Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

to haggle about the price of personal security,thanks to this political storm.

Mr Cobbett, in his Political Register of yesterday, would have us believe that the people were unanimous for Sir Francis;-but it appeared to me far otherwise. I was much on the spot, and observed more curiosity than earnestness or interest among the crowd; and I think it very probable that the brick-bat-men were not many, and that the same individuals acted successively at the different scenes of action. The instigators have, upon the whole, no cause of triumph; they thought the moment was come to effect their purpose; they have tried their strength, and have found it unavailing; put in the scale they have proved too light; and they talk of mental insurrection, now that the material insurrection has failed.

This sort of petite guerre between the govern. ment and the people, will not be well understood on the continent. Tumult is not necessarily the indication of weakness, and the very struggles of contending powers in the state may rather shew the efficacy of them all. English history furnishes precedents of just and successful resistance to the government on the part of the people; but the present circumstances are far from requiring this dangerous remedy, and it is not called for by public opinion.

The doctrine of passive obedience and nonresistance, and its contrary, constitute the most material difference between whigs and tories. This great and delicate question is presented under a simple and luminous point of view, by a modern English writer of much reputation, (Paley.) The idea of a social compact is, he says, a fiction; such a compact never existed; and supposing the first generation of men to have agreed upon one among themselves, it was not obligatory on the succeeding generation. Every individual comes into this world with all his natural rights unalienated, and, strictly speaking, is not obliged to obey laws he did not make. It is, however, expedient to obey the laws which are found ready established, and which cannot well be revised and confirmed by every individual of each succeeding generation. This expediency ceases when the order of things violates the safety, the liberty, and the well-being of the people; and here begins legitimate resistance, but who is to determine the expediency? who is to judge of the fitness of resistance? Paley answers,-every man for himself at his peril! This is bold no doubt, and, although true, might seem to prove too much at first sight; for, if resistance is successful, it becomes legitimate, praiseworthy, and glorious, and if it does not succeed, it is criminal, and deserves the gallows. This leads to a distinction

between moral and political legitimacy. It is expedient that revolutionists should suffer for their ill success in terrorem, or there would be too many revolutions,-the distinction between good and bad intentions belongs to a higher tribunal, in a better world. The new order of things, once established, should be maintained, if it secures the happiness of the people, without any reference to the means by which it was produced; for the punishment of the usurper might fall on the people, and lead to new violence and enormities. Corneille approached, without suspecting it, the expression of the above just and liberal sentiments, in the following lines of Cinna, dictated as they are by the most servile adulation:

Tous ces crimes d'état qu'on fait pour la couronne,
Le ciel nous en absout alors qu'il nous la donne.
Et dans le rang sacré, où sa faveur l'a mis,
Le passé devient juste, et l'avenir permis.
Qui peut y parvenir ne peut être coupable,
Quoiqu'il ait fait, ou fasse, il est inviolable,

Nous lui devons nos biens; nos jours sont en sa main, Et jamais on n'a droit sur ceux du souverain. Usurpers, however, should beware, this principle is a two-edged sword, equally their safeguard and danger, and although Corneille might say truly, "quoiqu'il ait fait"-" quoiqu'il fasse" was going too far.

April 18.-There was yesterday a meeting of the electors of Westminster, legally convened for

the purpose of petitioning Parliament for the liberation of their representative, Sir Francis Burdett, and new disorders were apprehended. The language of the petition is certainly violent, and in fact a mere vehicle for rude censure, and abuse of the House of Commons; but the meeting was peaceable, and all this will end in a war of words. To hear the noise which is made, it might be supposed that the whole civil machine was going to fall to pieces; but at the height of it, certain established forms interpose, and by diverting the passions, prevent irregular and violent proceedings. This government is a system of checks and counterpoises; the great aim seems to be retarding the motion, and giving time for the exaggeration and irritation of parties to subside, and from all the various impulses to form a right and a moderate one. As wheels are clogged down hill, not to prevent the carriage descending, but to avoid its being precipitated,the object is to arrive safely at the bottom, but not to fall there.

There is now light and length of day sufficient to see the sights of this capital. We have begun by the British Museum. The building is disposed round a vast court, and in very good taste. You have to wait in the hall of entrance till fourteen other visitors are assembled, for the rule is, that fifteen persons are to be admitted at one time,

neither more nor less. This number completed, a German cicerone took charge of us, and led us au pas de charge through a number of rooms full of stuffed birds and animals ;-many of them seemingly in a state of decay. We had a glimpse of arms, dresses, and ornaments of savages hung around;-of a collection of minerals ;-next of antiquities from Herculaneum and Pompeia and monstrous Egypt. We remarked a treble inscription on a large block of dark porphyry, brought from Rosetta; one is in hieroglyphics, one in the common language of Egypt, and one in Greek ;-all three saying the same thing serve as a glossary to each other. This stone, and se veral large sarcophagi, and numerous statues, and basso-relievos, belonged to the French collection which fell into the hands of the British in 1801. The last and most valuable acquisitions are the Greek and Roman marbles brought from Italy by Mr Townley. The merit, however, of a considerable part of these marbles consists mostly of their being undoubtedly antique. Among the manuscripts, we observed in the catalogue 43 volumes of Icelandic literature, presented by Sir Joseph Banks, who visited that singular island 40 years ago,-41 volumes of decisions of the commissaries who settled the boundaries of properties after the great fire of London, which destroyed 400 streets, and 13,000 houses, says

« AnteriorContinuar »