Pope aforesaid, (though a foreign power, and with his long tail of _et
ceteras_,) before I should be active in weakening any hold which
government might think it prudent to resort to, in the management of
that large part of the king's subjects. I do not choose to direct all my
precautions to the part where the danger does not press, and to leave
myself open and unguarded where I am not only really, but visibly
attacked.

My whole politics, at present, centre in one point, and to this the
merit or demerit of every measure (with me) is referable,--that is, what
will most promote or depress the cause of Jacobinism. What is
Jacobinism? It is an attempt (hitherto but too successful) to eradicate
prejudice out of the minds of men, for the purpose of putting all power
and authority into the hands of the persons capable of occasionally
enlightening the minds of the people. For this purpose the Jacobins have
resolved to destroy the whole frame and fabric of the old societies of
the world, and to regenerate them after their fashion. To obtain an army
for this purpose, they everywhere engage the poor by holding out to them
as a bribe the spoils of the rich. This I take to be a fair description
of the principles and leading maxims of the enlightened of our day who
are commonly called Jacobins.

As the grand prejudice, and that which holds all the other prejudices
together, the first, last, and middle object of their hostility is
religion. With that they are at inexpiable war. They make no distinction
of sects. A Christian, as such, is to them an enemy. What, then, is left
to a real Christian, (Christian as a believer and as a statesman,) but
to make a league between all the grand divisions of that name, to
protect and to cherish them all, and by no means to proscribe in any
manner, more or less, any member of our common party? The divisions
which formerly prevailed in the Church, with all their overdone zeal,
only purified and ventilated our common faith, because there was no
common enemy arrayed and embattled to take advantage of their
dissensions; but now nothing but inevitable ruin will be the consequence
of our quarrels. I think we may dispute, rail, persecute, and provoke
the Catholics out of their prejudices; but it is not in ours they will
take refuge. If anything is, one more than another, out of the power of
man, it is to _create_ a prejudice. Somebody has said, that a king may
make a nobleman, but he cannot make a gent