1016.] Dr. John Robison. 255 
might not be equally culpable, but to discriminate between them 
was not thought of much importance, and it was the simplest, if 
not the fairest way, to divide the demerit equally among the 
whole. The rhapsodies of Barruel had already prepared the public 
for such impartial decisions, and had held up every man of genius 
and talents, from Montesquieu to Condorcet, as objects of hatred 
and execration. 
But whatever opinion be formed of the facts related in the his- 
tory of this conspiracy, it is certainly not in the visions of the: 
German Illuminati, nor in the ceremonials of Freemasonry, that 
we are to seek for the causes of a Revolution, which has shaken 
the civilised world from its foundations, and left behind it so many 
marks, which ages will be required to efface. There is a certain 
proportionality between causes and their effects, which we must 
expect to meet with in the moral no less than in the natural world ; 
in the operations of men as well as in the motions of inanimate 
bodies. Whenever a great mass of mankind is brought to act 
together, it must be in consequence of an impulse communicated 
to the whole, not in consequence of a force that can act only on a 
few. A hermit or a saint might have preached a crusade to the 
Holy Land, with all the eloquence which enthusiasm could in- 
spire ; but if aspirit of fanaticism and of chivalry had not pervaded 
every individual in that age, they would never have led out the 
armies of Europe to combat before the walls of Jerusalem. Neither 
could the influence of a small number of religious or philosophic 
fanatics, sensibly accelerate or retard those powerful causes which 
prepared from afar the destruction of the French monarchy. When 
opposed to these causes, such influence was annihilated ; when 
co-operating with them, its effects were imperceptible. It was a 
force which could only follow those already in action; it was like 
“ dashing with the oar to hasten the cataract,” or, ‘‘ waving with a 
fan to give swiftness to the wind.” * 
It is, however, much easier to say what were not, than what 
were, the causes of the French Revolution; and in dissenting from 
Professor Robison, I will only remark in general, that I believe 
the principal causes to be involved in this maxim, That a certain 
relation between the degree of knowledge diffused through a nation, 
and the degree of political liberty enjoyed by it, is necessary to 
the stability of its government. ‘The knowledge and information 
of the French people exceeded the measure that is consistent with 
the entire want of political liberty. The first great exigency of 
Government, therefore, the first moment of a weak administration, 
could hardly fail to produce an attempt td obtain possession of those 
rights, which, though never enjoyed, can never be. alienated. 
Such an occasion actually occurred, and the revolution which took 
place was entire and terrible. This also was to be expected ; for 
there seems to be among political institutions, as among mechanical 
. * 
* Ferguson’s Essay on Civil Society, part iii, sect. 4, 
