74 



fuch a party having dominion over the public ftrength, and wealth, the 

 adminiftration of government, the diftribution .of juftice, the management 

 of the public treafure, the means of advancing and ruining individuals, 

 and a power of controlling the prefs, and other channels, by which fen- 

 timent and intelligence may be communicated, is enabled, both to gar- 

 ble the evidence of fafts, which it fufiers to come before the public, 

 and to biafs, and fafliion the reafonings upon thofe fafts. As it poffefles 

 abundant means of fuppreffing truth, diffeminating falfliood, and of mif- 

 leading and perverting the popular kind, through the operation of hopes 

 and feai-s on the intcrefts and feelings of individuals ; fo, it will not 

 ■want abundant temptations, and frequent opportunities, to employ thefe 

 means. When Nero burned Rome, and thought proper to charge the 

 Chrljlians with the nefarious deed, the general reception and circulation 

 of the tale was no evidence of its truth, it would not have been very 

 Jkfe or practicable, at the time, to have impeached the credit of the 

 tyrant, or examined the probability and foundation of the rumour, when 

 the emperor himfelf lent his gardens, for the exhibition of their tortures, 

 as though it were fome pleafing public fpeftacle ; and aflifted himfelf, at 

 it; and in the garb of a common charioteer mixed with the populace. 



We {hould liften with caution, and ftudy to fufpendour affent, where 

 we perceive that the national difpofition is in itfelf, prone to credulity, 

 and difpofed to catch and diffufe with eagernefs, the rumours of the hour. 

 Demojlhenes defcribes and reprobates fuch a difpofition in the Athenian 



people, TTEfiiovIe? aflajy w^v&avi^Sa* xola Ijjii ayopav — ** Aiyels)* Ti xaiy^v ; — reSj'jjKe ^t?U7nr^; — 



it is ufually the offspring of a vain and fantaftic love of novelty, confpi- 

 ring with a fanguine temperament, eafily elated by hope, and deprefl by 

 fear; and where it prevails muft contribute exceedingly to the growth 

 and progrefs of falfhood. Such a difpofition has ever been obfervable in 

 the people of England, and appears in the favourable reception, which 

 they afford to quacks, charlatans and impoftors. It has of late years 

 been carried to an extravagant pitch, fince the fearful encrcafe of the fund- 

 ing fyftem has augmented the power and importance of rumour, and 

 offered profpe<fls of enormous gain to the invention and the mendacity of 



thofe, 



