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THE ANALYST. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 

 OF ENGLISH LIBERTY. 



" A mighty pomp, though made of little things." — Deyden. 



There was a time when the English mode of government was 

 spoken of as a model for a republic ; and the liberty and prosperity 

 which distinguished that people were attributed solely to that spirit 

 of wisdom which pervaded the laws and statutes of their constitution. 

 This period passed away, and was succeeded by another tone of opi- 

 nion, which found, or affected to find, in the constitution, defects of 

 such a grave character as to generate a suspicion of the importance 

 of that liberty which could not stand the test of impartial investiga- 

 tion. Thus unbounded admiration was succeeded by extravagant 

 deprecation. Many of its most graceful features had, in consequence 

 of the new scrutiny to which it had been subjected, been overlooked 

 in the grand volume of the constitution ; and the examiners appear 

 not to have been aware that those defects which they supposed they 

 had discovered, might possibly be more the effect of their own false 

 position and incorrect point of view, than truly pertaining to the 

 system before them. 



It may appear strange, yet it is nevertheless a fact, that the people 

 of England were not aware of the excellence and value of their con- 

 stitution, until it was pointed out to them by a foreigner. It is true 

 that they always spoke of the authors of that imperishable work with 

 the utmost respect and veneration ; yet it appears that their praises 

 were bestowed in the inverse ratio to the superficiality of their ac- 

 quaintance with the principles contained therein. There was, how- 

 ever, a lustre and nobility of feeling which dictated this praise ; it 

 was the soul, the spirit of patriotism, which, presupposing the perfec- 



VOL. X., NO. XXVIII. 1 



