The National Register. — London, England, 1815-05-14 00:00:00

• ' - . • • • • .• . • 4 , . Our Wing, Constinittbn, asu iatno. No. 385. MAY 14, 1815. POLITICAL DISQUISI7WN. alMininiMp... • • • Av.! • :A.s. '44:; • 'PUBLISHED AT NO. 11, NEWCASTLE-STREET, STRAND. , eAJ ct) 1 • tt tect its interests, is the same as that of single man to seek assistance and co-operation. It is the same as that exercised at all meetings, of electing a President, *hos . ° authority once established and recognised by the sense of the majority, is implicitly obeyed as long as it (roes not exceed its limits; or attempt to render itself indvperident of those by whom . it has been created. In the same manner, manner, Princes, Presidents, or Kings, whatever be the name affixed to their . high-office, being the stewards of the people, can have no power to alter or impair thqse rights which they were appointed to guard and to main tain. But although this principle be acknowledged as the original and legitimate basis of the Regal power, it has been ,modified in its action, either by the deliberative wisdom of the community, or the ambition of its Itulert; Thus .in many instances the .sovereignty has pi9e4l.fr9rd' the hands- of chiefs elected yearly, to others who enjoyed . it for a year : from these it was made coeval with the Mre of its possessor though restricted in its powers, The next, stop rendered it her,Uditary, and at last the restless pride and daring ambition of leaders, assisted by Wen of the same principles, enthroned arbitrary despotism on ,the ruins of all those rights with .which the Creator had in- - , vested mankind. I shall not, at this moment, inquire *hat porti6n'of our rights we may have lost through the encroachments of successive administrations; whether they had not beert entirely extinguished in,a neighbouring land, by the for mer proceedings of the French Emperor; nor how far they have been respected or violated by the Allied Monarchs in their late partitioh of continental States : I only con tend that they are Dow too Welt known to be again im ,pnnely abused or abolished. The doctrine, of a Reversnd English Bishop, that the People of this country had no right to interfere With the laws, nor the naing of those laws, but that it was their duty to obey them, howevef .destructive of those natural privileges, the delegation of which formed the sole authority of the lawg vers e has ,now but few advocates. It is in fact in contradiction' with itself : for if we have no right to appoint law-makers, Awe have no right to obey their 'laws. This absurdity shows the necessity of admitting the principle of our Juitural rights to its full extent, in' order to legitimate all it has produced. The engagements contracted bft SUNDAY, NATURAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF NATIONS. ••••••••M••• As the right of nations to elect their own governments 'vas once mote become a subject of discussion, I shall en deavour to show its origin and the duties which it im poses. In the early days of the creation, all men were equal: all enjoyed the same natural rights, with the same power of transmitting them to their posterity: Necessity luy the foundation stone of the social compact, which is at °:n-.? a recognition and a modification of those rights. As o.y , man alone could not move a heavy stone or fell a_ tree, he had a right to call for the assistance of others who a'so enjoyed the privilege of granting or rejecting his request The consciousness of their own wants, however, taught them that it was their_ interest and consequently their duty, to • acknowledge and' obey that right, which they would have occasion to exercise themselves. This understanding, fortned formutnal advantage and the gene ral good, being consecrated by common consent, became that Social Compact, which embodies both natural rights and natural duties, fences the weak against tjie strong, and secures the order and existence of all human asso- ciations. • Netural duties flow, therefore, from the.acknewledge ment of natural rights, of which they are the exercise and the protection. For if it were illegal for peg to establish rules for the direction of society, and authorities for the government of states, it would be equally illegal to obey them. The right mast therefore be recognised, before the duties become binding ; and any act of desuotism and injustice which attacks the existence of the right, weak ens or cancels the obligation of fulfilling its consequent duties. It is therefore the part of every honest man and well-washer to his country, to watch over the unimpaired existence of those rights, and it is the interest of all rulers to keep them inviolate, as the only. pillars of their power the panop;y which makes them invulnerable. Un changed as to principle, these' rights are sometimes cur..' tailed in their exorcise, by the course of events, the growth of habits and the undue interference of interested individuals. The right which a nation possesses of thoosing -its own form of government to regulate Vil i CCCLXXXV. ..? / i • ) • .7 .1 " 1 " . •" ••• •. I t r •. r 4 . .A / ; •