ular error, to
imagine the loudest complainers for the public to be the most anxious
for its welfare. If such persons can answer the ends of relief and
profit to themselves, they are apt to be careless enough about either
the means or the consequences.

Whatever this complainant's motives may be, the effects can by no
possibility be other than those which he so strongly, and I hope truly,
disclaims all intention of producing. To verify this, the reader has
only to consider how dreadful a picture he has drawn in his 32nd page,
of the state of this kingdom; such a picture as, I believe, has hardly
been applicable, without some exaggeration, to the most degenerate and
undone commonwealth that ever existed. Let this view of things be
compared with the prospect of a remedy which he proposes in the page
directly opposite, and the subsequent. I believe no man living could
have imagined it possible, except for the sake of burlesquing a subject,
to propose remedies so ridiculously disproportionate to the evil, so
full of uncertainty in their operation, and depending for their success
in every step upon the happy event of so many new, dangerous, and
visionary projects. It is not amiss, that he has thought proper to give
the public some little notice of what they may expect from his friends,
when our affairs shall be committed to their management. Let us see how
the accounts of disease and remedy are balanced in his "State of the
Nation." In the first place, on the side of evils, he states, "an
impoverished and heavily-burdened public. A declining trade and
decreasing specie. The power of the crown never so much extended over
the great; but the great without influence over the lower sort.
Parliament losing its reverence with the people. The voice of the
multitude set up against the sense of the legislature; a people
luxurious and licentious, impatient of rule, and despising all
authority. Government relaxed in every sinew, and a corrupt selfish
spirit pervading the whole. An opinion of many, that the form of
government is not worth contending for. No attachment in the bulk of
the people towards the constitution. No reverence for the customs of our
ancestors. No attachment but to private interest, nor any zeal but for
selfish gratifications. Trade and manufactures going to ruin. Great
Britain in danger of becoming tributary to France, and the descent of
the crown dependent on her pleasure. Ireland, in case of a war, to
become a pr