Rachaels mourning for their children, and refusing to be comforted because they are not. Widows and orphans join together in calling for vengeance on these enemies of the human race.-Their cries fhall reach the Judge of all the earth, and though these ambitious mortals "exalt themselves as an eagle, and fet their nest among the stars, thence fhall they be brought down *;" for dust they are, and unto duft they must return; they shall defcend to the filent grave, "where the wicked ceafe from troubling; where the weary are at reft; where the prifoners reft together, and hear not the voice of the oppreffor +."-And when the time fhall come, that time fhall be no more: with wonder and aftonishment shall these haughty monarchs hear the arch-angel's trumpet found, and fummon them to ftand before the judgement-feat! With indignation shall they fee those who were wont to tremble at their frown, now ftanding as their accufers!-But let us * Obadiah 4. + Job iii. 17, 18. turn turn away our eyes from the concluding fcene. How little are monarchs to be - envied; furrounded by none but thofe, whose interest it is to flatter and deceive them! while, like the rest of men, they are too ready to deceive themselves.-There is no doubt that many fovereigns, who afpire after a defpotic power, may persuade themselves that they feek that degree of power only for their country's good. Alas! then they do not confider, that the next monarch may abuse that power to his country's ruin. It was not in the power of Cyrus to beget a Cyrus. The chances were more than ten to one that his fon would be a wretch; and fuch Cambyfes was. "He caused several of "the principal of his followers to be bu❝ried alive, and daily facrificed fome one "or other of them to his wild fury. He "had obliged Prexafpes, one of his prin"cipal officers and favourites, to declare "to him what his Perfian fubjects thought "and faid of him." "They admire, "(fays Prexafpes) a great many excellent CC qualities they fee in you; but they are " fome " somewhat mortified at your immoderate << love of wine." "I understand you,” replied the Monarch; "that is, they pretend that wine deprives me of my reafon. You fhall "be judge of that immediately." Upon which he began to drink exceffively, pouring it down in larger quantities than ever he had done at any time before. Then ordering Prexafpes' fon, who was his chief cup-bearer, to ftand upright at the end of the room, with his left hand upon his head; he took his bow, and levelled it at him, and, declaring that he aimed at his heart, let fly, and actually fhot him in the heart. He then ordered his fide to be opened, and fhewing the father the heart of his son, which the arrow had pierced, asked him, in an infulting, fcoffing manner, if he had not a fteady hand. The government of Auguftus, though defpotic, was mild and gentle; but it is fufficient to fay, that his immediate fucceffors were Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. 9 Queen Queen Elizabeth was, indeed, a wife and excellent Princefs, and loved her people; under her government, which was very arbitrary, trade flourished, riches increased, the nation was refpected abroad and the people happy at home. This happiness arose from her circumstances, her own good dispositions, her prudence, and the wisdom of her minifters. This prudence, and these good difpofitions, she could not leave to her fucceffors. The want of thefe 'involved the nation in those civil wars, which ended only with the expulfion of the whole Stuart race. So true is the obfervation of Mr. Locke, that" abfolute power does not purify men's blood, nor correct the baseness of human nature *.' Let us then confider the nature and effects of a defpotic government, and we shall fee that it has been univerfally, and must be, of neceffity, productive of evil in every kind; and that "to live by one man's will, is the cause of all men's mifery t.” Locke on Government, § 92. Eccl. Pol. + Hooker, СНАР. CHAP. I. ON THE NATURE OF A DESPOTIC GOVERNMENT. Go NOVERNMENTS have been diftinguished into republican, aristocratical, and monarchical, or a mixture of all three. This is a good diftinction. Montefquieu divides them into republican, monarchical, and defpotic. A monarchical government, according to him, is" that in which a fingle perfon governs by fixed and established laws."This great man very juftly remarks, "the rivers haften to to mingle their waters with the fea; and monarchies lofe themselves in defpotic power *. Being of the fame opinion, I fhall make no distinction between monarchy and * Efpr. des Loix, livre 8, chap. 17. |