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OF THE BEFORMATION.few potentateswho only abused their trust by spinning theminto a web of wretched intriguefor the gratificationof theirown passions.Whoever wishes for a proof of this, needonly glance into the history of what passed in Italy at thattime ;and especiallyat the senseless league of Cambray andits romantic consequences.The nations of Europe looked on unmoved while thisgame of vice and folly was played at their expense and;this apathy was seasonably timed for their own more easysubjection to despotism, as it accorded with the increasedmeans of tyranny which the treasures of the New World,then first discovered, put at the disposalof their masters.In order to awaken Europe from this moral slumber,there was wanted a new and mighty interest which shouldexercise a common influence over both people and princes;and in contemplating which the meaner spirit of cabal, tillthen most honoured, should be forgotten.Such an interest,both as to novelty and greatness, the Reformation created ;and we thus obtain the proper point of view from which toestimate its political importance.Instead of the vulgar impulses of selfishness, Religion became the mainspring ofpolitics;and we soon find hardly any interestpoliticalwhich was not more or less a religious interest, hardly anypolitical party which was not more or less a religious one,nay, hardly any war which was not in a greater or less degree a war of religion.It matters not how far philosophersmay hold the doctrines for which men struggled to be rightor wrong the destinies of mankind depended upon theiracquiring an interest in what was great and exalted and;that religionis in practicaleffect both great and exalted,even the atheist, who scorns it in theory, must confess. Itmay be that, with the new interest which was here awakened,a host of prejudices and passions, which in partialinstancesled to error, was awakened also. But this hindered not theprogress of the whole !To require that the human race should advance withoutinterruption to its more perfect state, by the path wfaiclireason points out, is to mistake our nature, and to forgotthat we are not creatures of pure reason, but of reason pb&-ed and alloyed with passion.It is difficult for i&dfrridrialman to tread that path, but for the crowd, wMdb. '-