NATURAL TIIEOL03Y. 145 



feels in his coach, but by what the apprentice feels 

 who gazes at him, that the public is served. 



As we approach the summits of human great- 

 ness, the comparison of good and evil, with res- 

 pect to personal comfort, becomes still more pro- 

 blematical ; even allowing to ambition all its plea- 

 sures. The poet asks, " What is grandeur, what 

 is power?" The philosopher answers, "Con- 

 straint and plague ; et in maxima quaque for tuna 

 minimum licere." One very common error mis- 

 leads the opinion of mankind on this head, viz: 

 that, universally, authority is pleasant, submission 

 painful. In the general course of human affairs, 

 the very reverse of this is nearer the truth. Com- 

 mand is anxiety, obedience ease. 



Artificial distinctions sometimes promote real 

 equality. Whether they be hereditary, or be the 

 homage paid to office, or the respect attached by 

 public opinion to particular professions, they serve 

 to confront that grand and unavoidable distinc- 

 tion which arises from property, and which is 

 most overbearing where there is no other. It is 

 of the nature of property, not only to be irregu- 

 larly distributed, but to run into large masses. 

 Public laws should be so constructed as to favour 

 its diffusion as much as they can. But all that 

 can be done by laws, consistently with that degree 

 of government of his property which ought to be 

 left to the subject, will not be sufficient to coun- 

 teract this tendency. There must always, there- 

 fore, be the difference between rich and poor ; 

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