586 
and their sovereign. The first was that 
adopted by the government ‘of Spain, ‘viz. 
to close all. the avenues ito knowledge, to 
bury, the people in utter. darkness, to pre- 
vent, their, discayering (the nature of the 
prison..in swhich they,were confined... Lhe 
second method was to reform in time. to 
grant what justice, honesty, and knowledge 
required, and refuse the rest.” 
We need hardly say that these re- 
flections lead ‘immediately to some ob- 
servations on the French Revolution. 
In 3hese there are some remarks just 
upon: the whole, though perhaps not 
quite untainted with some tinge of the 
prejudices of rank on the composition 
of revolutionary parties. Nothing ‘cer- 
tainly can be more’ true than “ that 
there.ave two: very different classes of 
men» who are anxious promoters of re- 
form in:states; ‘the one composed out 
of the best, the other out of the worst 
of amation2’ 
Tt is inthe filling up of the outlines of 
thisisketch: that we suspect a little dis- 
colouring. 
“ The former class consists of men of ar- 
dent. philanthropy, of studious habits, of 
pure’and simple manners, who in all the 
faults of a government see only the vice of 
institutions, and adopt with eager and dan- 
gerous. facility the belief, that if laws were 
wise,,,. mankind would be virtuous. Irre- 
concileable enemies to crime, they are al- 
ways prepared to throw every reproach 
upon the rulers of the world, and to indulge 
the flattermg dream, that if the seat of 
power were in the people at large, bad pas- 
sions would never be allowed to have sway.” 
We do not believe that “a dream so 
flattering’ ever entered the imagination 
of such philanthropists... _It would be a 
dreamy.;sort; of . philosophy, indeed, 
which supposed that the multitude were 
incapable of bad passions, But Despots 
and Oligarchs have their bad passions 
too. They have, also, selfish interests to 
goad, and are liable to be goaded bythose 
bad passions : frequently directly oppo- 
site to the interests~of the multitude. 
They have their sophistical.artifices 
also, to inflame and play off the bad 
passions of one part of that multitude 
against another part, till the interests 
of both may be made their prey. It is 
possible therefore, for aman “ of ardent 
philanthropy, .of . studious habits, and 
simple manners’. to: believe, without 
being quite a dreamer, that the interests 
of all may be quite as, safely, entrusted 
to the passions of all ——. who, if they 
go wrong, _must, be. themselves, the 
sufferers—as.to the uncontrolled: pas- 
Memoirs of the Affairs of 
of 
sions of a despot, or a handful {9 
Oligarchs; who haveoften an interest, of 
their own in doing the. wrong, whe 
pernicious. consequences. are, tQ,<laht 
upon others, while the: profit.onlyrer 
mains to them, It. is possible fora 
philosopher to believe, “withdut® ‘the 
phantasin of a ‘dream’ to! prompt’ him, 
that, the good of the whole being (the 
only legitimate ‘cnd of’ governmient, 
even the very selfishness of the tespec- 
tive individuals who ‘compose ’ that 
whole, when balanced ‘and “counter- 
balanced, and summed up into ‘an ag- 
gregate of results, may amount to the’ 
general benefit desired; _ while the 'self-' 
ishness of a select, or self constituted” 
few, (whether it be the blood of heredi- 
tary nobility, or the blood of officia 
clerkship, that feeds their passions and_ 
flows through their veins,)can only be 
likely by a similar process of arithmeé-- 
tical calculation, to give, ‘as the amount, 
the aggregate interest of that’ few, 
which might happen, ‘and’ frequently 
does happen, to be in direct opposition’ 
to the interest of ‘thé excluded ‘multi-- 
tude; who are, nevertheless,’ to be - 
governed by the decision, “If it had” 
pleased the Alaiighty to create ‘a Hier- 
archy of angels, all purity, prescience, — 
and benevolence, to fill the functions 
and wear the trappings of nobility, the 
case might, indeed, have been different ; 
and madness, not philosophy, could 
alone have dreamed of calling in ‘the ° 
suffrages of the people: But, the en-— 
lightened author of ‘this’ memoir’ reed” 
not be reminded, that even’ “of our - 
English Oligarchy, all are not Russels ; ’ 
or that even the Russels themselves, _ 
endeared as the name has been'to the 
remembrances of more than @ century, — 
are yet but mortal; and aré suse tible’ 
to the passions, to the prejudices, and 
the partialities of mortality. But let us’ 
proceed to the countéfpart’ ‘of the: 
picture. Rage prbie eA 
“ The second class consists of men of 2. ; 
far different description. All who ist a low 
rank beara malignant’ envy to their supe- 
riors ; all who by a loose and profligate life 
have lost their credit and their’ éharacter!;”" 
all who from a passion for ‘excitement are!” 
in want of dreadful events and cruebrevoli-' 
tions to give them emotions, swelk the ranks”: 
of this. numerous ‘body... Men, like; these 
. hate the superiority of virtue still more.than; 
that of birth and_ property, and are more 
dissatisfied with the prospect of a people . 
remaining tranquil under reformed wing 
and wise fulers, than with the sway a 
cient abuses, and vicious tyratits. st 
come like *faries upon the seenés of tévolu- | 
OO teal” 
