316 Effect of the Knowledge of Bk. iv. 



to it, must be determined by general expediency; 

 and in judging of this expediency every circum- 

 stance is to be taken into consideration ; particu- 

 larly the state of public opinion, and the degree 

 of ignorance and delusion prevailing among the 

 common people. The patriot who might be called 

 upon by the love of his country to join with heart 

 and hand in a rising of the people for some spe- 

 cific attainable object of reform, if he knew that 

 they were enlightened respecting their own situa- 

 tion, and would stop short when they had attain- 

 ed their demand, would be called upon by the 

 same motive to submit to very great oppression 

 rather than give the slightest countenance to a 

 popular tumult, the members of which, at least 

 the greater number of them, were persuaded that 

 the destruction of the Parliament, the Lord 

 Mayor, and the monopolizers, would make bread 

 cheap, and that a revolution would enable them 

 all to support their families. In this case it is 

 more the ignorance and delusion of the lower 

 classes of the people that occasions the oppres- 

 sion, than the actual disposition of the government 

 to tyranny. 



That there is, however, in all power a constant 

 tendency to encroach is an incontrovertible truth, 

 and cannot be too strongly inculcated. The 

 checks, which are necessary to secure the liberty 

 of the subject, will always in some degree em- 

 barrass and delay the operations of the executive 

 government. The members of this government 

 feeling these inconveniences, while they are ex- 



