cautious retirement of Atticus, found its fecurity in the fame tempeftuous feafon; and the great body of the people lay undisturbed below the current of a ftorm, by which the fuperior ranks of men were deftroyed, In the minds of the people, the fenfe of a public was defaced; and even the animofity of faction had fubfided; they only could share in the commotion, who were the foldiers of a legion, or the partifans of a leader. But this ftate fell not into obfcurity for want of eminent men. If at the time of which we fpeak, we look only for a few names distinguished in the history of mankind, there is no period at which the lift was more numerous. But thofe names became diftinguished in the conteft for dominion, not in the exercise of equal rights: the people was corrupted; fo great an empire stood in need of a mater.

REPUBLICAN governments, in general, are in hazard of ruin from the afcendant of particular factions, and from the mutinous fpirit of a populace, who being corrupted, are no longer fit to fhare in the administration of ftate. But under other eftablishments, where liberty may be more fuccefsfully attained if men are corrupted, the national vigour declines from the abufe of that very fecurity which is procured by the fuppofed perfection of public

order.

A DISTRIBUTION of power and office; an execution of law, by which mutual incroachments and molestations are brought to an end; by which the

perfon

perfon and the property are, without friends, without cabal, without obligation, perfectly fecured to individuals, does honour to the genius of a nation and could not have been fully established, without thofe exertions of understanding and integrity, thofe trials of a refolute and vigorous fpirit, which adorn the annals of a people, and leave to future ages a fubject of just admiration and applaufe. But if we suppose that the end is attained, and that men no longer act, in the enjoyment of liberty, from liberal fentiments, or with a view to the prefervation of public manners; if individuals think themfelves fecure without any attention or effort of their own; this boasted advantage may be found only to give them an opportunity of enjoying, at leifure, the conveniencies and neceffaries of life; or, in the language of Cato, teach them to value their houses, their villas, their statues, and their pictures, at a higher rate than they do the republic. They may be found to grow tired in fecret of a free conftitution, of which they never ceafe to boaft in their conversation, and which they always neglect in their conduct.

THE dangers to liberty are not the subject of our prefent confideration; but they can never be greater from any cause than they are from the supposed remiffness of a people, to whose personal vigour every conftitution, as it owed its eftablishment, so must continue to owe its prefervation. Nor is this bleffing ever lefs fecure than it is in the poffeffion of

men

men who think that they enjoy it in fafety, and who therefore confider the public only as it prefents to their avarice a number of lucrative employments; for the fake of which they may facrifice those very rights which render themselves objects of manage ment or of confideration.

FROM the tendency of these reflections, then, it fhould appear, that a national spirit is frequently tranfient, not on account of any incurable diftemper in the nature of mankind, but on account of their voluntary neglects and corruptions. This fpirit fubfifted folely, perhaps, in the execution of a few projects, entered into for the acquifition of territory or wealth; it comes, like a useless weapon, to be laid afide after its end is attained.

ORDINARY establishments terminate in a relaxation of vigour, and are ineffectual to the prefervation of states; because they lead mankind to rely on their arts, instead of their virtues; and to miftake for an improvement of human nature, a mere acceffion of accommodation, or of riches*. Inftitutions that fortify the mind, infpire courage, and promote national felicity, can never tend to national Fuin.

Is it not poffible, amidst our admiration of arts, to find fome place for these? Let ftatesmen, who

* Adeo in quæ laboramus fola crevimus Divitias luxuriamque.

Liv. lib. vii. c. 25.

are

are intrufted with the government of nations, reply for themselves. It is their business to fhew, whether they climb into stations of eminence, merely to display a paffion for intereft, which they had better indulge in obfcurity; and whether they have capacity to understand the happiness of a people, the conduct of whofe affairs they are fo willing to un dertake.

SECT.

SECTION IV.

ΜΕΝ

The fame Subject continued.

EN frequently, while they are engaged in what is accounted the most selfish of all pursuits, the improvement of fortune, then most neglect themselves; and while they reafon for their country, forget the confiderations that most deserve their attention. Numbers, riches, and the other refources of war, are highly important: But nations consist of men; and a nation confifting of degenerate and cowardly men, is weak; a nation confifting of vigorous, public-fpirited, and refolute men, is ftrong. The refources of war, where other advantages are equal, may decide a conteft; but the refources of war, in hands that cannot employ them, are of no avail.

VIRTUE is a neceffary conftituent of national ftrength: Capacity, and a vigorous understanding, are no lefs neceffary to fuftain the fortune of ftates. Both are improved by discipline, and by the exercises in which men are engaged. We defpife, or we pity, the lot of mankind, while they lived under uncertain establishments, and were obliged to fuftain in the fame person, the character of the fenator, the statefman, and the foldier. Commercial nations discover, that any one of these characters is fufficient in one perfon; and that the ends of each,

when