Lectures on Civil and Religious Liberty; With Reflections on the Constitutions of France and England and on the Violent Writers Who Have Distinguished

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1792 Excerpt: ... Let Us for a moment suppofe with Mr. Burke, that the constitution of England is, in every sense of the word, persect; that the government is complete in all its parts; that the people are sufficiently represented; that the check of the people upon their own representatives is as great, and the influence of the crown no greater than it should be; and that in consequence of this happy adjustment, its finances have never been diverted into an improper channel, buthave always run with a gentle current, to water and to freshen its liberties. We must then, to render this supposition consistent with common sense, likewise suppose, that by some secret curse of Providence, which has din'mguished us from every other nation that ever lived in the world, all the natural means of our profperity have been deseated, and that the dread of national bankruptcy has, by the particular judgment of Heaven, been entailed upon a people who have been faithsul to the bounty of nature, by adding to its resources, consessedly the greatest in Europe, the utmost frugality in the application of them. Great indeed our misfortunes must have been, if they have brought us to this condition without our own assistance. I am not over fond of transplanting machinery from poetry into politics, but even according to the poet's prescription Ncc Deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus incident. We must here be forced to borrow a little supernatural assistance, for here is a dignus vindice nodus. But to speak a little more plainly. When the political body is reduced to the last stage of a consumption, though Mr. B. like a ftate quack undertake the cure, we cannot help being a tittle apprehensive for its fate. He assures us that its constitution is excellent; that his medicines are infallible; that ev...