THE SUPREMACY OF PUBLIC OPINION. 279 



government must be conducted in a manner agreeable to the princi- 

 ples of a majority of the people. And the only inference which can 

 be justly drawn from this is, that when the members which compose 

 a government entertain political opinions opposed to those of the 

 people, they ought to retire from office, and leave their places to be 

 occupied by those who can carry on the government, in the only way 

 in which it can be carried on with advantage and safety. Those who 

 cavil at and dispute the principle, that public opinion must and ought 

 to controul and direct the conduct of government, cannot, surely, on 

 the slightest reflection, refuse to admit, that in countries which enjoy 

 free institutions, the character of the people, whether that character 

 be good or bad, must, as a matter of course, be impressed upon the 

 government to which they are willing to submit. They may urge, 

 that public opinion may be, and often is wrong ; but this has nothing 

 to do with the question, and does not in the least degree invalidate 

 the truth of the political maxim, that no free government can exist, 

 unless its measures are sanctioned and enforced by public opinion. 

 But we would venture to go still further, and to express our convic- 

 tion, that public opinion is much seldomer wrong, than some are wil- 

 ling to suppose ; and that no country is likely to be so well governed 

 as that where all public measures are framed upon an enlightened 

 regard, to the decisions of public opinion. We think that a very 

 short view of the past history, and present state of public opinion, 

 will tend to illustrate this observation, and will besides, at the present 

 moment, be productive of important political instruction and warning. 

 An inquiry into the history of public opinion during the earlier 

 ages of European history, might prove both useful and interesting ; 

 but it would here be out of place, and inconsistent with our present 

 object; which is, to trace the progress of those political opinions 

 which now prevail to so great an extent, and the power and influence 

 of which are every day increasing. The first French Revolution 

 must be regarded as the great era of liberal opinions; and it is during 

 the period which has elapsed since that great event, that that change 

 has taken place in the political feelings and sentiments of the great 

 body of the people, the effects of which, we are now beginning to 

 witness, and which must yet be attended with the most important 

 consequences. The activity and intelligence of her population the 

 the greatness of her military power and the splendour of her lite- 

 rary reputation have always secured to France an exalted place 

 among the nations of Europe: and there is not a corner of the 

 continent where her influence has not penetrated, and where the po- 

 litical movements by which she has been agitated, have not excited 

 sympathy and interest. France, degraded and enslaved as she was, 

 under her old government, had, with the exception of England, far 

 preceded the other nations of Europe, in the career of civilization and 

 improvement ; and her literary men, by their genius and their writ- 

 ings, had not only largely contributed to the national glory, but con- 

 ferred still greater and more permanent advantages upon their coun- 

 try, by preparing her people to appreciate the blessings of freedom, 

 and to throw off that shameful yoke under which they had so long 

 groaned. During the last half of the eighteenth century, a multitude 



