-of the-
PRINCIPAL NATIONS in EUROPE
- in 1804 - by
W. Playfair"}
As such then we have only to examine the foundation on which she stands, and find in what she is vulnerable.
We must first begin with the interior situation, to follow the same order that has been attended to in the rest of the work.
Changes of manners, habits of education, and the natural effects of luxury, are as likely to operate on the British empire, as on some others which they have destroyed.
From the unequal division of property, there is perhaps less danger, but from the employment of capital there is more than almost in any other nation.
From the abuses of law and public institutions and l'esprit du corps, we run a very great risk; more indeed than under an arbitrary government or even a republic. These last are the dangers that most seriously threaten a nation living under a mixed government.
As to the produce of the soil becoming unequal to the maintenance of a people addicted to luxurious habits, we have much also to fear from that: the operation is begun, and its effects will soon be most serious: they are already felt, and very visible.