CHAP. XIX. The defcription of a person discontented with the present government, and apprehenfive of the loss of our liberties. THE houfe where we were to be entertained lying at a fmall diftance from the village, our inviter obferved, that as the coach was not ready, he would conduct us on foot, and we foon arrived at one of the moft magnificent manfions I had feen in that part of the country. The apartment into which we were fhewn was perfectly elegant and modern; he went to give orders for fupper, while the player, with a wink, observed that we were perfectly in luck. Our entertainer foon returned, an elegant fupper was brought in, two or three ladies in eafy difhabille were introduced, and the converfation began with fome sprightlinefs. Politics, however, were the fubject on which our entertainer chiefly expatiated; for he afferted that liberty was at once his boaft and his terror. After the cloth was removed, he afked me if I had feen the laft Monitor, to which replying in the negative, "What, nor the Auditor, I fuppofe ?" cried he. "Neither, Sir," returned I. "That's "ftrange, very ftrange," replied my entertainer. "Now I read all the politics that come out. The "Daily, the Public, the Ledger, the Chronicle, the "London Evening, the Whitehall Evening, the feventeen magazines, and the two Reviews; and though they hate each other, I love them all. Liberty, Sir, liberty is the Briton's boaft, and by all my coal mines in Cornwall, I reverence its guar"dians." Then it is to be hoped," cried I, "you reverence the king." Yes," returned my enter tainer, tainer, when he does what we would have him; "but if he goes on as he has done of late, I'll never "trouble myfelf more with his matters. I fay no thing. I think only. I could have directed some "things better. I don't think there has been a fuf"ficient number of advifers: he fhould advise with every perfon willing to give him advice, and then "we fhould have things done in another guess "manner." tr "I with," cried I," that fuch intruding advisers "were fixed in the pillory. It fhould be the duty "of honeft men to affift the weaker fide of our con"stitution, that facred power that has for fome years "been every day declining, and lofing its due fhare "of influence in the ftate. But thefe ignorants ftill "continue the fame cry of liberty, and if they have any weight, bafely throw it into the fubfiding "fcale." "How," cried one of the ladies, "do I live to fee "one fo bafe, fo fordid, as to be an enemy to liberty, and a defender of tyrants? Liberty, that "facred gift of heaven, that glorious privilege of "Britons!" 66 "Can it be poffible," cried our entertainer," that "there fhould be any found at prefent advocates for flavery? Any who are for meanly giving up the "privileges of Britons? Can any, Sir, be fo abject" 66 66 No, Sir," replied I, "I am for liberty, that "attribute of Gods Glorious liberty! that theme "of modern declamation. I would have all men kings. I would be a king myself. We have all naturally an equal right to the throne: we are all originally equal. This is my opinion, and was "once the opinion of a set of honeft men who were "called Levellers. They tried to erect themfelves "into a community, where all fhould be equally "free. But, alas! it would never anfwer; for there "were fome among them ftronger, and fome more "cunning than others, and thefe became mafters of "the reft; for as fure as your groom rides your horfes, because he is a cunninger animal than they, "fo furely will the animal that is cunninger or ftronger "than he, fit upon his fhoulders in turn. Since "then it is entailed upon humanity to fubmit, "and fome are born to command, and others to obey, the question is, as there must be tyrants, "whether it is better to have them in the fame "houfe with us, or in the fame village, or ftill farther off, in the metropolis. Now, Sir, for my own 66 part, as I naturally hate the face of a tyrant, the "farther off he is removed from me, the better pleafed am. I. The generality of mankind alfo "are of my way of thinking, and have unanimoufly "created one king, whofe election at once diminishes "the number of tyrants, and puts tyranny at the "greatest distance from the greateft number of peo"ple. Now the great who were tyrants themfelves "before the election of one tyrant, are naturally "averse to a power raised over them, and whofe weight "muft ever lean heavieft on the fubordinate orders. "It is the intereft of the great, therefore, to dimi"nish kingly power as much as poffible; because "whatever they take from that is naturally reftored "to themselves; and all they have to do in the ftate, "is to undermine the fingle tyrant, by which they "refume their primæval authority. Now the ftate may be fo circumftanced, or its laws may be fo "difpofed, or its men of opulence fo minded, as all to confpire in carrying on this bufinefs of undermining monarchy. For, in the firft place, if "the circumftances of our ftate be fuch, as to favour "the accumulation of wealth, and make the opulent "ftill more rich, this will increase their ambition. "An accumulation of wealth, however, muft ne ceffarily be the confequence, when as at present 64 more 66 "more riches flow in from external commerce than "arife from internal induftry: for external com"merce can only be managed to advantage by the "rich, and they have alfo at the fame time all the "emoluments arifing from internal industry; fo that "the rich, with us, have two fources of wealth, "whereas the poor have but one. have but one. For this reason, wealth, in all commercial ftates, is found to accumulate, and all fuch have hitherto in time become "ariftocratical. Again, the very laws alfo of this "country may contribute to the accumulation of "wealth; as when by their means the natural ties "that bind the rich and poor together are broken, ❝and it is ordained, that the rich fhall only marry "with the rich; or when the learned are held unqualified to ferve their country as counsellors "merely from a defect of opulence, and wealth is "thus made the object of a wife man's ambition by these means I fay, and fuch means as these, "riches will accumulate. Now the poffeffor of ac"cumulated wealth, when furnished with the ne"ceffaries and pleasures of life, has no other method "to employ the fuperfluity of his fortune but in pur"chafing power. That is, differently fpeaking, in "making dependants, by purchafing the liberty of "the needy or the venal, of men who are willing to "bear the mortification of contiguous tyranny for "bread. Thus each very opulent man generally "gathers round him a circle of the pooreft of the "people; and the polity abounding in accumulated "wealth, may be compared to a Cartefian fyftem, "each orb with a vortex of its own, Thofe, however, who are willing to move in a great man's vortex, are only fuch as must be flaves, the rabble "of mankind, whofe fouls and whose education are "adapted to fervitude, and who know nothing of "liberty except the name. But there muft ftill be a large number of the people without the fphere of the " opulent 66 " opulent man's influence, namely, that order of "men which fubfifts between the very rich and the very rabble; thofe men who are poffeft of too large fortunes to fubmit to the neighbouring man "in power, and yet are too poor to fet up for tyranny "themselves. In this middle order of mankind are "generally to be found all the arts, wifdom, and "virtues of fociety. This order alone is known to "be the true preferver of freedom, and may be called "the People. Now it may happen that this middle "order of mankind may lofe all its influence in a "ftate, and its voice be in a manner drowned in that of the rabble for if the fortune fufficient for "qualifying a perfon at present to give his voice in "fiate affairs, be ten times lefs than was judged fuf"ficient upon forming the conftitution, it is evident "that greater numbers of the rabble will thus be in"troduced into the political fyftem, and they ever "moving in the vortex of the great, will follow "where greatnefs thall direct. In fuch a ftate, 66 66 66 therefore, all that the middle order has left, is to preferve the prerogative and privileges of the one principal governor with the moft facred circumfpection. For he divides the power of the rich, and calls off the great from falling with tenfold "weight on the middle order placed beneath them. "The middle order may be compared to a town of "which the opulent are forming the fiege, and "which the governor from without is haftening the "relief. While the befiegers are in dread of an 66 enemy over them, it is but natural to offer the "townfmen the moft fpecious terms; to flatter "them with founds, and amufe them with privi leges; but if they once defeat the governor from behind, the walls of the town will be but a fiall "defence to its inhabitants. What they may then "expect, may be feen by turning our eyes to Hol"land, Genoa, or Venice, where the laws govern |