a 
} - 
I HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
_ adlenefs, wantonnefs, and thofe paf- 
_ fions which are apt to predominate 
over mankind, fo it was liable to 
receive a bias, and take a direétion, 
” very different from what might be 
' wifhed. It-was farther to be con~ 
* fidered, that the court of Rome, 
however degraded or fallen, had 
not yet loft all its influence; and 
- that even the thunders of the Vati- 
~ can, long as they had remained dor- 
‘mant, might, in certain cafes, and 
under certain circumftances, ftill 
" produce forne untoward effect, efpe- 
"cially with refpe@t to thofe weak 
minds, who continued to be incum- 
bered with any religious fcruples. 
“Nor was.it to be fuppofed that the 
Roman catholic powers in general, 
would behold with indifference fo 
numerous, fo ancient, and fo emi- 
ta body, as the members of the 
llican church had for a long 
| fucceffion of ages been, at once 
| dtripped of their dignities and pro- 
‘perty, without any legal forfeiture 
curred, or even the charge or 
‘pretence of a crime laid to cover 
the violence and outrage. It was 
great misfortune to the caufe of 
hilofophy, and indeed a great de- 
| triment to it, that the proteftant 
| fates ftill adhered firmly to the 
| doctrines and principles of Chrifti- 
“@nity ; it had happened likewife, 
from fome peculiar difpofition of 
“Mind which may not be eafily ac- 
| €ounted for, as it formed no exclu- 
five or peculiar part of their fyitem 
ef morality, that many individuals 
) @mong them had ever been much 
the habit, even where they had 
mo. direé& -intereft, of enquiring 
actly into, and deciding promptly 
ftardily upon, fo iba pelt 
on of reafon and opinion.could 
be called a decifion, all queflions 
| OF right and wrong among men, 
‘. " fOL, XXXII. 
ike 
[ing 
without their being generally much 
{wayed by the quality or power of 
‘any of the parties. ‘This difpofition 
in individuals, feemed to operate no 
lefs upou the ftates of that perfua- 
fion, where they had power fufficient 
to carry the theory into practice ; 
and they have accordingly~ been 
noted in feveral inftances, for re- 
pelling injury and injuttice with re- 
{pect to otivers, as well as to them- 
felves. It was a farther misfortune 
with refpeé to the proteftant ftates, 
that being all, even the imalleft of 
them, more or lefs commercial, they 
paid a ftrit regard to the rights 
and fecurity of property in all cafes 
whatever, and, it was too much to 
be apprehended, would be ftruck, 
even with horror, at the eftablifh- 
ment of a precedent which went to 
fhake and loofen the foundations of 
all the landed property in Europe. 
Befides, that although the pro- 
teftants differed in many points of 
doétrine as well as difciplire from 
the Romanilis, yet that confidering 
them ftill as men, and confequently 
as brethren pofleffing the fame com- 
mon nature with themfelves, that 
fympathy fo natural to mankind; 
and fo common to the greateit part 
of the fpecies, could not fail to 
Operate with great force, at feeing 
fo numerous a body of men, many 
of them eminent for their parts, 
learning, and virtues, become, fo 
fuddenly and unexpectedly, the vic- 
tims of injury and violence, | 
But, on the other hand, befides 
the magnitude, and the intrinfic 
value of the capital object in view, 
it was accompanied with fo many 
alluring collateral circumftances, 
that it would feem, upon any {cheme 
of calculation, to be an att of abfo- 
lute cowardice not to encounter all 
thefe difficulties and dangers for 
(4) ita 
