112 PARTIES, 



LETTER XXVL 



July, 182C 

 My Dear Sir, 



The laws of Athens inflicted death on a foreign- 

 er who should attempt to speak in the assemblies 

 of the people, and I think that such an unwarran- 

 table interference with the sovereign authority 

 deserved punishment. As a stranger and an 

 alien, receiving the hospitalities and protection of 

 this people, I do not consider myself authorised 

 to meddle with their politics ; but it is impossible 

 to seal hermetically your ears against the noise 

 and turbulence of political contention. Every 

 village has its political generals, who convert the 

 i>ar room of the inn into an arena of controversy, 

 and sometimes, seated in a corner, 1 have been 

 compelled to hear the accusations, the grievances 

 and the vindications of the belligerent parties ; and 

 amidst the persiflage or jargon of the times, I can 

 ^easily perceive that the whole controversy is 

 about the offices of the country. After listening 

 to a philippic of great virulence for some jtime, 

 clothed in terms of general reprobation, I asked 

 the orator to point out the reprehensible measures 

 of the government. He approved of e\ery thing 



