ss) to alarm the people with a phantom of tyranny in the nobles.
All this is done upon their favorite principle of disunion, of sowing
jealousies amongst the different orders of the state, and of disjointing
the natural strength of the kingdom; that it may be rendered incapable
of resisting the sinister designs of wicked men, who have engrossed the
royal power.

Thus much of the topics chosen by the courtiers to recommend their
system; it will be necessary to open a little more at large the nature
of that party which was formed for its support. Without this, the whole
would have been no better than a visionary amusement, like the scheme of
Harrington's political club, and not a business in which the nation had
a real concern. As a powerful party, and a party constructed on a new
principle, it is a very inviting object of curiosity.

It must be remembered, that since the revolution, until the period we
are speaking of, the influence of the crown had been always employed in
supporting the ministers of state, and in carrying on the public
business according to their opinions. But the party now in question is
formed upon a very different idea. It is to intercept the favor,
protection, and confidence of the crown in the passage to its ministers;
it is to come between them and their importance in Parliament; it is to
separate them from all their natural and acquired dependencies; it is
intended as the control, not the support, of administration. The
machinery of this system is perplexed in its movements, and false in its
principle. It is formed on a supposition that the king is something
external to his government; and that he may be honored and aggrandized,
even by its debility and disgrace. The plan proceeds expressly on the
idea of enfeebling the regular executory power. It proceeds on the idea
of weakening the state in order to strengthen the court. The scheme
depending entirely on distrust, on disconnection, on mutability by
principle, on systematic weakness in every particular member; it is
impossible that the total result should be substantial strength of any
kind.

As a foundation of their scheme, the cabal have established a sort of
_rota_ in the court. All sorts of parties, by this means, have been
brought into administration; from whence few have had the good fortune
to escape without disgrace; none at all without considerable losses. In
the beginning of each arrangement no professions of confidence and
support