Well constituted governments, if occasionally revised, and as often as necessary scrupulously amended, may be rendered as permanent as time. If wisely and virtuously administered, they would be indestructible, and incalculably contribute, by their vigour and uninterrupted duration, to the mental and moral aggrandisement of man. It is a truth confirmed by universal history, that the happiness or misery of a people almost entirely depend upon the principles of their government, and the conduct of their rulers. Where just and honourable intentions exist, there is nothing to dread; but, when only the semblance of these are put on, to cloak wicked and sinister ends, delusion and artifice of every kind must be resorted to for their accomplishment. Thence follows the degradation of man, and the consequent decay of states and nations. But it is not for want of knowing better that governments get out of the path of rectitude; it is by the individuals who compose its parts becoming dishonest. To the sage advice of such men as Bacon and Locke they turn a deaf ear; they are lost in considerations about their own private, selfish concerns, or are blinded by a false ambition, regardless of promoting the public good, or the happiness of mankind; and, until they are checked in this career, by an enlightened people, it is in vain to look for any amendment in them. But the great bulk of the people must be enlightened and amended, before liberty, peace, and happiness, can be spread over the world.
The first step preparatory to this desirable order of things, must be that the people should learn to respect themselves, as reasoning beings, which is the noblest privilege bestowed upon them by the Creator. To slight this gift is to act ungratefully to the Giver; for it is only by the free exercise of their understandings that men can see the face of truth, or can have the full use of all the means of advancing in knowledge, or are capable of religion, science, virtue, and rational happiness, or can be enabled to look backward with comfort or forward with hope. It is a sure sign that all is not right, or as it should be, in governments, when they fear even the fullest investigation of any, and of every, subject. Truth and honesty fear no discussion, and good governments will freely encourage, instead of checking, them. There ought to be no libels, but falsehoods. Can any man say, in the face of the world, that truth ought not to prevail? It is owing to inquisitorial checks and restraints, that two of the most important concerns to mankind, Religion and Politics,—on which their happiness, and everything of importance to them, so much depends,—is by the community, as a whole, so imperfectly understood, and so blindly acted upon at this day. It is only by seeing the conduct of public men in a clear light, that a just judgment can be formed of them and their measures, and of their fitness or unfitness to conduct the important concerns entrusted to their control. It may, indeed, be feared that, if tried in the balance, they will be found very light. Wise and honest councils must be resorted to and adopted before Religion, Morality, and Politics, Arts and Sciences, and a better knowledge of this world of wonders, can be developed and appreciated. Till then no amendment need be expected: religion will not be freed from superstition and bigotry, nor political institutions purged from venality and corruption, and conducted by honesty and good sense. Those who have fixed themselves, like a disease, upon the body politic should have warning to depart.
In glancing back upon the transactions of the world, as they have recently passed in review before us, how can it afford any matter of wonder that the advocates of liberty should have entertained fears for its safety, and have wished, as a check, the re-establishment of the British constitution in its purity. There was, indeed, little hope of this being acted upon, when foreign despots were leagued to enslave their peoples; and our own government, supported by a demi-oligarchy, was so deeply connected with them. Loan after loan was wrung from the British people under various pretexts, but in reality to support despotism under the disguise of legitimacy. Granted, that an honest House of Commons might have supported legitimacy, they should have openly expressed disapprobation at the lost liberties of nations of enslaved people. Protests of this kind, however, did not fit with the notions of the representatives of boroughmongers, who composed the majority of the honourable House, and who had long been used to treat the people and their petitions with unblushing neglect or contempt.
In this state of things, politics ran high; an unpleasant ferment soured the minds of a great majority of the people; and it cannot be wondered that they were, with difficulty, kept within bounds. Those who had been used to batten on the wages of corruption became excessively alarmed, and, under the pretence of preserving the constitution, resorted to a system of espionage, and of gaols and bastilles, and left no stone unturned to throw odium upon their opponents, the advocates of liberty, who were branded with the nicknames of Jacobins, Levellers, Radicals, &c., &c. The pen of literature was prostituted to overshade the actions of good men, and to gloss-over the enormities of the base. The energies of many members of both Houses of Parliament were unavailing against this compact confederacy of undeserving placemen and pensioners, who were bound together by fellow feelings of self-interest, in which all ideas of public trust were lost in private considerations. They had sinned themselves out of all shame. This phalanx have kept their ground, and will do so till, it is to be feared, violence from an enraged people breaks them up, or, perhaps, till the growing opinions against such a crooked order of conducting the affairs of this great nation becomes quite apparent to an immense majority, whose frowns may have the power of bringing the agents of government to pause upon the brink of the precipice on which they stand, and to provide in time, by wise and honest measures, to avert the coming storm. It is appalling to think of matters of this import being brought to extremities, especially when the whole might so easily be settled without any convulsion at all. The king (whose interests are the same as the people’s), if freed from the advice of evil counsellors, and from the unfitting trammels by which they have him bound, might insist upon having the constitution restored to its purity. This would at once settle the business, and would cause him to be adored by his whole people, and his name to be revered, by the enlightened in every civilised country, to the latest posterity.
CHAPTER XVIII.
I never could agree in opinion with the philanthropic, and well-intentioned, and honest, Major Cartwright,[[33]] in his unqualified scheme of universal suffrage; because I conceive that the ignorant and the wicked ought to be debarred from voting for anything; they should neither be honoured with privileges nor employed in any office of public trust; a virtual representation is all-sufficient for them. Could matters be so managed that none but sensible, honest men should be allowed to vote, either for members of Parliament, or for any other public functionary, the country would, in a short time, put on a very improved appearance. It is quite natural to suppose that, were elections entrusted to this description of men, they would elect none but those of similar character to their own. But, should it be found impracticable thus to order public affairs, then the next best plan,—and which might easily be accomplished,—would be to confer the additional elective franchise upon householders of probity and honour,—that is, upon those who, in their own spheres, by industry and intelligence, maintain themselves respectably; for it must be admitted that the poor are frequently as wise as the rich, and as remarkable for integrity.
If an overwhelming mass of selfism did not paralyze every improvement, how easily and how soon all this might be done. By making elections simple, candidates would be spared the expense of a canvass, and drunkenness and the base, wicked effects consequent thereon might be avoided. This business through the whole kingdom might be done in a few days, by summoning the electors (as soon as the candidates were nominated) to attend at the several polling places, to vote by ballot or otherwise as might be determined. The public should only be addressed through the medium of the newspapers. What a real honour would it be to be thus elected! What a saving of expense! What can any gentleman, after spending thousands in the present mode, say for himself? Does he expect to be repaid, somehow or other, by the nation? or, has he lavished away such sums for the “honour of the thing,” and thus robbed his own family by wasteful expenditure?
While sentiments of patriotism were entertained in our country,—clouded, indeed, by fears of an opposite tendency, as noticed before,—the attention of all was drawn aside to view the confederacy of despots directed to shackle the understandings of mankind, and to keep them in slavery and degradation. Would any man in his senses, in the present enlightened state of the civilized world, have thought this possible? And yet, as a finish, they have called it the “Holy Alliance.” My most fervent prayer is, that no king of the British Isles will ever keep such company; but that our sovereigns will ever stand firm, uncontaminated by the infectious effluvia of arbitrary power, upon this proud ground—this soil fitly tilled, but only wanting some weeding to render it perfectly ready to produce a rich crop of liberty.