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Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
not to have retracted his former measures : the people doubted his sincerity , distrusted his professions , and had resolved upon resistance . Yet ' as those , who are waking from a pleasing dream shut their eyes against the' light , and endeavour to prolong the delusion by slumbering again , ' * the infatuated monarch would still have indulged his dream of sovereignty and' controul over relig ion ; but the insulted lion ' was rousedand this wolfwho had meditated to make
, , the religion and liberties of the nation a prey , fled with fear and precipitation . Let us not call it an abdication ov desertion , it deserves an harsher and stronger appellation . By mal-administration and abuse of power he had broken the orig inal contract , and forfeited his title to hold the reins of government . It is impossible to state every instance in
which the Constitution is subverted , and the original contract dissolved : ' We must leave to future generations , whenever the necessity and the safety of the whole shall require it , the exertion of those inherent , though latent , powers of society which no climate , no constitution , no continent , can ever dissolve or diminish .. ' f Shall we then entertain any doubts of the justice and propriety of a revolution ¦
, which had for its object the preservation , of liberty by the expulsion of a Prince , who , from infancy to age , had made it his pursuit to corrupt the liberties of England , and to poison the fountains of her freedom?—A Prince , whose tyrannic bigotry—but Jet his manes rest in peace ; we need not , to exalt the character of a patriot ,
exaggerate the vices of a despot . In such a . case , precedent was not wanting to justify the measures that were adopted . ' Let not man seek in , the profligate practices of men , what is . to be found in the sacred rights of nature . ' Though , fro . m the habits and prejudices of education , and the precedents , which former times afforded , we may be inclined to palliate the conduct of the house of Stuart , in assuming a power as extensive as it was unwarrantedwe should
remem-, ber that no precedent can justify , no antiquity sanction what , iti all times , and in every state of society , will be as , fatal to liberty as the most flagrant and recent usurpation . The decency and ¦ subordination which prevailed , even when the helm of State was deser-. ed , and amongst a populace freed from the restraints of civil government and secure of impunity—the secrecy of the nobles entrusted with
and privy to the execution of so great a design , are iucontestible proofs of the popularity , and no mean proof of the justice , of the cause . Nor need we wonder—the rude hand of philosophy had at length torn away the veil of superstition , and exposed to the eye of reason the mysteries which had for ages enveloped and sanctified re- , ligious and civil iniquity . The combination of priestcraft and
desrpotism was dissolved . The doctrine of non-resista :: ce and passive obedience , that baneful tree , under whose shade t \ ranny , the bastard slip of legal authority , had so long flourished , was blasted , by the lightnings of truth . This was the doctrine by which , tli . e despotism of Europe was so long supported—this the doctrine , by which political
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
not to have retracted his former measures : the people doubted his sincerity , distrusted his professions , and had resolved upon resistance . Yet ' as those , who are waking from a pleasing dream shut their eyes against the' light , and endeavour to prolong the delusion by slumbering again , ' * the infatuated monarch would still have indulged his dream of sovereignty and' controul over relig ion ; but the insulted lion ' was rousedand this wolfwho had meditated to make
, , the religion and liberties of the nation a prey , fled with fear and precipitation . Let us not call it an abdication ov desertion , it deserves an harsher and stronger appellation . By mal-administration and abuse of power he had broken the orig inal contract , and forfeited his title to hold the reins of government . It is impossible to state every instance in
which the Constitution is subverted , and the original contract dissolved : ' We must leave to future generations , whenever the necessity and the safety of the whole shall require it , the exertion of those inherent , though latent , powers of society which no climate , no constitution , no continent , can ever dissolve or diminish .. ' f Shall we then entertain any doubts of the justice and propriety of a revolution ¦
, which had for its object the preservation , of liberty by the expulsion of a Prince , who , from infancy to age , had made it his pursuit to corrupt the liberties of England , and to poison the fountains of her freedom?—A Prince , whose tyrannic bigotry—but Jet his manes rest in peace ; we need not , to exalt the character of a patriot ,
exaggerate the vices of a despot . In such a . case , precedent was not wanting to justify the measures that were adopted . ' Let not man seek in , the profligate practices of men , what is . to be found in the sacred rights of nature . ' Though , fro . m the habits and prejudices of education , and the precedents , which former times afforded , we may be inclined to palliate the conduct of the house of Stuart , in assuming a power as extensive as it was unwarrantedwe should
remem-, ber that no precedent can justify , no antiquity sanction what , iti all times , and in every state of society , will be as , fatal to liberty as the most flagrant and recent usurpation . The decency and ¦ subordination which prevailed , even when the helm of State was deser-. ed , and amongst a populace freed from the restraints of civil government and secure of impunity—the secrecy of the nobles entrusted with
and privy to the execution of so great a design , are iucontestible proofs of the popularity , and no mean proof of the justice , of the cause . Nor need we wonder—the rude hand of philosophy had at length torn away the veil of superstition , and exposed to the eye of reason the mysteries which had for ages enveloped and sanctified re- , ligious and civil iniquity . The combination of priestcraft and
desrpotism was dissolved . The doctrine of non-resista :: ce and passive obedience , that baneful tree , under whose shade t \ ranny , the bastard slip of legal authority , had so long flourished , was blasted , by the lightnings of truth . This was the doctrine by which , tli . e despotism of Europe was so long supported—this the doctrine , by which political