, and hazardous acquifitions. The principles which authorife the propofed dreadful equalifation will as judly entitle the idleorunfuc- cefsful of future days to ilrip the pofleiTor of his advantages, and things mud ever remain on their favage level.