Ehge of' Baron Ctevter. 167 



Hut this matter requires a short consideration. On entering 

 into life, all men have not the same destination assigned them, 

 and the diversified nature of their intellectual powers leads 

 them into very different paths. There are some whose inces- 

 sant exertions are directed to the improvement of society, and 

 who prosecute their attempts in opposition to all the suggestions 

 of experience. The good to which they aspire leads them to de- 

 spise the advantages they possess, and to obtain this they willingly 

 hazard all. We do not live in an age when this assertion call 

 be treated as chimerical. Others, on the contrary, more struck 

 with the danger of the evils which too often originate in great 

 political commotions, never cease to contemplate the picture of 

 misfortune which, in such cases, history presents ; and having 

 come to the conclusion, that the pursuit of the desired good, 

 unless managed with prudence and caution, may lead to the 

 diminution of the benefits positively enjoyed, they invariably 

 resist any encroachments on the existing state of things, as a 

 high degree of imprudence and rashness ; under the impression 

 that is requisite to preserve, at all risks, the conditions which 

 afford protection even to their adversaries. The knowledge of 

 history which he possessed, and the severe trials to which his 

 youth had been subjected, would have sufficed to incline M^ 

 Cuvier to this line of opinion and conduct ; and the habits of 

 his mind, as well as the nature of the labours to which his life 

 was devoted, connected this bias into strong and decided con- 

 viction. 



The study of nature, and the incessant admiration of the or- 

 der which prevails in her minutest parts, — of that order which 

 produces, vivifies, and preserves all, had impressed him with 

 the necessity of establishing and maintaining the same principle 

 in political and social organization ; and as governments are 

 every where the natural guardians of order, they were on that 

 account alone the objects of his particular interest. May I re- 

 mind you, that the same dispositions in favour of established 

 governments, were produced by similar causes in the mind of 

 one of the most illustrious individuals of our age ? The eminent 

 author of the Mkanique Celeste had derived them from the 

 study of the laws which regulate the movements of the planets, 



