OF ENGLISH LIBERTY. 3 



stances, which arc ever arising ; and the annoyance and frustration 

 of the deeply-concocted schemes of the wise theorists ? At no pe- 

 riod of the history of civilization was the truth of this so evident, as 

 at the time when the Constituent Assembly of France attempted the 

 propagation of the American principles of liberty in their country. 

 A great number of talented and influential men at the head of the go- 

 vernment seemed resolved upon improving the liberal statutes of their 

 neighbours ; and thus to make up, by precipitate reform and inno- 

 vation, what they lost in time. The fruit of their zeal was a series of 

 the most profound and brilliant enquiries respecting the conditions of 

 national liberty ; and the proposed constitution which they had built 

 up from those acute logical researches was, in point of theory, a 

 closer approximation to perfection than even the far-famed English 

 Constitution itself. And although it was stifled at its birth by subse- 

 quent revolutionary agitations, which even threatened to overthrow 

 the English Constitution, it will ever remain in history a lasting mo- 

 nument of human sagacity and profound political philosophy. The 

 English Constitution, like the gnarled yet majestic oak, braving at 

 various periods many political storms, has stood its ground, and 

 maintained its stately position, for more than six centuries ; while the 

 new French code, raised, as it were, by a sudden stroke of magic, in 

 all the gorgeousness of modern splendour, was from the commence- 

 ment at the mercy of a suddenly emancipated and whimsical multi- 

 tude, who destroyed it before they knew what had fallen beneath 

 their sacrilegious hands. It is a fact that when Louis XVIII. intro- 

 duced at last a constitutional government into France formed from 

 the model of the English, it was not that constitution, nor its statutes 

 of liberty, which took the attention of surrounding countries and of 

 Europe, but the sound oratory and eloquence which flowed from the 

 French rostrum. 



In England, they seem to be in possession of liberty without trou- 

 bling themselves with the why or the wherefore, or in the least med- 

 dling with motives and principles. In France, the favourite employ- 

 ment of the politician is to reiterate elementary principles ; in Eng- 

 land, they discuss practical points. In France, the orator and jour- 

 nalist throw off brilliant sentences on the principles of Lberty and the 

 organization of society, which deservedly places them, in point of 

 philosophical oratory, far above the English. 



All inventions in the arts, sciences, mechanics, and industry, are, 

 originally, confined to those requirements concerning which the peo- 

 ple of that particular age have become anxious and unanimous. Per- 



