Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Influence Of Government On The Mental Faculties.
will be little disposed to prejudiced decisions on their rights and privileges . Where real dangers do not exist , the terrors of fancy are summoned to beat an alarm . These ghosts are conjured upy the bugbears of popular credulity . Such fs the fatality springing from a state of freedom ; the soul flies from a survey of its real happiness to the loomy prospect of anticipated wretchedness . Gratitude animates
g us t > far different reflections . Why cast we the look of prejudice on a constitution which excites the envy of mankind ? A prejudice that dissolves the cement so firmly connecting the several parts of the public structure . If England perish , it must be by her own disunion . The sole objection to be imagined in this aaquilibrium is the want of sufficient ' exercise to intellectual activity . A government
bound in the silken chain of concord , is so little experienced in vicissitudes , that a dead calm may seem almost uniformly to subsist , a calm , the most favourable to the powers of the mind : the tempest maybe loud , but is not the more convincing ; and in unsettled establishments , the tongue of licentiousness utters not the accents of liberty . When invasions on the latter call forth her genuine spirit , her
voice will be temperate , and it will be heard , and her grievances will readily be redressed . Tranquillity is the asylum of genius : the soul undisturbed by cares , uncontrouled by power , seeks a solid employment for itself . Philosophy from this little spot has diffused her radiance throughout the world " : Nature has unfolded her charms , and Wisdom exhausted her most sacred treasures : the Arts and Sciences have erected their
temple in . our island : for , if Literature has pushed forward the enquiries of reason , has she frowned on the efforts of imagination ? She disdains a partial influence . Oratory has tuned her p riods to the notes of virtue , and pointed her venom against corruption and oppression ; while Poetry has soared on the wings of sublimity , and polished erudition inspired the Graces to smile with dignity . These chaplets bloom on the brow of the student ; the palm of
heroism equally adorns the warrior . How just the tribute , conquest will best explain . The merits of the soldier must not be forgotten . Naval intrepidity should be flourished . The ocean is our bulwark : a standing fleet will well repay its expence ; and commerce maintain in peace the discipline of those honest men , who would be armed for their country at the call of war . Policy will exercise them in youth ,
as humanity protects them in age . A regular army may supply garrisons , and fig ht battles abroad . Our national an 1 natural defence is a navy and a militia . For those who wish to sport on political ground , a wide field is opened . They may give a loose to their boisterous abilities , and feast the errors of government . Buthowever civil liberty
upon , may cherish the clamours of independence , the distant din confounds the learned in his closet , and the man of business at his desk . The former resigns his finer feelings of literary retirement , to ramble in the wilderness of public bustle ; the latter shakes his head at the profligacy of the helm , and g ives up the constitution as lost . The clergy then share in the confusion , too eager to thunder , with poii-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Influence Of Government On The Mental Faculties.
will be little disposed to prejudiced decisions on their rights and privileges . Where real dangers do not exist , the terrors of fancy are summoned to beat an alarm . These ghosts are conjured upy the bugbears of popular credulity . Such fs the fatality springing from a state of freedom ; the soul flies from a survey of its real happiness to the loomy prospect of anticipated wretchedness . Gratitude animates
g us t > far different reflections . Why cast we the look of prejudice on a constitution which excites the envy of mankind ? A prejudice that dissolves the cement so firmly connecting the several parts of the public structure . If England perish , it must be by her own disunion . The sole objection to be imagined in this aaquilibrium is the want of sufficient ' exercise to intellectual activity . A government
bound in the silken chain of concord , is so little experienced in vicissitudes , that a dead calm may seem almost uniformly to subsist , a calm , the most favourable to the powers of the mind : the tempest maybe loud , but is not the more convincing ; and in unsettled establishments , the tongue of licentiousness utters not the accents of liberty . When invasions on the latter call forth her genuine spirit , her
voice will be temperate , and it will be heard , and her grievances will readily be redressed . Tranquillity is the asylum of genius : the soul undisturbed by cares , uncontrouled by power , seeks a solid employment for itself . Philosophy from this little spot has diffused her radiance throughout the world " : Nature has unfolded her charms , and Wisdom exhausted her most sacred treasures : the Arts and Sciences have erected their
temple in . our island : for , if Literature has pushed forward the enquiries of reason , has she frowned on the efforts of imagination ? She disdains a partial influence . Oratory has tuned her p riods to the notes of virtue , and pointed her venom against corruption and oppression ; while Poetry has soared on the wings of sublimity , and polished erudition inspired the Graces to smile with dignity . These chaplets bloom on the brow of the student ; the palm of
heroism equally adorns the warrior . How just the tribute , conquest will best explain . The merits of the soldier must not be forgotten . Naval intrepidity should be flourished . The ocean is our bulwark : a standing fleet will well repay its expence ; and commerce maintain in peace the discipline of those honest men , who would be armed for their country at the call of war . Policy will exercise them in youth ,
as humanity protects them in age . A regular army may supply garrisons , and fig ht battles abroad . Our national an 1 natural defence is a navy and a militia . For those who wish to sport on political ground , a wide field is opened . They may give a loose to their boisterous abilities , and feast the errors of government . Buthowever civil liberty
upon , may cherish the clamours of independence , the distant din confounds the learned in his closet , and the man of business at his desk . The former resigns his finer feelings of literary retirement , to ramble in the wilderness of public bustle ; the latter shakes his head at the profligacy of the helm , and g ives up the constitution as lost . The clergy then share in the confusion , too eager to thunder , with poii-