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On The Influence Of Government On The Mental Faculties.
balance on any side . This a 3 quip 0 i . se , the most productive of civil liberty , rightly understood , seems'to indulge that fall scope to the intellect , which its warmest advocate would desire . To some few forward spirits , who live but in a storm , this limitation of government , may be construed a limitation of the mental faculties ; that is , if they speak what they cannot fail to think , it is a more effectual antidote against the viper of sedition ; a viperwhose poison predominates
, where solid abilities are least , and where corruption and self-interest are most to be observed . I am aware of the assertion , that this equal mother of her children spoils them by indulgence ; that , s <> far from throwing obstacles in the way of opposition , this establishment creates it : a disease nursed in the very vitals . The disposition of the people is too frequently a comet in the
political system ; the same fire in its construction , the same eccentricity in its motion . But a comet may disturb , it cannot overturn nature ; and this erratic planet may possibly shake an administration , but will never injure the constitution : in one respect it carries a beneficial heat , as the former will , from fear , be more circumspect in ' violating the latter . But administrations are here at best mere secondary objects .
Without these necessary evils the wheels of government must be stopped , as they are usually clogged by them . All limited monarchies may be analbed ( if the expression be allowed ) from our own . Where they differ it is for the worse .- The balance preponderates one wav or the other . An undiminished
lustre is transfused from the ray of prerogative , or a latitude still more prejudicial aggravates popular phrenzy . The last is not so readily controuled as the first . The Sovereign who respects himself , must regard the rights of the subject : if he opposes them , he is . one only—to a legion . When the plebeians of Rome , justly enraged against , the patricians , arrogated an enlarged portion of authority in the commonwealththe sun of its prosperity verged to a decline .
, Dissension between the two contending factions settled into an inveterate anarchy ; soothed at last , but not destroyed , by the temporary erection of a Dictator , an office , by degrees " nestling into a perpetuity , at last vaulting into the Imperial seat . From the infamous conduct of the Roman patricians , too many have vehemently arraigned , and affected to dread the prevalence of aristocracy in our own
government . But the patricians were not under a similar restraint ; they accumulated the riches of the state , and bribed or menaced the citizens to dependence . The'iiifluence of the latter was a drop in the ocean of the civil polity , and a general insurrection alone extorted those ' eoncessions from the superior , for which the remonstrances of individuals had ineffectually applied . But in our happy landwealth
, is more widely diffused , and property more equally divided . The laws are a shield to all ; and , however the noble may owe his title to the crown , he maintains his honour within himself . Raised to an hereditary share in the coustitution , he will be actuated by those principles he derives from a liberal education . As the last resort , where the fortunes of the people are at stake , this collected body
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Influence Of Government On The Mental Faculties.
balance on any side . This a 3 quip 0 i . se , the most productive of civil liberty , rightly understood , seems'to indulge that fall scope to the intellect , which its warmest advocate would desire . To some few forward spirits , who live but in a storm , this limitation of government , may be construed a limitation of the mental faculties ; that is , if they speak what they cannot fail to think , it is a more effectual antidote against the viper of sedition ; a viperwhose poison predominates
, where solid abilities are least , and where corruption and self-interest are most to be observed . I am aware of the assertion , that this equal mother of her children spoils them by indulgence ; that , s <> far from throwing obstacles in the way of opposition , this establishment creates it : a disease nursed in the very vitals . The disposition of the people is too frequently a comet in the
political system ; the same fire in its construction , the same eccentricity in its motion . But a comet may disturb , it cannot overturn nature ; and this erratic planet may possibly shake an administration , but will never injure the constitution : in one respect it carries a beneficial heat , as the former will , from fear , be more circumspect in ' violating the latter . But administrations are here at best mere secondary objects .
Without these necessary evils the wheels of government must be stopped , as they are usually clogged by them . All limited monarchies may be analbed ( if the expression be allowed ) from our own . Where they differ it is for the worse .- The balance preponderates one wav or the other . An undiminished
lustre is transfused from the ray of prerogative , or a latitude still more prejudicial aggravates popular phrenzy . The last is not so readily controuled as the first . The Sovereign who respects himself , must regard the rights of the subject : if he opposes them , he is . one only—to a legion . When the plebeians of Rome , justly enraged against , the patricians , arrogated an enlarged portion of authority in the commonwealththe sun of its prosperity verged to a decline .
, Dissension between the two contending factions settled into an inveterate anarchy ; soothed at last , but not destroyed , by the temporary erection of a Dictator , an office , by degrees " nestling into a perpetuity , at last vaulting into the Imperial seat . From the infamous conduct of the Roman patricians , too many have vehemently arraigned , and affected to dread the prevalence of aristocracy in our own
government . But the patricians were not under a similar restraint ; they accumulated the riches of the state , and bribed or menaced the citizens to dependence . The'iiifluence of the latter was a drop in the ocean of the civil polity , and a general insurrection alone extorted those ' eoncessions from the superior , for which the remonstrances of individuals had ineffectually applied . But in our happy landwealth
, is more widely diffused , and property more equally divided . The laws are a shield to all ; and , however the noble may owe his title to the crown , he maintains his honour within himself . Raised to an hereditary share in the coustitution , he will be actuated by those principles he derives from a liberal education . As the last resort , where the fortunes of the people are at stake , this collected body