PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

tif Government. 347
most liable to suffer from a contrary behaviour, corrects,
with the pride, in a great measure, the evil ot1t
inequality, and deserves to be accounted amongst the
most generous institutions of social life.
III. The satisfactions which the people in free governments
derive from the knowledge and agitation
of political subjects; such as tIle pro{.eedings and debate~
of the senat.e; the conduct and characters of
ministers; the revolutions, intrigues, and conten ..
tion of parties; and, in general, froln the discussion
of public nleasur~s, questionf" and occurl-ences.
Subjects of this sort excite just enough of interest
and emotion, to affOl"d a moderate engagement to
the thoughts, without rising to any painful degree
of anxiety, or ever leaving a fixed oppression upon
the spirits-and what is ttlis, but the end and ailn
of a11 those anlusenleIits \vhich COOlDose so much of
•
the business of life and of the value of riches ? For
In}T part, (and I believe it to be the case with lJlost
men, who ar~ arrived at the middle age, and occupy
the middJe classes of life) had I all the money,
which I pay in taxes to government, at liberty to
layout UpOll amu~em~nt and diversi()n, I know not
\Vllether I could make choice of any, in \\7hich I
could find greater pleasure, than what I receive from
expecting, hearing, arId re!ating publi~ ne\\'s; reading
parliamentary debates and proceedings; canva~sing
the political arguments, project:" pre.dictions,
alld intelligence, \vhich are conveyed, by \'arious
channels, to every corner of the kingdom. These
topics, exciting universal curiosity, and being .such as
almost every Inan is ready to fornl, and prepared to
deliver his opinion about, greatly promote, and, I
think, improve conversation. They render it mote
rational and more innocent. They supply a subHi.
tute for drinking, gaming, scandal, and obscenity.
Now, the secrecy, the jealousy, the solitude and pre.
~ipitation of despotic governments exclude all this.
But the los~, you say, is trifling. I know that it is
possible to render even the mention of it ridiculous,
"t)y representing it as the idle employment of the nlost