dered refpectable by the ancient religion of the people, might enfure fafety to thofe who fhould bring thither their obfervations of any kind, and that from thence printed papers should iffue, which, under a certain feal, might be equally refpected, and which in their daily appearance fhould examine and freely difcufs the conduct of the Cadis, the Bafhaws, the Vizir, the Divan, and the Sultan himself, that would introduce immediately fome degree of liberty. A CHA P. XIII. The Subject continued. NOTHER effect, and a very confiderable one, of the liberty of the prefs, is, that it enables the People effectually to exert thofe means which the Conftitution has bestowed on them, of influencing the motions of the Govern ment... It has been obferved in a former place, how it came to be a matter of impoffibility for any large number of men, when obliged to act in a body, and upon the fpot, to take any wellweighed refolution. But this inconvenience, which is the inevitable confequence of their fituation, does in no wife argue a perfonal inferiority in them, with refpect to the few who, from fome accidental advantages, are enabled to influence their determinations. It is not Fortune, it is Nature, that has made the effential differences between Men: and whatever appellation a fmall number of perfons who fpeak without fufficient reflection, may affix to the general body of their fellow-creatures, the whole difference between the Statefman, and many a Man from among what they call the dregs of the People, often lies in the rough outfide of the latter; a difguife which may fall off on the firft opportunity; and more than once has it happened, that from the middle of a multitude in appearance contemptible, there have been seen to rife at once Viriatufes, or Spartacuses. ན Time, and a more favourable fituation (to repeat it once more) are therefore the only things wanting to the People; and the freedom of the prefs affords the remedy to thefe difadvantages. Through its affiftance every individual may, at his leifure and in retirement, inform himself of every thing that relates to the queftions on which he is to take a refolution. Through its affiftance, a whole Nation as it were holds a Council, and deliberates; flowly indeed (for a Nation cannot be informed like an affembly of Judges), but after a regular manner, and with certainty. Through its affiftance, all matters of fact are, at length, made clear; and, through the conflict of the different anfwers and replies, nothing at last remains, but the found part of the arguments (a). (a) This right of publicly difcuffing political Subjects, is alone a great advantage to a People who enjoy it; and if the Citizens of Geneva, for instance, have preferved their liberty better than the People have been able to do in the other Commonwealths of Switzerland, it is, I think, owing to the extenfive right they poffefs of making public remonftrances to their Magiftrates. To these remonftrances the Magiftrates, for inftance the Council of Twenty-five, to which they are ufually made, are obliged to give an answer. If this antwer does not fatisfy the remonstrating Citizens, they take time, perhaps two or three weeks, to make a reply to it, which must also be answered; and the number of Citizens who go up with each new remonftrance increafes, according as they are thought to have reafon on their fide. Thus, the remonstrances which were made fome years ago, on account of the fen tence against the celebrated M. Rouffeau, and were delivered at first by only forty Citizens, were afterwards often accompanied by about nine hundred.-This circumftance, together with the ceremony with which those remonstrances (or Reprefentations, as they more commonly call them) are delivered, has rendered them a great check on the conduct of the Magiftrates: they even have been ftill more useful to the Citizens of Geneva, as a preventative than as a remedy; and nothing is more likely to deter the Magiftrates from taking a step of any kind than the thought that it will give rife to a Representation. Hence, though all good Men may not think themselves obliged to concur implicitly in the tumultuary refolutions of a People whom their Orators take pains to agitate, yet, on the other hand, when this fame People, left to itself, perfeveres in opinions which have for a long time been difcuffed in public writings, and from which (it is effential to add) all errors concerning facts have been removed, fuch perfeverance is certainly a very respectable decifion; and then it is, though only then, that we may with safety say," the voice of the People is "the voice of God." How, therefore, can the People of England act, when, having formed opinions which may really be called their own, they think they have juft caufe to complain against the Adminiftration? It is, as has been faid above, by means of the right they have of electing their Reprefentatives; and the fame method of general intercourfe that has informed them with regard to the objects of their complaints, will likewife enable them to apply the remedy to them. Through this means they are acquainted. with the nature of the subjects that have been deliberated upon in the Affembly of their Re - prefentatives; they are informed by whom the different motions were made, by whom they were fupported; and the manner in which the fuffrages are delivered, is fuch, that they always can know the names of thofe who have voted conftantly for the advancement of pernicious measures. And the People not only know the particular difpofitions of every Member of the House of Commons; but the general notoriety of all things gives them alfo a knowledge of the political fentiments of a great number of those, whom their fituation in life renders fit to fill a place in that House. And availing themselves of the feveral vacancies that happen, and still more of the opportunity of a general election, they purify either fucceffively, or at once, the Legislative Affembly; and thus, without any commotion or danger to the State, they effect a material reformation in the views of the Govern ment. I am aware that fome perfons will doubt these patriotic and fyftematic views which I am here attributing to the People of England, and will object to me the diforders that fometimes happen at Elections. But this reproach |