PRACTICAL MORALITY. 



inclinations, than by bluntness to give pain to 

 our fellow-creatures. Politeness, in fact, has 

 its true source in benevolence. If we love our 

 fellow-creatures, as we ought to do, we cannot 

 fail to be courteous to them, and to avoid giving 

 them, by word or look, unnecessary offence. It is 

 also of importance to observe that the real state 

 of our feelings is liable to be much affected by 

 the very appearances of things surrounding us 

 and connected with us. If we live much amidst 

 broils and jars, our feelings become harsh and 

 irritable. If we live where only the soft words 

 of courtesy are used, we become soft and cour- 

 teous. In polite society we gradually gain the 

 power of restraining all violent feelings, and at 

 length become in reality the creatures which at 

 first we only seemed to be. Like other duties, 

 courtesy has its extremes. An over-polite or 

 fawning manner is as disagreeable as rudeness. 

 True politeness is an honest and manly com- 

 plaisance, as far from cringing and obsequious- 

 ness on the one hand, as from insolence and 

 indifference on the other. 



II. SPECIAL SOCIAL DUTIES. 

 The Duty of Subjects. 



Every civilised nation is governed by some 

 species of authority, for the purpose of preserving 

 order in society. According to a law of uni- 

 versal application, every independent nation is 

 understood to have the undoubted right to model 

 its government according to its own fancy, genius, 

 or necessities, provided that, in the execution of 

 its plans, it does not wantonly injure its neigh- 

 bours. Directing our attention to our own 

 country, with which we have here alone to do, we 

 find, as soon as reason dawns upon us in youth, 

 that we are members of a great community. 

 We find ourselves subject to laws which were 

 framed long before we were born, and that we 

 must act in a manner not to please our own 

 caprice, but according to the arrangements which 

 have been instituted for the benefit of society at 

 large. But if we thus discover that we are 

 trammelled by certain legal restrictions, not very 

 agreeable perhaps to the wildness of our untamed 

 nature, we likewise find that we possess a great 

 many compensating privileges. While yet opening 

 our eyes to the light, we enter into the enjoyment 

 of all the transcendent privileges of British sub- 

 jects, and come within the powerful protection of 

 the laws as fully as the oldest and most honoured 

 in the land. It will be perceived that this is a 

 boon of incalculable value. For us, armies have 

 fought and bled ; for us, in past times, hosts of 

 martyrs and patriots have contended ; for us the 

 wisest statesmen and legislators have transacted 

 negotiations securing civil liberty ; for us the 

 people who have gone before us have established 

 a variety of the most excellent, the most benefi- 

 cent institutions. All these things we enjoy 

 without having been put to the smallest trouble. 

 All that we are called on to give in return, as 

 soon as emancipated from the inexperience and 

 ignorance of childhood, is obedience to the laws. 



A cheerful obedience to the laws is therefore 

 our chief public duty. Possibly some of our laws, 

 from having been framed for a former state of 

 society, or in order to meet particular exigences, 

 may not now be very judicious in their provi- 



sions ; yet that forms no solid reason why we 

 should break through them. It is always safer 

 to obey a bad law than to oppose it by violence. 

 Unhappily for some nations, they seem to have 

 no clear idea of the value of obedience to the 

 laws. When they find themselves aggrieved by 

 oppressive state measures, they are exceedingly 

 apt to break into tumults, and take up arms 

 against the officers of their governments. This 

 is a very short-sighted policy, as the history of 

 all nations proves ; for the people are always sure 

 to suffer far more by the coercive measures 

 adopted to restrain them, than they would have 

 done by submitting to the evil they originally 

 complained of. 



Perfect obedience both to the letter and the 

 spirit of the laws does not, however, imply that 

 we should not examine whether they are in every 

 respect answerable to the present condition of 

 society, nor keep us from resorting to legal means 

 to have them corrected, or altogether rescinded. 

 The constitution points out how this is to be 

 done. It is illegal to conspire secretly to over- 

 throw the law. All measures calculated to im- 

 prove our social or political condition must be 

 conducted openly and honourably. The means 

 put into our hands by the constitution for im- 

 proving the law are very powerful, if wielded 

 with discretion. The people have the appoint- 

 ment of the men who constitute the most influen- 

 tial branch of the legislature ; if they do not 

 appoint individuals who will meet their views 

 with regard to correcting or abolishing laws, they 

 have themselves to blame : the constitution con- 

 fers upon them a liberty of choice. It, besides, 

 gives them the right to present petitions to the 

 legislature, either individually or in bodies, 

 praying in respectful terms for the amendment 

 or abolition of any law which is deemed oppres- 

 sive or antiquated. The right of petition implies 

 the right of meeting publicly to discuss the pro- 

 priety of petitioning. This practice of meeting 

 together excites the public mind to renewed 

 efforts in the cause it undertakes. The speeches 

 of the orators are circulated and commented 

 upon by the newspapers all over the country. 

 One meeting gives rise to others, men's minds 

 are enlightened and warmed, and the public 

 opinion acquires by degrees an amount of moral 

 force, any resistance to which would be useless. 

 It is not without reason, therefore, that the people 

 of this country set so high a value on the right to 

 assemble for the discussion of public affairs, and 

 place it in the first rank of their constitutional 

 prerogatives. 



Besides yielding obedience to the existing laws, 

 we are under a collateral obligation to be loyal to 

 the sovereign who rules over us. Loyalty is hence 

 another of our chief public duties. There is some 

 difference of opinion with regard to the extent to 

 which loyalty ought to be carried, but this is, prac- 

 tically, a simple matter. A power to protect the 

 nation from foreign insult, and to preserve the inter- 

 nal peace of the country, must be lodged somewhere. 

 It is found to be most convenient to lodge it in 

 the hands of one person, under proper restrictions. 

 In Great Britain, it has been placed in the posses- 

 sion of a hereditary prince or king. This person 

 is entitled our ruler or sovereign ; we are termed 

 his subjects. Loyalty signifies a fidelity and will- 

 ingness in serving the king, so that he may be 



