( 405 ) 



THE PRINCIPLE OF LOYALTY. 



IN times like the present, when even illustrious hands are prompt to 

 commit the most indefensible crimes in this era of " fearful change," 

 there are few speculations, relative to the political state of the world, 

 more deeply interesting than those connected with the rise and fall of 

 so many dynasties. We have commonly viewed these events through 

 the dim medium of history ; but we have lately seen them passing 

 before our eyes, and beheld, too, the whole process of elevation and 

 depression, without any concealment of the springs by which the 

 pageantry is moved. We have been let into the secret of the manufac- 

 ture (if such a term may be allowed) of those exalted personages upon 

 whom so much of the fate of mankind depends, and the expeditious sim- 

 plicity of it must, we opine, have occasioned surprise. The last addition 

 to the list of European kings, previous to. these revolutionary times, 

 was that of the Electors of Brandenburg, promoted to the crown of 

 Prussia : and what a length of political intrigue was necessary to carry 

 it into effect ! In later time, nothing more appears to have been 

 necessary than the *' Je le veux" of one individual, announced in an 

 article of a treaty which he has dictated. During the career of victory, 

 it is readily conceivable how this may be done. He who, by his strong 

 arm, can make himself an emperor, may also make brothers or favourites 

 kings, and he will endeavour to support them in their thrones as long 

 as his arm and its strength subsist. But in order to give a firm and 

 lasting establishment to such a state of things, the empire of force must 

 be succeeded by an empire of opinion : for the former is perpetually 

 liable to change hands, unless supported by the latter. It is OPINION 

 alone that can secure the quiet transmission of authority from one to 

 another in a particular line, without regard to the personal qualities of 

 the successor, which is the essence of hereditary monarchy ; and "opinion" 

 is a thing over which mere force has a very limited influence. 



The most powerful aid in this point is to be derived from a principle 

 which, though known in its operation in all monarchies, has not, as far as 

 we are acquainted, a specific name in any language but that of the English. 

 M.M.NO. 11. 3F 



