and fatal perfuafion that the people were born for the prince, and that his arbitrary dictates muft at all times be obeyed, is what forms the character of a tyrant: and no tyrants ever enjoyed the felicity of being beloved by their fubjects, or the fecurity of being maintained and fupported in the poffeffion of the throne, on which the evil genius of the nations they governed had placed them on the contrary, it is more natural to imagine their fubjects would join the first foreign force that threatened to invade their kingdoms, or foment and encourage civil commotions at home in hopes of producing a revolution which might free them from the galling yoke of oppreffion.

A good king efteems it the height of human grandeur to be the benefactor of millions-the ambition of a bad king is to enflave or destroy those unhappy wretches who fall within the reach of his power. Yet fo infatuated are the generality of mankind, fo prejudiced by education, and fo duped by the artifices of defigning men, that they are readily brought to believe that the happiness of kings confifts in being potent and abfolute -in poffeffing vaft dominions and enlarging them daily by conqueft-in forming mighty projects and having the good fortune to fucceed in the execution of them, and finally in the indulgence of all manner of voluptuoufnefs, but more efpecially that of knowing no obftacle to the complete gratification of all their defires, though it were at the hazard of the lofs of their empires, or the total ruin of their fubjects. But fuch happiness as this, notwithstanding all that can be advanced by flattering courtiers in its favour is neither pure nor permanent as it depends not on the perfon who enjoys it; but on an infinite variety of external incidents, one of which failing the whole fpring of delight is broken; and the vain monarch unused to reftraint, controul or difappointment, feels the force of it fo fenfibly when it happens, that the bare fufpenfion or temporary ceffation of the full exercife of his fupreme will and pleafure throws him into agonizing mifery, and renders him the meanest and most wretched being upon earth. In this ftate of uncertainty are all the boafted enjoyments of thofe mighty monarchs who are famed in history for their heroic deeds in arms and their defpotic rule over their fubjects their pleafure depending on the fate of war, on riches and an abject ftate of the human mind: a fatal reverfe of fortune has often been their lot, and a few revolving years have conducted them from the throne to the fcaffold. Victory which they imagined chained to their triumphal cars has treacherously gone over to their enemies-the wealth they had amaffed with indefatigable pains, perhaps by the indifcriminate plunder of friend and foe, has been diffipated by their own extravagance, or to glut the avarice of needy courtiers-their flatterers and their women no longer finding the reward of their adulations and wanton careffes have deferted them, and their fubjects with their affection which they never took care to cultivate, have thrown off their allegiance'; and thus the pretended happy monarchs-the heroes or rather ty

rants

rants and fcourges of mankind abandoned on all fides, and deftitute of that confolation which good men receive from a confcious fenfe of their own virtue, have generally either funk be'neath the weight of anxious vexation, corroding forrow, and horrid retrospection, and groaned out a weary remnant of life, or have fallen the victims of their own cruelty and oppreffions.

Of this melancholy picture the condition of good kings is juft the reverse, but while we examine it, let us carefully bear in mind the difference between the imbecile good natured, and the truly good prince.

Decorum requires, that the pleafures of men fhould be adapted to their circumstances: thofe of gentlemen fhould differ widely from the amufements of the ruftic and vulgar: noblemen and princes, fince the option fhould be fuitable to the rank, should have till more refined and elegant fenfations than thefe-and what then should be the pleafures of a king? He fhould be conftantly employed in obtaining pleasures which are the refult of his love and beneficence to his fubjects-thefe he can enjoy in all feafons, at any age, and in every fituation of life that can befall him. But what notion can we entertain of a king who ftrangely infenfible to the peculiar delights adapted to his fupreme rank, fhould prepofterously addict himself to thofe which are fuitable only to men of low condition. A prince who is fhut up in his palace with his women and children may be a good natured, caly, harmless man-but he is hardly innocent or honeft when confidered as a king-for indolence and partial indulgence are criminal in that facred character.

To ceafe to do good, though but for a fhort time is to deviate from the complete character of a perfect king, who must be elaborate in his researches for the good of mankind. To render the people happy is indeed a royal pleasure, a pleasure which has always fentibly affected the fineft fouls-to this all others have feemed infipid, or at best but trifling amusements.

Such were thy fentiments, O TITUS! the delight, the darling of mankind. Inform therefore all the rulers upon earth, that there is no pleasure furpaffes royal beneficence! a word only from your mouth will abundantly evince this truth. Give ear then, O ye princes, to this univerfally beloved emperor. This day, fays he to his friends, I have loft: lefs could not be fuppofed upon his letting fall this mournful reflection, than that he had either failed in the execution of fome glorious enterprize, or had neglected fome weighty concern of ftate. Instead of this he only regretted -that he had done no one act of beneficence and the day was paffed-yet this he thought a matter of fufficient reproach-as if the day was of no other fervice to him, than that of being beneficent to his fellow-creatures-fo that had he been under an inevitable neceffity, to have paffed the remainder of his life in that manner, he would have reputed it all as time loft-had he not numbered his days by his bounties, life itfelf would have appeared to him as infignificant and irkfome. It is manifeft then

that

that he found an ineffable pleasure in doing good, without which all others were to him tafteiefs and vapid; because nothing could compenfate for the abfence of that pleasure, he found in acts of benevolence.

It will be afked, perhaps, how it happens, fince to render his people happy must be fo true a pleasure to a king, that fo few take any pains to enjoy it? the reafon is because there are not many who preferve a fine natural temper free from the infection of flattery, and falfe grandeur; and that that virtue of kings, in which the felicity of their fubjects confifts, is expofed to infinitely greater perils, than it is in other men. Every thing confpires to taint their pureft fentiments. A king therefore who maintains the virtue of good nefs, and exercifes it in its full vigour, in defiance of the feductions of wicked, corrupt courtiers, we may well fay is the mafter-piece of human nature.

As to the trite argument, that it is impoffible a good king, who governs by the laws of nature, reafon and virtue, can be either io powerful, or fo independent, as he who rules by force; it merits refutation before we finifh the picture of an amiable prince. It is true, a defpotic prince, who knows no other law but his will can fqueeze immenfe fums of money from his fubjects; and impofe upon them the moft ponderous and galling yoke of bondage-but he who reigns by the affections of his fubjects, finds his wants and his wishes equally anticipated, and their free-willofferings are inexhaustible, for with their hearts he becomes maiter of their property. It is the fame with their lives, the defpotic prince may command his fubjects to attend him to the field of battle, but they will not expofe themfelves with any degree of zeal, in the defence of a monarch, who rules over them only to opprefs them, and whofe victories are but new fources of calamity to them by adding to the number of his flaves, and rendering oppofition to kis abfolute will more difficult and dangerous;-while on the contrary, the fubjects of a limited monaich, tied down in a certain degree by wholesome laws which infure the freedom of the state, but fill more by his own goodnefs of heart, is furrounded by volunteers, who confider their own fate as dependent on that of their beloved prince, and are interested in his profperity or adverfity to promote therefore the one, and avert the other, they will ftand forth, them and their children to meet the enemy at the gate, and will die glorioufly in the defence of that liberty, which the generous monarch has preferved to them inviolate under his mild and equitable administration.

Defpotic fway muft very often be fupported amidit murmurs, complaints, tumults, infurre&tions and rebellion. The reign of love, on the contrary, knows no fuch anarchy, the tumult of joy and tranfport, the wild uproar of popular acclamations, the heralds of the people's felicity, is all the confufion occafionally produced in fuch a government.-Force ftands in need of informations, profecutions, fines, imprifonment, manacles and fetters to curb the refractory, the difcontented, and perhaps justly irritated fubjects, who are at laft made the vietinis of their noble oppof

tion

tion to arbitrary conduct.-Love on the other hand, has no other bonds, than thofe refulting from choice and confent, which are like the Gordian knot.-Tyranny in fhort may be shook off and vanquished, but the dominion gained by affection is invincible.

The prince who governs on defpotic principles has vaffals it is true, who obey him, but it is a forced obedience resembling that of the brutes, who with ftubbornefs bend their necks to the yoke. He who reigns by love alone, has the fatisfaction to fee his fubjects follow, in their obedience, the bent of their own inclinations, and to experience that he is not fubmitted to merely as a king, but because he is mafter of the hearts of his fubjects. In a word, the former lords it over miferable flaves: the latter reigns over free fubjects, who efteem it their greatest felicity to live under his aufpicious protection.

From this ketch of the difference between the fituation of a defpotic tyrant, and a good king we may draw this fair inferenceThat the great art of governing confifts in the fecret of knowing how to gain the love of the people. Politicians have endeavoured to throw difficulties in the way to embarrass and perplex princes in their study of this divine art, by reprefenting the mass of the people as factious, difcontented, capricious, and infolent; but a good king knows that it is always in his power to engage the affections of his people, and even to turn their foibles to advantage. As his government is founded on the virtues of humanity, he will not fuffer even the multiplicity of their faults to diminish the benevolence of his difpofition, but imitating the almighty, he will permit the fplendour of his goodness to fhine on the juft and the unjuft. The refractory he will attempt to reform by moderation and lenity, by fhewing his unwillingness to abandon them to the rigour of the law; and the virtuous he will strengthen and confirm in their fentiments and practice of rectitude, by advancing them alone to dignities and honours, and by confering on them the most ample rewards, that none of these may have occafion to reproach themfelves for having led a life of virtue, or cultivating talents ufeful to the ftate, under a prince who let merit pafs unnoticed and fuffered the most amiable characters to languifh in obfcurity; while fharpers, gamblers, debauchees, libertines and traitors engroffed his confidence, and monopolized every honourable or profitable office in his government.

But as the beft natural difpofition unfupported by an enlightened understanding is of no fervice to a prince, it will be neceffary before we can complete the portrait of a good king, to fhew how far wisdom muft contribute her aid to the formation of this perfect piece. I fhall, therefore, leave off for the present; and at the next fitting endeavour to draw the features of a Wife King, which happily introduced and blended with thofe already traced out, will enable us to exhibit a picture of human grandeur, which it will be the intereft of every monarch to contemplate, till he arrives at the fame degree of perfection.

SOCRATES.

N

(9)

For the POLITICAL REGISTER.

On a great lawyer's opinion, delivered judicially at a late trial. Quod juftum eft, honeftum eft: viciffimque, quod honeftum eft, juftum eft.

given of the trial of Mr. Almon for felling a pamphlet, deemed a libel, and that his council Serjeant Glynn, pleaded in his defence, "That it was fold without Mr. Almon's privity or confent;and therefore he could not be fupposed to have fold the fame with any malicious or feditious intention, as charged in the information : on which argument he would reft his defence." And furely no one could have wished for a better, had he been in the condition of Mr. Almon, whofe innocence was, in this plea, more clearly demonftrated. Confident we may be, that had any one of the jury, or even the judge himself been a book-feller, and fo circumftanced as Mr. Almon was, he could not have defired a ftronger plea in proof of his innocence. Yet alas! fuch are the times into which we are fallen, that this was an inefficacious plea, and afforded no fort of fecurity against a verdict of guilt and crime, even in the man who knew nothing at all of the matter.

This has led me to put the cafe in every point of light, in which I was capable of placing it, in order to find what poffible pretext or covering might be produced; none occurred, except that theological dogma, of a transfer of guilt from one being to another, by an arbitrary decree of the fupreme governor. But inasmuch as this extravagance is no way capable of defence, unless we difrobe the univerfal governor of equity, truth, and righteoufnefs, the opinion would not, in the leaft, fatisfy me, or, could I have abfurdly fancied, that moral guilt could be derived from farther to fon, and the father's eating four grapes did fet the children's teeth on edge, this would have left me under fome embarrassment; becaufe in the cafe before us, the fin of the fervant is imputed to his master, of which he is wholly ignorant and unconfenting to: here the blood cannot be faid to receive a taint, in the fenfe of any law, either human or divine, real or imaginary for it is beyond the power of the mind to conceive how the fervant's guilt could fo operate, as to affect his mafter. For, let us fuppofe a cafe as high as we can, a druggift or an apothecary has a fervant well informed in the different nature of drugs, and their medicinal intention; yet the fervant, whether wilfully or carelessly fells an improper drug, to the great injury, or death of the purchafer, would any man of found mind, and in his fober fenfes accuse the master, or reckon him culpable, for the careleffnefs, or the wickedness of his fervant, who has fold poifon, deadly poifon, for proper medicine? In the cafe of Mr. Almon's trial, we are told, that after the jury had taken two hours confultation on the meVOL. VII.

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