1802.] Letters between T, Mercer, efg. © the Rt. Hon. E. Burke. 
matured formation of a new government, 
as effectually protective, as any man can 
defire, of every right that is dear to his 
heart. And I cannot help expreffing 
great concern at hearing fuch a man as 
you fpeak,as you do, of a government 
of twenty-four millions. A government 
of twenty-four millions, otherwife than 
by their reprefentatives, is no doubt, and 
‘moft obvioufly, an impracticable thing; 
but, Sir, can any fcheme of government 
“be fo rational, fo noble, fo worthy of being 
fubmitted to, as that in which. the laws, 
for the general weal, proceed from the 
unbiafled and unbribed reprefentatives of 
the people, properly chofen! And is it cri- 
minal to aim at the eftablifhment of {uch 
a government? Is the bulk of mankind 
in the civilized parts of Europe fo brutifh 
and ignorant as to be incapable of dif- 
cerning the things which conduce to their 
peace and fafety? > No! I feel at this mo- 
ment thehigheit fatisfaétion and pleafure in 
the perfuafion, that it is\not the cafe at 
prefent, that it will be lefs and lefs fo in 
future, and that a clear and true difcern- 
ment of what is fit and proper, morally 
and politically, is to be found in others as 
well as in thofe of a fuperior polifh. Let 
us not, therefore, be told of a government 
of twenty-four millions, with a view to 
depreciate the only mode of government 
fit for rational beings to fubmit to. After 
this there is nothing to be faid of the 
Ruffian and Pruffian methods of govern- 
ing (which you prefer to a government of 
twenty-four millions, each individual ‘of 
faid twenty-four millions being as good 
and honeft as I am) except to fhew that I 
am not ignorant of their great flagitiouf. 
nefs, But it may be proper, previoufly 
to remark, that the dignified and ever to 
“be refpected: word: Government ought not 
to be applied to fuch diabolical confpira- 
cies againft the improvement, protection, 
and happinefs of mankind; for as good 
government is the greateft of all earshly 
bleffings, and bad government the greateft 
curfe, it is an abule of words to vindicate 
each by the fame common term, and there- 
fore the Ruffian and Pruffian {chemes of 
dominaticn fhould be called what they 
really are—Tyraxnies—though they are 
tyrannies projeéted on different {cales. In 
Ruflia the tyrannic power is permitted to 
be exercifed by a great number of indivi- 
duals, even by all the proprietors of land 
in that vat country ; and bey do. not 
leave it unexerciled, for each land-pro- 
prietor confders his fellow-men, who hap- 
pén to be born on his eftate, precilely as 
ke does his cattle; ans he snakes we 
S28 
fame ufe of both according to theis 
different capacities of ferving him, em- 
ploying his horfes in one way, his bul- 
locks in another, and his men, whom he 
impioufly confiders as his two-footed ani- 
mals, in a third way; and when a Ruffian 
Lord has been matical shal at the gamine- 
table, or is in want of roubies from any 
other caufe, he fells either his men or his . 
oxen, according as each may be in better 
or worfe demand inthe market. This is 
not a caricature—it is’ a real pi€ture of 
the condition of men in Ruffia. © And 
among many other things I mizht add, 
that ftriking off an arm or a leg of an un- 
happy peafant is no uncommon facrifice 
to the cruelty or caprice of a tyrannic 
mafter. 
I believe the Pruffian Monarch does not 
in this manner impart his power ‘to the 
upper claffes of his fubjeéts; but he is the 
undoubted mafter of the liberty, limbs, 
and lives of all ranks and degrees, and 
may difpofe of them as he thinks proper, 
The whole body of the people are his - 
flaves; and he marks their children in 
their infancy for foldiers, as the oak trees 
are marked in England for the ufe of the 
royal navy. And fhail fuch tyrannies be 
mentioned—and not inthe way of comps- 
rifon, but aétually of preference. I ane 
aftonifhed! and can only fay for myfedf, 
that I have the firmeft truft, and the befi- 
grounded hope, that all fuch fyfiems of 
oppreffion will foon be dcracinated froi 
all civilized nations, and that in due time 
they will not finda place in any nations 
upon the earth, 
Such hopes and fuch wifhes I did fup- 
pofe to be fondly cherifhed in your breait, 
till Tread in the newfpapers.that you con- 
demned the efforts of the French nation 
to exchange a bad Government for a good 
one. I then took the liberty of afking 
you if that was really the cafe. Bur, 
when I did fo, be affured, Sir, there was 
not in my mind the taintet idea, or the 
flichteft tincture of the arrogance of 7#- 
firuGwn; thouga’T no doubt felt that 
pleafure, vaniehy I always do teel,; in’ giv- 
ing teftimony to thofe great truths, whicie 
are now rearing their beads from the chaos 
of ignorance and error, which long overs 
whelmed them in moft of the nations of 
Europe, and which by a fpeedy and wide 
diffufion muft foon deliver the world fron 
thofe oppreifions, both civil and ecclefiatti- 
cal, under which it has groaned, 
But.to return to the principal fubjedt < 
the parailel you draw between the liberty 
the French migaot have had, and the fraa- 
tic dclufions of fome on the commence. 
met 
