was to have been useful to him, fome deserted to the enemy; others threw down their arms; and those who continued to ftand together, fhewed more inclination to be fpectators of, than agents in, the conteft. In short, he gave all over for loft, without making any manner of trial of their affiftance *.

From

* The army made loud rejoicings on the day of the acquittal of the Bishops, even in the prefence of the King, who had purposely repaired to Hounslow Heath on that day. He had not been able to bring a single regiment to declare an approbation of his meafures in regard to the Teft and Penal Statutes. The celebrated ballad Lero lero lillibulero, which is reported to have had such an influence on the minds of the people at that time, and of which bishop Burnet says, ver perhaps fo flight a thing had fo great an effect," originated in the army: "the whole army, and at last People both in "City and Country, were perpetually finging it."

ne

To a King of England, engaged in a project against public liberty, a numerous army, ready formed before-hand, muft, in the present situation of things, prove a very great impediment; he cannot poffibly give his attention to the proper management of it: the lefs fo, as his measures for that purpose must often be contradicory to those he is to pursue with the reft of the People.

If a King of England, wishing to fet afide the present Conftitution, and to affimilate his power to that of the other Sovereigns of Europe, was to do me the honour to confult me as to the means of obtaining fuccefs, I would recommend to him, as his first preparatory step, and before his real project is even fufpected, to disband his army, keeping only a Gg 3 . ftrong

From all the facts before introduced, it is evident that the power of the Crown, in England, bears upon foundations that are quite peculiar to it, and that its fecurity and ftrength are obtained by means totally different from thofe by which the fame advantages are fo incompletely procured, and so deeply payed for in other Countries.

It is without the affiftance of an armed force that the Crown, in England, is able to manifeft that fearleffness of particular individuals, or whole claffes of them, with which it discharges its legal functions and duties. It is without the affistance of an armed force, it is able to counterbalance

ftrong guard, not exceeding twelve hundred Men. This done, he might, by means of the weight and advantages of his place, fet himself about undermining fuch conftitutional laws as he dislikes; ufing as much temper as he can, that he may have the more time to proceed. And when at length things fhould be brought to a crifis, then I would advise him to form another army, out of those friends or class of the People whom the turn and incidents of the preceding contests will have linked and rivetted to his intereft: with this army he might now take his chance: the reft would depend on his generalfhip, and even in a great measure on his bare reputation in that respect.

This advice to the King of England I fuppofe; I would however conclude with obferving to him, that his situation is as advantageous to the full, as that of any King upon earth, and upon the whole that all the advantages that can poffibly arife from the fuccefs of his plan, cannot make it worth his while to undertake it.

the

the extenfive and unrestrained freedom of the People, it is able to exert that refifting ftrength which conftantly keeps increafing in a fuperior proportion to the force by which it is opposed, that ballafting power by which, in the midst of boisterous winds and gales, it recovers and rights again the Veffel of the State *.

It is from the Civil branch of its Office the Crown derives that ftrength by which it fubdues even the Military power, and keeps it in a state of fubjection to the Laws, unexampled in any other Country. It is from an happy arrangement of things it derives that uninterrupted steadinefs, that indivifible folidity, which procures to the Subject both fo certain a protection, and fo extenfive a freedom. It is from the Nation it receives the force with which it governs the Nation. Its resources are accord, and not compulfion,-free action, and not fear, and it con

*There is a number of circumftances in the English Government which those persons who wish for speculative me, liorations, fuch as Parliamentary reform, or other changes of a like kind, do not perhaps think of taking into confideration. If fo, they are, in their proceedings, in danger of meddling with a number of strings, the existence of which they do not fufpect. While they only mean reformation and improvement, they are in danger of removing the Talisman on which the existence of the Fabric depends, or, like King Nifus's daughter, of cutting off the fatal hair with which the fate of the city is connected.

tinues to reign through the play, the ftruggle, of the voluntary paffions of those who pay obedience to it *.

CHA P. XVIII.

How far the Examples of Nations who have lost their Liberty, are applicable to England.

cir

EVERY Government (those Writers observe, who have treated on these subjects) containing within itself the efficient caufe of its ruin, a cause which is effentially connected with those very cumftances that had produced its profperity; the advantages attending the English Government cannot therefore, according to these Writers, exempt it from that hidden defect which is fecretly working its ruin; and M. de Montefquieu, giving his opinion both on the effect and the cause, fays the English Conftitution will lofe its liberty, will perish: "Have not Rome, La

cedæmon, and Carthage, perished? It will "perish when the Legislative power shall have "become more corrupt than the Executive."

* Many perfons, fatisfied with feeing the elevation and upper parts of a building, think it immaterial to give a look under ground, and notice the foundation. Thofe Readers therefore, who choose, may confider the long Chapter that has just been concluded, as a kind of foreign digreffion, or parenthesis, in the course of the Work.

Though

Though I do by no means pretend that any human establishment can escape the fate to which we fee every thing in Nature is subject, nor am fo far prejudiced by the fenfe I entertain of the great advantages of the English Government, as to reckon among them that of eternity; I will however observe in general, that, as it differs by its ftructure and resources from all those with which History makes us acquainted, so it cannot be faid to be liable to the fame dangers. To judge of the one from the other, is to judge by analogy where no analogy is to be found; and my respect for the author I have quoted will not hinder me from faying that his opinion has not the fame weight with me on this occafion, that it has on many others.

Having neglected, as indeed all systematic Writers upon Politics have done,very attentively to inquire into the real foundations of Power and of Government among Mankind, the principles he lays down are not always fo clear, or even fo juft, as we might have expected from a Man of fo true a genius. When he speaks of England, for inftance, his obfervations are much too general and though he had frequent opportunities of converfing with Men who had been perfonally concerned in the public affairs of this Country, and he had been himself an eye-witness of the operations