THE SUPREMACY OP PUBLIC OPINION. 



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IT is a maxim in political science, the truth of which is established 

 by universal experience, that no government, whatever may be its 

 form, can be secure or permanent, unless it is founded upon and sup- 

 ported by public opinion ; and unless it has acquired, by some means 

 or other, the respect and attachment of the great body of the people. 

 Even in those countries where the will of the sovereign is supposed 

 to be the only law, the opinions of the people possess a great, al- 

 though unacknowledged influence ; and the tyrant, who has tram- 

 pled upon all the political rights of his subjects, is compelled to 

 respect their religious principles, and their natural or national preju- 

 dices. It may, indeed, be safely asserted, that no country will long 

 submit to an authority which is repugnant to the prevailing habits 

 and sentiments of its inhabitants ; and which depends, for its sta- 

 bility, upon a system of general oppression and violence. All his- 

 tory proves that, sooner or later, such an authority must be subverted 

 by one of those popular commotions, which, when they come from 

 the outraged feelings of a whole population, ultimately prove irre- 

 sistible. Those, indeed, who enjoy liberty, and by its enjoyment 

 know its value, may, perhaps, be disposed to question how far it can 

 be correctly asserted, that the submission which is rendered to des- 

 potic power, results not so much from slavish fear, as from an habi- 

 tual respect and attachment maintained and cherished by the tradi- 

 tionary recollections, and national sympathies, which endear, to a 

 whole people, the person of an hereditary sovereign. But a very 

 slight acquaintance with history, and with the existing state of the 

 world, will abundantly confirm the truth of such an assertion. How 

 strikingly is it illustrated by the state of France, under its old go- 

 vernment ; where, in spite of the abuses, the oppressions, and the 

 injustice, which disgraced every branch of the executive govern- 

 ment, the monarch still retained his popularity; and, in the hour of 

 danger, could fearlessly appeal to the affections of his subjects, and 

 who derived, from their devoted exertions, the means of repelling 

 those enemies whom his own unjust ambition had provoked. At the 

 present moment, when the progress of political knowledge is almost 

 everywhere sapping the foundations of arbitrary power, there may 

 yet be found nations in Europe, where the paternal character of the 

 government, and its considerate regard for the welfare of the great 

 mass of the people, in some degree counteract the baneful effects 

 which would otherwise result from its possession of absolute power ; 

 or at least conceal from the observation of the multitude, the evils of 

 that political system under which they live. The great, and indeed 

 the only safety of a despotic government, consists in opposing the 

 diffusion of knowledge, and providing for the general security of 

 life and property ; and thus retarding, if not preventing the progress 

 of their political opinions, which, when once embraced by the body 

 of the people, must, by necessity, extort from it those political rights 

 which it unjustly withheld from its subjects. 



