The Sun.
London, England, 1822-02-27 00:00:00

POLITICS.

The following eloquent eulogium on this im-
portant, indeed essential Science, is extracted
from " Reflections on the Nature and tendency
of the present Spirit of the Times," written by
the Rev. G roam: BUIIGES:

" POLITICS must not. be scorned. It is a high
and holy part of Ethics, and, in its influential
consequences, is second only to religion. 'Much
of man's moral conduct will be found to depend
on the form of government under which he lives,
on the laws he is called upon to observe, on the
duties he is expected to fulid, and on the rights
he is permitted to enjoy. It is not politics, but
what people are accustomed to call by that
staled name ; what they understand by the terns
in its idle or abused sense, and what designing
men take in any sense that serves their selfish,
or ambitious, or unjust purposes, that is worth-
less as-a science. But the true policy of a State,
what is it but a knowledge and adaptation of the
best laws for its government, and of the best
means for the perfection and conservation of
those laws ; what is it but an endeavour to assi-
milate the power and dignity of the Sovereign
with the security and liberty of the subject, and
so tq assimilate them, that any prerogative
stretched too far on the one side shall be met
and modified by some opposing right on the
other ; any right too vehemently insisted upon
by the people, shall find its best refutation
in some correspondent and balancing duty.—
What, in short, is politics, stript of its vulgar
trappings, its senile debasements, but an illus-
tration and enforcement of the welfare, spring-
ing from the virtue of man in all his capacities,
civil, social, and domestic ? The study of poli-
tics is coeval with the exercise of reason and jus-
tice: It is employed upon our .well-being,
founded upon our well-doing. It does not for-
get our rights, but it grounds them upon our
duties; and these unperformed will render those
nugatory. Human duties are of prime impor-
tance, and the aim and perfection of politics are,
as far as possible, to secure their performance.
This science takes in the conduct of man, there-
fore, in every stage of his being. It fixes him
down, and all his passions, to the golden rule
that must obtain in ages and nations to the.end of
time, of ' doing unto others as he would others
should do unto him.' It compels him to see
his interest in theirs, his comfort in theirs, and
to trace up his own miseries to the perverted
source of those sufferings he inflicts upon his
fellow-creatures. Politics works upon even sa-
vage minds, and reduces the chaos of ungoverned
appetites to a moral order and a civilized form.
It draws, him from his rudeness, and contem-
platina 'this elaborate scheme of mighty man,'
fills the naked parchment with 'the lines of
Roman greatness,' nourishing him up, by good
and wholesome laws, to restraints that correct
his selfishness, and to actions that ennoble his
soul. It gives him the full value of his own
virtue and industry, but forbids him to touch an
atom of the possessions resulting from the virtue
and industry of others.. It provides (no easy
matter) for multifarious wants, and crimes, and
sufferings strangely commixed and conflicting with
each other. It takes in at one large and mer-
ciful view, all the follies, and weaknesses, and
viciousness of our common nature, and so
legislates against them as, with the least evil
possible to the criminal, to do the greatest
good possible- to the community ;
upon Heaven's own eternal justice, that the
son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor
the father the iniquity of the son.' In fine, a
wise and righteous polity will seat itself on the
right hand of religion and virtue; will do nothing
against their interest, but, despising glory and
greatness founded ou an illusive good, will lead
man by paths that make for his temporal happi-
ness) so far as it can be consulted in this uncer-
tain world, to that happiness which, his earthly
duties performed, is laid up for him in another
and a better."

On Monday morning, between six and seve:l,

the roof of the 'F hatched Cottage, late the re,i-
deuce of the Hon. Mr. STANHOPE, near Fulham,
was discovered to be on fire, and in less than
two hours the whole edifice was burned to the
ground. A great deal of the property was res-
cued from the flames, and, among other matters,
part of the library and furniture of Mr. WATTS

let gentleman well known in the literary world),
who had just taken a lease of the house for a
term of years. A. good many valuables, how-
ver, and books, are said to have been destroyed.
HARE SKlNs.—Dumfries has been long cele-
brated as the great mart for hare skins, and we
are happy to state that the trade in this article
appears to be reviving. Last year, while the
quantity brought to market Was very inconsider-
able, the price was so low as 12s. per dozen; but
this year the price started to 16s. and 175., and,
in the course of the week, upwards of forty-eight
thousand skins were disposed of ; six thousand
of which were in the hands of one individual.
Perhaps, however, the open winter has had some
effect in improving the quality of the skins.--
D umfries Paper.)

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