The Sun.
London, England, 1801-12-31 00:00:00

POLITICAL 'CONSTITUTIONS.

Tti E Public are already acquainted Wi tit the Politi-
cal Works of Mr. H. R. YoRKE, and must, of course,
entertain a very favourable opinion of his talents
and acquisitions. There is a vigour in his style,
and a solidity in his judgment, which entitle him
to a high rank in the-Republic- of Letters. This
Gentleman, after a diligent investigation of the
several Political Constitutions of the principal Eu-
sopean States, has announced his intention of de-
livering the result of his Inquiries in a series of
LECTURES. The subjea is deeply interesting, and
will, no doubt; be discussed with great ability by
this writer, whose imagination is impregnated by
learning, and guided by experience. A general
view of these Ledwes has been published, and this
view evidently displays the powers of an enlarged
mind, fulFy impressed with the necessity of Legisla-
tive Restrictions in Society, and capable of appre-
elating the merit of Political Systems, in • relation,
to National Character. We have .not room, at
present, for more than the following Extract from.
this work, but we can recommend it to our Readers
as a produdion which abounds with profound and
ingenious observations, calculated to reconcile Men
to the state of Society in which Providence has been
pleased to place them, and to make them shudder'
at the idea of all violent innovations,

c‘• It may be objeled, if Public Good be the
object of all Government, how arc we to reconcile
to it those undisguised violations of justice, and
those wanton aEts of cruelty which are often.perpe_
trated on the Continent of Europe ?—To this I
answer, that the maladministration of Governors
is no more evidence against the general rule, than
the abuse of a principle can be inferred as an argu-
ment against the principle itself. Public Good is
the cause, though not always the efea of Govern-
ment ; and when it becomes avowedly and syste-
matically abused, the delinquents have commonly
experienced, in the vengeance of an exasperated
People, the punishment due to their crimes. Such
a mode of obtaining redress, or averting further
mischief, is for ever to be deplored, and rarely oc-
curs in a State whose fundamental Laws have guard-
ed the Subjea against such heinous exertions of
power. It is the possession or want of such secu-
rity which marks the difference between Free Go-
vernment and Despotism ; and although every. State
under our present consideration, enjoys some kind of
provision against Injustice, whether arising from the
influence of religion, an intermediate body of men, or
Jaws become sacred by their antiquity, yet, in pro-
portion to the strength of this security, the People
must undoubtedly be denominated more or less free.
It may, however, be assumed as a political aphorism,
that wherever a Government has existed for ages,
and men have enjoyed tranquillity under ir, it is a
proof that its principles are not essentially at vari-
ance with each other. The exercise of power may
be strengthened or relaxed, according to the moral
condition of the People ; and what might in Britain
be termed an ad of tyranny, may be requisite in
kussia, to preserve unbroken the cowmon links Gi
Society. We, therefore, who live in 'a land of
the highest liberty to which we are fitted, are not
warranted in pronouncing an indiscriminate censure
on every exertion of power that we cannot easily
reconcile to our own habits and institutions. The
beast of prey and the docile animal are differently
treated ; the one, we are compelled to enclose
within irons bars, the other, we.permit to range
at liberty. In the same manner, the Citizen who
is habituated by education and example to .a sense
of justice, we can commit to the guidance of his
own discretion ; but the fierce and unruly barbarian
must have all his motions watched, lest he spread
around him the evils which spring from violent and
uncontrouled passions. In short, we are not dis.
cussing which is the best abstract Form of Govern-
ment, but that which is best adapted, in its pradical
application to the People governed. In this sense,
the reply of Solon must he considered as the expres.
lion of political wisdom.

i‘ If I have succeeded in removing a prejudice
which has been the cause of our voluntary igno-
rance of the Institutions of other States ; it follows,
that some inquiry into their Constitutions and
Laws, will be prOduaive, at this time, of number-
less advantages. For, the new century opens with
everts of such extraordinary magnitude and inte-
rest, that without some previous knowledge of this
kind, sve shall be neither fortified nor prepared
against the consequences which are likely to arise
from them.
Since the conquest of Constantinople by the
Turks, every century has been fertile in great and
unexampled changes. To that event is ascribed the
revival of Letters Among the Western Nations. The
next century beheld the rapid change in the Reli-
gion, and 'the Political System of a considerable part
of -...;:arope. The —w dopmes of the Reformers
supported on one side, and-opeosed on the other,
with all the zeal which the interests of Religion,
well or ill understood, are apt to inspire, impelled
alike their partizans and adversaries to extend their
-intellectual pursuits. Quickened by this great mo-
tive, emulation enlarged the sphere of human know-
ledge ; and its light, long concealed beneath .the
clouds of error and confusion, blazed forth even on
subjects seemed most foreign from those dis-
putes. In the seventeenth century, a new System
of Philosophy was founded, which, though perse-
cuted at first with great acrimony, was afterwards
embraced with superstitious avidity, and at length
reduced to those principles only, which were Just
id true. Lastly, the eighteenth century has wit-
Pessed Revolutions in Government, Laws, Manners,
Religion, and States, of which there is no example
in the annals of the human race.

" Every age which thinks in a different mode
from the age that went before it, invests itself im-
mediately with the title of Philosophical ; much in
the same manner as antiquity dignified with the
tialne of Sages, those who had no other pretension
2 it than the merit of contradiffing their cotem-
rotaries. In modern times, we attach the charac-
ter of Philosophers to many, who are merely dis-
uished for their talent of 'furbishing up old
bysLems in a more polished phraseology ; or who,

, -

1 for the empty gratification of a transient popularity,
have caught the Public by surprise, and diverted
them from the beaten' track of sober experience,
and cautious indudion. Indeed, the habit of gene-
ralization, though generally productive of scientific
research, yet, when applied to the purposes of po-
litical inquiry, if extended too far, is as liable to
pervert the understanding, as the, habit of genera-
lizing from, one or a few particulars in the history of
man. These systeMs have been received with such
extacy, and are circulated with such: pertinacious
zeal, that it is much to be feared, society will not
easily recover from the 'shock which it has expe-
rienced. Helvetius himself, the most acute and
original genius of this sett, is now become an an-
cient, compared with some of his disciples. As
these builders of ,',l! rial castles are fond of propaga ring
their dolrines, perhaps without foreseeing their
pradical influence on society, it has been questioned
by cautious and well meaning persons, whether the,.
advantages 'which genuine philosophy expected to de-
rivefrom the discovery of the art of printing, may not
be ultimately defeated by the chartered libertinism of
the press ? Doubtless, if we compare without preju-
dice, the present state of human knowledge, with that
which has passed away, we shall perceive a consi-
derable progress in various branches of moral and
natural philosophy. But the generations which are
yet to follow, will discover in many points which
may seem too minute and familiar for philosophy to
dwell upon, the sources of many errors of the un-
derstanding, and of many corruptions of the heart.
We nevertheless alledge that we have discussed and
analyzed all subjeas from prophane mythology
to the foundations of revealed religion, from meta-
physics to matters of taste, from music to morality,
from the scholastic disputes of theologians toobjefts
of commerce, from the rights of princes to the
rights of subjects; from questions of the utmost im-
portance
.to questions of no importance at all. On
some of these subjefts new light has been shed, upon
others fresh obscurities have arisen : the conse-
quences of this general ebullition of the mind, have
been compared to the ebbing and flowing of the
ocean, which casts some goods on the shore, and re-
moves others to a greater distance."

- THE SUN.

110LIM QUIS DICIRI IFALSUM Aurosnr ?