The Sun.
London, England, 1831-05-19 00:00:00

this Constitution the country has risen to a height of
power which has never been surpaised4 It has been
my lot, from the nature of my profeation to he he--
quently absent from my native land; and nothing on
my return has afforded me more heartfelt delight
than to witness the ordinaty- progress of its itroa
provement in every respect. Nor is the improve-
ment in the moral condition of the people less ap-
parent. Morality and religion are upheld, and ge-
nius displays itself in all the arts, and in every de-
partment of literature and of science, But at the
turned
dt
awayorn efrnotmt hteh minds o
e
contemplation have
ing condition of the country, and have been directed
f all "teen
of i been o
v-
exclusively to the alteration of our political system.
It may be expected that I should dechre my senti-
ments on this all-engrossing topic. 'ln so doing, I
cannot de better than quote the oiliniona :of a man,
who by some tray have been cotisidered- chiefly
in the fight of a leader of a party, hilt ‘'vliont I am
disposed to regard, however, as.a statesman, pos-
sessed of a powerful and enlightened untice•tandingi,
and whose judgment may safely be "relied upon
when noway pod by party feeihigi, especially in all
questions affecting the principles of the British
Constitution ; and, certainly, he will be allowed
by all to have been a man most friendly to the
liberties of the people. The Statesman to whom
I allude is the late Mr. Fox. Bat what %yes the
opinion of Mr. Fox on the subject of Reform, as
delivered on a motion by Mr. Grey, now the Prime
Minister of the country ? On that occasion, Mr.
Fox declared that, "if by an interposition of Di-
vine Providence, all the wisest -merreof every age
and of every country could be brought together into
one assembly, they would not be capablieof Forming
even a tolerable Constitution for a State." . But so
much do men of the present day think of their own
wisdom, that they conceive themselves qualified Co
do in a few weeks what Mr. Foic tieelared to be
impossible by the united wisdom of ages. ATM
this is not only the-case in the present Cabinet; brit
I believe, there is not a political club existing in
any village in the country who do not conceive them-
selves capable of improving the Constitution of the
State. Mr. Fox well knew, however, that the only
just and safe principle to proceed upon was that of
experience arid practical utility, and discarded all
ideas of theoretical perfection. What, I wonll ask,
is the cause of the failure of all attempts on the
part of other nations to assimilate their Constitu-
tions to that of Great Britain ? What is the cause
of its failure in France, and of all the attempts
which have been making for the last forty years to
establish a permanent system of free government in
that unhappy country ? The cause of these failures,
I apprehend to have been, that the French have
aimed at theoretical perfection, instead of being con-
tented with practical utility. The French nation is
undoubtedly one of the most enlightened and intel-
ligent nations of Europe, perhaps we will admit
them to be the most so after ourselves, but they
have hitherto constantly failed in their endeavours
to establish a free Constitution upon a solid and per-
manent basis. Yet notwithstanding those repeated
failures on the part of our neighbours, we find many
persons among ourselves continually urging us to
enter upon the same course. To these things I
cannot but look with feelings of apprehension. I
should have been as much delighted as any man by
the late changes in Fiance, had it appeared to me
etitbtrffoltilesieasretic,:tioi.tnool7l,tineti.lenyserittm:ie‘toisbli
fleidtetrialceoitmabrelieiydksrocetftdyloyoFt
jiiiritolnbadoi
rttitlislche:ealantfdiotsdchrtoiodltliemtrsixlntstoeruoi.sylltlttpaalsetpseitr.ol,nneillitatettriehlliecxean permanent
delayede esta-
blishment
were at all certain to produce that deipt:dreiettrhstatslhebeesalddeet
by many persons in this country; and the event
as before. When holding a high official situation
in the allied tinny in France some years ago, I
had an opportunity of conversing with many intel-
ligent men of that country, and, in particular, with
one of the most distinguished and enlightened
Members of the Chamber of Deputies, which you
all know corresponds to the House of Commons
with us. The gentleman to whom I allude ex-
practicoaluitect tit 'rrahbe tau arisen wear-me 1114
troduction of too much symmetry into their mode
of election; and that the instability of their Go-
vernment was owing, in a vety considerable de-
gree, to its being without those very anomalies,
which our modern innovators and Constitution-
makers are so anxious to remove from our system.
Ile thought that the existence hi this country of
men of wealth, possessed of considerable political
influence, and of corporate bodies, accustomed to
pursue a line of conduct of their own in political
matters, without being carried away by the impulse
of the moment, was one cause of our being free from
those fluctuations to which France has been so sub-
ject. Whenever any new caprice in politics had
agitated the capital of France, the provinces had
beers obliged to yield to the impulse given at Paris,
for want of any local influences, to which opinions
might rally elsewhere, and give time for sound
judgment to oppose itself to hasty and rash im-
pressions. It would be well if the people would at
all times bear in mind, that crowds have their
courtiers as well as monarchs. Wherever there is
power there will be flatterers, and the people do not
always sufficiently recollect, that they are liable to be
flattered and misled as well as princes, and by
flatterers not less mean, cringing, and set vile, and,
above all, not less false, or less selfish, than the vilest
flatterer who ever frequented a pal,.ce, to serve his
own private ends by betraying the interests of his
master. There is no disease against which a free
State ought to guard with greater vigilance than
against the extreme of democracy. It is not
liberty which can give me any apprehension,
but it is the abuse of it ; for that degree of
liberty which is consistent with good order and
security in society, is the only liberty which can
promote the welfare and prosperity of States.
Let us look, Gentlemen, into the history of other
nations, and I shall instance the history of that
great people, with whom we all became acquainted
at an early period of our lives. What-was it which
caused the loss of liberty in Rome? A school-boy
would very probably reply the ambition of Cres,r,
an able and a fortunate General, who led his armies
from Gaul to overthrow the liberties of his country.
But those who can look a little deeper into history,
and can trace effects to their remoter but true causes,
would discover that Cie.,ar was a demagogue before
he was a general—that he would have passed the
Rubicon in vain with his legions had not the tribunes
of the people become the pioneers of his army, and
had not the Radicals of Rome thrown open its gates
to welcome a tyrant. But what are the best means
of guarding against such misfortunes ? I believe
that the safest and most effectual preventive is to
give due weight and influence to property in the
State. The British Constitution is not the work of
human hands. It had been moulded into its present.
form by a series of events resulting out of the con-
flicting passions and the contending interests of men;
to these, aided and guided, if I may presume so to ex-
press myself, by a beneficent and protecting Provi-
dence,we owe the admirable Constitution under which
this country has hitherto prospered. Our Constitution
his not beets the boon of a Monarch to his people, like
the Charter given to France by Louis XVIII., or like
that Constitution, so little beneficial to his country,
which was transmitted by the Emperor of Brazil to
Portugal—neither hits it been the invention of phi-
losophers in their closets. The British Constitu-
tion is like none of those, it rests upon a more na-
tural and a rnt re secure foundation, for it has arisen,
as I have already said, from the conflict of the pas-
sions and interests which are inherent in human rm.
tore arid inseparable from it, and which, in our sys•
tern, balance arid oppose one another. Let us be-
ware how we attempt to make great and sudden al-
terations in it—let us not be moved by the sarcasms
of those who seek to ridicule what they choose to
denominate a " bit by bit" Reform—arid irtbialisor
t
be led as they would wish to lead us,. to al..
cie
practical operation o
A and De
* • les of MottaiebY,
three prinClp
h strong lines Hof demlr-
Hot separate- -y
mocracy are.
prudence and take rafshtnbeessi3froirtisohure
ion
gounisdtei.t.nt