nomy, was well formed to deceive them both.

He persuaded the eagles and vultures to suffer their claws to be a little pared, and just the point of their beak to be cut off, in order to bring about perfect peace and reconciliation. Before this time, the owl had always said to the birds, "Obey the eagle;" afterwards, in consequence of the invasion, he had said to them, "Obey the vultures." He now, however, soon called out to them," Obey me only." The poor birds did not know whom to listen to they were plucked by the eagle, the vultures, and the owl and bats. "Qui habet aures, audiat”—“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

SECTION V.

guide and govern men by the reins in present use, than by those by which they were formerly subjected.

That no person could be found to go on board the quinquireme of his most serene highness.

That his tailors might make as many laticlaves as they pleased, and that not a soul would purchase one of them; and that it would be worthy of his wisdom to condescend, in some small measure, to the manner of thinking that now pre{vailed among the better sort of people in his own dominions.

The officer above mentioned, promised to communicate this representation to a clerk, who promised to speak about it to the referendary, who promised to mention it to his most serene highness whenever an opportunity should offer.

SECTION VI.

Picture of the English Government.
The establishment of a government is

"I have in my possession a great number of catapulta and balista of the ancient Romans, which are certainly rather worm-eaten, but would still do very well as specimens. I have many waterclocks, but half of them probably out of repair and broken, some sepulchral lamps, a matter of curious and interesting invesand an old copper model of a quinque-tigation. I shall not speak, in this place, reme. I have also togas, pretextas, and laticlaves in lead; and my predecessors established a society of tailors; who, after inspecting ancient monuments, can make up robes pretty awkwardly. For these reasons thereunto moving us, after hearing the report of our chief antiquary, we do hereby appoint and ordain, that all the said venerable usages should be observed and kept up for ever; and every person, through the whole extent of our dominions, shall dress and think precisely as men dressed and thought in the time of Cnidus Rufillus, proprietor of the province devolved to us by right," &c.

of the great Tamerlane, or Timerling, because I am not precisely acquainted with the mystery of the Great Mogul's government. But we can see our way somewhat more clearly into the administration of affairs in England; and I had rather examine that, than the administration of India; as England, we are informed, is inhabited by men and not by slaves; and in India, according to the accounts we have of it, there are many slaves and but few men.

Let us, in the first place, view a Norman bastard seating himself upon the throne of England. He had about as much right to it as St. Louis had, at a It is represented to an officer belong-later period, to Grand Cairo. But St. ing to the department whence this edict Louis had the misfortune not to begin issued, that all the engines enumerated in {with obtaining a judicial decision in fait are become useless. vour of his right fo Egypt from the court of Rome; and William the Bastard failed not to render his cause legitimate and sacred, by obtaining in confirmation of the rightfulness of his claim a decree

That the understandings and the inventions of mankind are every day making new advances towards perfection; and that it would be more judicious to

}

their own expence in the invasion of England, were desirous of compensation. It was necesssry to grant it, and for this purpose to make them great vassals, and great officers of the crown. They be

of Pope Alexander II. issued without the opposite party having obtained a hearing, and simply in virtue of the words "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven." His competitor Harold, a perfectly legitimate mon-came possessed of the finest estates. It arch, being thus bound by a decree of heaven, William united to this virtue of the holy see another of far more powerful efficacy still, which was the victory of Hastings. He reigned, therefore, by the right of the strongest, just as Pepin and Clovis had reigned in France; the Goths and Lombards in Italy; the Visigoths, and afterwards the Arabs in Spain; the Vandals in Africa, and all the kings of the world in succession.

is evident that William would rather, had he dared, have kept all to himself, and made all these lords his guards and lacqueys. But this would have been too dangerous an attempt. He was obliged, therefore, to divide and distribute.

With respect to the Anglo-Saxon lords, there was no very easy way of killing, or even making slaves of the whole of them. They were permitted in their own districts, to enjoy the rank and denomination of lords of the manor, (seignieurs chatelans) They held of the great Norman vassals, who held of William.

It must be nevertheless admitted, that our Bastard possessed as just a title as the Saxons and the Danes, whose title, again, was quite as good as that of the Romans. By this system everything was kept in And the title of all these heroes in suc-equilibrium until the breaking out of the cession was precisely that of "robbers first quarrel. on the highway," or, if you like it better, And what became of the rest of the that of foxes and pole-cats when they nation? The same that had become of commit their depredations on the farm-nearly all the population of Europe. yard. They became serfs or villeins. All these great men were so completelyt length, after the frenzy of the cruhighway robbers, that from the time of Romulus down to the buccaneers, the only question and concern were about the "spolia opima," the pillage and plunder, the cows and oxen carried off by the hand of violence. Mercury, in the fable, steals the cows of Apollo; and in the Old Testament, Isaiah assigns the name of robber to the son whom his wife was to bring into the world, and who was to be an important and sacred type. That name was Mahershalalhashbaz, "divide speedily the soil." We have already observed, that the names of soldier and robber were often synonymous.

Thus then did William soon become king by divine right. William Rufus, who usurped the crown over his elder brother, was also king by divine right, without any difficulty; and the same right attached after him to Henry, the third usurper.

The Norman barons who had joined at

sades, the ruined princes sell liberty to the serfs of the glebe, who had obtained money by labour and commerce. Cities are made free, the commons are granted certain privileges; and the rights of men revive even out of anarchy itself.

The barons were everywhere in contention with their king, and with one another. The contention became everywhere a petty intestine war, made up out of numberless civil wars. From this abominable and gloomy chaos appeared a feeble gleam, which enlightened the commons, and considerably improved their

situation.

The kings of England, being themselves great vassals of France for Normandy, and afterwards for Guienne and other provinces, easily adopted the usages of the kings from whom they held. The states of the realm were long made up, as in France, of barons and bishops.

The English court of chancery was an

as different as those of Morocco and Venice?

imitation of the council of state, of which the chancellor of France was president. The court of king's bench was formed on It is, perhaps, in the first place to be the model of the parliament instituted by ascribed to the circumstance of England, Philip le Bel. The common pleas were or rather Great Britain, being an island, like the jurisdiction of the chatelet. The in consequence of which the king has court of exchequer resembled that of been under no necessity of constantly the superintendants of the finances (ge-keeping up a considerable standing army neraux des finances) which became, in which might more frequently be employed France, the court of aids. against the nation itself than against foreigners.

The maxim that the king's domain is inalienable, is evidently taken from the system of French government.

The right of the king of England to call on his subjects to pay his ransom, should he become a prisoner of war; that of requiring a subsidy when he married his eldest daughter, and when he conferred the honour of knighthood on his son; all these circumstances call to recollection the ancient usages of a kingdom of which William was the chief vassal.

Scarcely had Phillip le Bel summoned the commons to the states-general, before Edward, king of England, adopted the like measure, in order to balance the great power of the barons. For it was under this monarch's reign that the commons were first clearly and distinctly summoned to parliament.

It may be farther observed, that the English appear to have in the structure of their minds something more firm, more reflective, more persevering, and, perhaps, more obstinate, than some other nations.

To this latter circumstance it may be probably attributed, that, after incessantly complaining of the court of Rome, they at length completely shook off its disgraceful yoke; while a people of more light and volatile character has continued to wear it, affecting at the same time to laugh and dance in its chains.

The insular situation of the English, by inducing the necessity and urging to the particular pursuit and practice of navigation, has probably contributed to the result we are here considering, by giving to the natives a certain sternness and ruggedness of manners.

These stern and rugged manners, which have made their island the theatre of many a bloody tragedy, have also contributed, in all probability, to inspire a generous frankness.

We perceive, then, that up to this epoch in the fourteenth century, the English government followed regularly in the steps of France. The two churches are entirely alike; the same subjection to the court of Rome; the same exactions which are always complained of, but, It is in consequence of this combinain the end, always paid to that rapacious tion of opposite qualities that so much court; the same dissensions, somewhat royal blood has been shed in the field, more or less violent; the same excom- and on the scaffold, and yet poison, in all munications; the same donations to their long and violent domestic contenmonks; the same chaos; the same mix-tions, has never been had recourse to; ture of holy rapine, superstition, and barbarism.

As France and England, then, were for so long a period governed by the same principles, or rather without any principle at all, and merely by usages of a perfectly similar character, how is it that, at length, the two governments have become

whereas, in other countries, under priestly domination poison has been the prevailing weapon of destruction.

The love of liberty appears to have advanced, and to have characterised the English, in proportion as they have advanced in knowledge and in wealth. All the citizens of a state cannot be equally

powerful, but they may be equally free. {ton, or Halley, or Archimedes,-it sprang,

And this high point of distinction and enjoyment the English, by their firmness and intrepidity, have at length attained.

To be free, is to be dependent only on the laws. The English, therefore, have ever loved the laws, as fathers love their children, because they are, or at least think themselves, the framers of them.

A government like this could be established only at a late period; because it was necessary long to struggle with powers which commanded respect, or at least, impressed awe;-the power of the pope, the most terrible of all, as it was built on prejudice and ignorance; the royal power ever tending to burst its proper boundary, and which it was requisite, however difficult, to restrain within it; the power of the barons, which was, in fact, an anarchy; the power of the bishops, who, always mixing the sacred with the profane, left no means unattempted to prevail over both barons and kings.

midable torrents.

in fact, out of abuses, of a most dreadful description, and such as are calculated to make human nature shudder. The inevitable friction of this vast machine nearly proved its destruction in the days of Fairfax and Cromwell. Senseless fanaticism broke into this noble edifice, like a devouring fire that consumes a beautiful building formed only of wood. In the time of William the Third it was rebuilt of stone. Philosophy destroyed fanaticism, which convulses to their centres states even the most firm and powerful. We cannot easily help believing that a constitution which has regulated the rights of king, lords, and people, and in which every individual finds security, will endure as long as human institutions and concerns shall have a being.

We cannot but believe, also, that all states not established upon similar principles, will experience revolutions.

The English constitution has, in fact, arrived at that point of excellence, in The house of commons gradually be- consequence of which all men are recame the impregnable mole, which suc-stored to those natural rights, which, in cessfully repelled those serious and for-nearly all monarchies, they are deprived of. These rights are, entire liberty of The house of commons is, in reality, person and property; freedom of the the nation; for the king, who is the head, press; the right of being tried in all criacts only for himself, and what is called minal cases by a jury of independent his prerogative. The peers are a parlia-men-the right of being tried only accordment only for themselves; and the bi-ing to the strict letter of the law; and the shops only for themselves, in the same

manner.

right of every man to profess, unmolested, what religion he chooses, while he But the house of commons is for the renounces offices, which the members of people, as every member of it is deputed the Anglican or established church alone by the people. The people are to the can hold. These are denominated priviking in the proportion of about eight mil-les. And, in truth, invaluable privileges lions to unity. To the peers and bishops they are as eight millions to, at most, two hundred. And these eight million free citizens are represented by the lower house.

they are in comparison with the usages of most other nations of the world! To be secure on lying down that you shall rise in possession of the same property with which you retired to rest; that you shall With respect to this establishment or not be torn from the arms of your wife, constitution,-in comparison with which and from your children, in the dead of the republic of Plato is merely a ridicu- night, to be thrown into a dungeon, lous reverie, and which might be thought buried in exile in a desert; that, when to have been invented by Locke, or New-rising from the bed of sleep, you

or

will.

have the power of publishing all your thoughts; and that, if you are accused of having either acted, spoken, or written wrongly, you can be tried only according to law. These privileges attach to every one who sets his foot on English ground. { A foreigner enjoys perfect liberty to dispose of his property and person; and, if accused of any offence, he can demand that half the jury shall be composed of foreigners.

king,-did not exist always. England was long a slave. She was so to the Romans, the Saxons, Danes, and French. William the Conqueror, in particular, ruled her with a sceptre of iron. He disposed of the properties and lives of his new subjects like an oriental despot; he prohibited them from having either fire or candle in their houses after eight o'clock at night, under pain of death: his object being either to prevent nocturnal assemblies among them, or merely, by so capricious and extravagant a prohibition, to show how far the power of some men can extend over others. It is true, that both before as well as after William the Conqueror, the English had parliaments; they made a boast of them; as if the assemblies then called parliaments, made up of tyrannical churchmen and baronial robbers, had been the guardians of public freedom and happiness.

I will venture to assert, that, were the human race solemnly assembled for the purpose of making laws, such are the laws they would make for their security. Why then are they not adopted in other countries? But would it not be equally judicious to ask, why cocoa-nuts, which are brought to maturity in India, do not ripen at Rome? You answer, these cocoa-nuts did not always, or for some time, coine to maturity in England; that the trees have not been long cultivated; The barbarians, who, from the shores of that Sweden following her example the Baltic poured over the rest of Euplanted and nursed some of them for se- rope, brought with them the usage of veral years, but that they did not thrive; states or parliaments, about which a vast and that it is possible to produce such deal is said and very little known. The fruit in other provinces, even in Bosnia kings were not despotic, it is true; and it and Servia. Try and plant the tree then. was precisely on this account that the And you who bear authority over people groaned in miserable slavery, these benighted people, whether under The chiefs of these savages, who had rathe name of pacha, effendi, or mollah, vaged France, Italy, Spain, and England, let me advise you, although an unpromis-made themselves monarchs. Their caping subject for advice, not to act the stu-tains divided among themselves the espid as well as barbarous part of rivetting your nations in chains. Reflect, that the heavier you make the people's yoke, the more completely your own children, who cannot all of them be pachas, will be slaves. Surely you would not be so contemptible a wretch as to expose your whole posterity to groan in chains, for the sake of enjoying a subaltern tyranny for a few days! Oh, how great at present is the distance between an Englishman and a Bosnian !

SECTION VII.

The mixture now existing in the government of England,-this concert be'ween the commons, the lords, and the

tates of the vanquished. Hence, the margraves, lairds, barons, and the whole series of the subaltern tyrants, who often contested the spoils of the people with the monarchs, recently advanced to the throne, and not firmly fixed on it. These were all birds of prey, battling with the eagle, in order to suck the blood of the doves. Every nation, instead of one good master, had a hundred tyrants. The priests soon took part in the contest. From time immemorial it had been the fate of the Gauls, the Germans, and the islanders of England, to be governed by their druids and the chiefs of their vil lages, an ancient species of barons, but less tyrannical than their successors.