fected by the revolution, was the very thing that was aimed at by the Scottifh nation, when they firft took up arms against Charles I. and by the parliament of England, till Cromwell turned them into a rump.

After all, the perfon must either be blinded with infidelity, or utterly unacquainted with the history of that time, who does not fee, that the fuccefs of that attempt was more owing to a manifeft interpofal of the hand of God, than to all the activity of men. Had not the tytant been fo infatuated, that he gave no credit to all the information he received of the Prince's defign, till he saw it put in execution, and then, in oppofition to what had been his known character, deferted his throne, his capital, and his kingdom, in such a cowardly manner, foon after the landing of his fon-in-law;--the Revolution had not been fo eafily brought about. Had he been permitted to confult his friends, concert his measures, collect his forces, and ufe fuch means to repel the invasion, as any man would have used, whom God had not appointed to deftruction ;-the attempt of the prince of Orange might poffibly have iffeud in the fame manner as that of the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Argyle had done fome time before. Had he made fuch refiftance in England as his friends made for him in Scotland, or as himself afterwards made in Ireland; who can tell what it might have coft the nation, before they had got rid of his defpotic fyftem?

Neither ought it to be forgotten, that it is always dangerous for the common people to interfere, in matters of this kind. I mean nothing dishonourable to the.common people. I count it no difgrace that I am one of them, or that my father was fo before me. But how can it be fuppofed, that men, who have (pent their lives. at the plough, at the loom, or at the needle; whose

time has been occupied in providing, by the labour of their hands, a fubfiftence for themselves and their fami lies; and who can fcarcely find leifure to read their Bi bles, and to think about the weighty concerns of aǹ approaching eternity,-that fuch men fhould be qualified to erect forms of government, or to manage the affairs of a great nation? As foon fhould I expect to hear a man explain all the phenomena of nature, who never knew the first principles of mathematics. When the multitude are once roufed into fury, they know not where to ftop: and, therefore, after overturning the exifting conftitution, they could fcarcely fail to introduce fuch violence, anarchy and confufion, as would prove far more intolerable than the worst fort of government.

Our ancestors were aware of this, in the period above referred to. It was not by forming focieties or affociations among the common people, that our Revolution was brought about. It was not by holding conventions, in which journeymen taylors, barbers, and stocking-makers, fat as deputies chofen by their brethen,-called themfelves Friends of the People, and confulted together for the good of the nation. The wifeft men in the three kingdoms,-the men who, by their rank in life, had the best opportunities of acquiring political knowledge, and the greatest degree of influence in the country, laid their plans among themfelves, and concerted measures with the prince of Orange, without the privity of those in the lower ranks of life. The common people, though they rejoiced at the event, were as much furprized when they faw it, as the king himfclf. And it deferves peculiar attention, that all this was the refult of a conviction, that a government merely republican could not fubfift in Britain: and that it was peculiarly dangerous, to allow the common people to inter

fere,

fere, in the management of public affairs. To this purpofe, I beg leave to tranfcribe a paffage from a foreign writer of reputation, on this fubject. "The royal "power being thus annihilated," [by the death of Charles 1.]"the English made fruitless attempts to fubfti

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tute a republican government in its ftead. Subjected "at first, to the power of the principal leaders in the long parliament, they faw that power expire, only "to país, without bounds, into the hands of a protec"tor. They faw it afterwards parcelled out among the ❝chiefs of different bodies of troops; and thus fhifting "without end, from one kind of fubjection to another, "they were at length convinced, that an attempt to "eftablish liberty in a great nation, by making the peo

ple interfere, in the common business of government, "is of all attempts the most chimerical; that the authority of all, with which men are amufed, is in re"ality, no more than the authority of a few powerful "individuals who divide the republic among themselves; "and they rested, at laft, in the bofom of the only "conftitution, which is fit for a great ftate, and a "free people; I mean that in which a chofen number "deliberate, and a single hand executes *,”

All the above observations are mournfully confirmed and illuftrated, by the recent example of our neighbours in France. Their first national affembly, in the year 1789, was conveened with fome measure of agreeablenefs to their ancient conftitution, which had been fufpended

* See De Lolme on the English constitution p. 53. A book which I would earnestly recommend, to be perufed by every perfon in Britain, before he put his hand to any attempt to change the government of his country.

pended for ages. Many of them were men of rank, of property, of learning, and political knowledge. Had they been left to the free exercise of their own judges. ments, there is no doubt that they would have given to their country a conftitution, which might have proved the glory of France, and a pattern to other nations. But unfortunately, there were among them, a party of factious and defigning men, who formed connections with the populace of Versailles and Paris. And foon, very foon, those beginnings which had given pleasure to every friend of liberty, and of mankind; gave place to the most gloomy and difafterous appearances. At first the common people took no active part, otherwways than in choofing their reprefentatives; but no fooner did the events of the 14th of July 1739, fhow that popular favour might be the road to power, than the Sans Culottes began to think themselves capable to manage the affairs of the nation. From that time, the exclamations of the galleries dictated the refolutions of the Affembly which was then deferted by its moft virtuous members. The king was carried a prifoner to Paris, where he remained in the power of an organized mob By this means, a conftitution was adopted, which, though profeffedly defigned to have been a limited monarchy, yet actually gave an opportunity to thofe who courted the populace, and knew how to flatter their paffions, to become the defpots of the nation. The fecond National Affembly was ftill more under popular influence; and the Convention moft of all. From the time of their meeting, all matters were carried by the votes of the Jacobin Club, or by the fovereign every thing went into confufion. ed upon the back of revolutions. ftarted up inftead of one,

mob of Paris. Then Revolutions followFive hundred tyrants More blood has been fhed

by

by their republican defpots, in the short space of eigh teen months, fince the fatal 10th of Auguft, 1792, than has been thed by all their kings together, (if we except the maffacre of St Bartholomew, which was the work of a faction, more properly than of a king), fince the days of Charles the Great. And now liberty, property, morality, and religion, are all annihilated at once and France is become an execration, and a hiffing, and a curfe, among all nations.

Perhaps it may be thought unneceffary to apply the above reasoning to ourselves in Britain; becaufe, for fome months back, no one pretends to with for a revolution. Reform being now the word, in the mouth of all our mal-contents. But, however they may now fpeak, every man, who had his ears open a year ago, knows that nothing lefs was then talked of, than fuch a total revolution as would bring us into the fame fituation with our neighbours beyond the channel. Our king was to be dismist, as a piece of useless and expensive lumber; our parliament was to be turned into a convention; and our Friends of the People were to be what the Jacobins are in France, Though they find themselves obliged to change their dialect, becaufe Government begin to punish fome ring-leaders of fedition, their views are by no means changed. They now feek a reform, only because they think it would be one step towards a revolution.

But will any of the moft difaffected among us fay. that we have any fuch occafion for a revolution, as they had in France fix years ago; or as our fathers had in Britain a hundred years before? We have no Lettres de catchet, by which a man may be feized, when going about his lawful business, or even in his own house, carried he knows not where, and kept during the pleasure

of