Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
mamty , can disapprove of the struggles , both in ancient and modern days , that have been made to obtain it . So little is the confidence we can place in man in such situations , so great the danger that a Tiberius or a Nero should succeed an Augustus , that no expence , no difficulty , should deter us from guarding against it . ' If a king be vested -with a discretionary of dispensing with the lawswhat
power , remains deserving the name of afvee constitution or settled government ? The security of every thing valuable is at an end ; and the inhabitants of Britain would enjoy no pre-eminence over the wretched slaves , who bow with terror and submission to the edicts of a tyrannical despot ' * Yet nearly such was pur condition at the Revolution . The substantial principles of liberty originated with our constitution , and were inseparable froits existence
m very . —They were still contained in great power and abundance in the trunk of the tree , though the arm of the tyrant might have lopped off some of the branches . Nothing was wanting but a safeguard to its undisturbed vegetation . Nor was it long wanting . Our ancestors struggled , and prevailed . Those powers which were hostile to our liberties for abolished
, were ever . I he doctrine of resistance was asserted in theory , and confirmed by precedent . ' A spirit of free enquiry was infused into our political body , which gives a timel y check to the abuse of power , or rouses our fellow countrymen to vengeance on their oppressors , ' fiy the preservation of the protestant reli gion , we probably prevented the horrors of catholic bi gotry and superstition - . —horrors which the
funous zeal of Queen Mary had so recentl y exhibited . In the ri ght of managing and directing the supplies , our ancestors have confei ? ed a privilege , which , if exercised with- resolution and integrity , would overthrow a corrupt administration , or prevent the possibility of its existence . At the Revolution , the terms of the ori ginal contract were expressl y declared , and the reciprocal duties of prince- and people Stated and defined Before that time
. , the executive power had endangered the legislative , by claims of independence and pre-eminence . Then it was , that , by denying the pretended ri ght of dispensing with the laws , the legislature regained its natural authority , and . became the supreme power in the state . But the Revolution , perhaps , deserves as much the attention of the philosopher , for its direct inituence the of human
on progress opinion , as for its immediate effects ' on the government of England . A revolution productive of consequences like these , will be depreciated by none but overweening theorists , or wild enthusiasts . They must either not understand its merits , or be pursuing some visionary scheme of their own . The imagination of man can always paint leasing than
more p pictures any which can . be found in the curious exhibitions of a \ t , or in the beautiful scenes both of rude and cultivated nature . But till mankind shall oe more free from their passions and infirmities , the government estaJiislied at the Revolution , restored to its ori ginal purity by such adfptions and alterations as time and circumstances require , and such
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
mamty , can disapprove of the struggles , both in ancient and modern days , that have been made to obtain it . So little is the confidence we can place in man in such situations , so great the danger that a Tiberius or a Nero should succeed an Augustus , that no expence , no difficulty , should deter us from guarding against it . ' If a king be vested -with a discretionary of dispensing with the lawswhat
power , remains deserving the name of afvee constitution or settled government ? The security of every thing valuable is at an end ; and the inhabitants of Britain would enjoy no pre-eminence over the wretched slaves , who bow with terror and submission to the edicts of a tyrannical despot ' * Yet nearly such was pur condition at the Revolution . The substantial principles of liberty originated with our constitution , and were inseparable froits existence
m very . —They were still contained in great power and abundance in the trunk of the tree , though the arm of the tyrant might have lopped off some of the branches . Nothing was wanting but a safeguard to its undisturbed vegetation . Nor was it long wanting . Our ancestors struggled , and prevailed . Those powers which were hostile to our liberties for abolished
, were ever . I he doctrine of resistance was asserted in theory , and confirmed by precedent . ' A spirit of free enquiry was infused into our political body , which gives a timel y check to the abuse of power , or rouses our fellow countrymen to vengeance on their oppressors , ' fiy the preservation of the protestant reli gion , we probably prevented the horrors of catholic bi gotry and superstition - . —horrors which the
funous zeal of Queen Mary had so recentl y exhibited . In the ri ght of managing and directing the supplies , our ancestors have confei ? ed a privilege , which , if exercised with- resolution and integrity , would overthrow a corrupt administration , or prevent the possibility of its existence . At the Revolution , the terms of the ori ginal contract were expressl y declared , and the reciprocal duties of prince- and people Stated and defined Before that time
. , the executive power had endangered the legislative , by claims of independence and pre-eminence . Then it was , that , by denying the pretended ri ght of dispensing with the laws , the legislature regained its natural authority , and . became the supreme power in the state . But the Revolution , perhaps , deserves as much the attention of the philosopher , for its direct inituence the of human
on progress opinion , as for its immediate effects ' on the government of England . A revolution productive of consequences like these , will be depreciated by none but overweening theorists , or wild enthusiasts . They must either not understand its merits , or be pursuing some visionary scheme of their own . The imagination of man can always paint leasing than
more p pictures any which can . be found in the curious exhibitions of a \ t , or in the beautiful scenes both of rude and cultivated nature . But till mankind shall oe more free from their passions and infirmities , the government estaJiislied at the Revolution , restored to its ori ginal purity by such adfptions and alterations as time and circumstances require , and such