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

lJritjsh Constltutio1J,
grea.:, or the hope of dispossessing them; a constant
willingness to question and thwart whatever is dictated
or even proposed by another; a dispo~ ition
common to all bodies of men to extend tIle claims
and authority of their order; above all, that love of
power and of ~hewing it, which resides more or less
. in e\'ery l)uman breast, and which, iii popular assenlblies,
is inflamed, like every other passion, by com·
munication and encouragement; these motives, added
to private design~ and resentments, cherished also
by popular acclamation, and operating upon the great
share of power already possessed by the house of coin.
mons, nlight indllce a majority, or at least a large
party of nlen in ttlat assembly, to unite in endea,rouring
to draw to themselves the whole governlnent
of the ~tate ; or at least so to obstruct the conduct of
public affairs, by a \,Tanton and per\~erse opposition,
as to render it impossible for the \1~ise~t ~tateslnan to
carry f()rwards the business of the natic~n with success
.-
or sati~faction.
Some paS$ages of our national histor),afford gjOounds
for thc-e apprehensions. Before the accession of James
the Ilirst, or, at lea~t, during the reigns of his tllree
immediate predecessors, the government of England
',~as a g-overnnlent by force; that is, the king carried
hi~ measures in parliament by intimidation. A sen~e
of personal danger kept the nJenlbers of the hou~e of
commons in su~jection. A conjunction Clf fortunate
cause~ delivered at last tIle parliamet1t and nation
fr-om slavery. That overbearing system, which had
declined in t1.1e hands of James, expired early in the
reign of his son. After the restoration, there succeeded
in its place, and since the revolution has been
methodicallv pursued, the more successful expedient
of influence. J Now we remember what passed between
the loss of terror, and the establishmerlt of influence.
The transactions of that illterval, \vhatever we may
think of their occasion, or effect, no friend of regal
government would wish to see revived.-But the af.
fairs of this kingdom afford a more recent attestation
to the saine doctrine.
In the Britisl1 colonies of
North America, the late assemblies possessed much
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