such an unnatural compound of
Governments; and in this consists that excellence which the numerous
herd of placemen and pensioners so loudly extol, and which at the same
time, occasions that enormous load of taxes under which the rest of the
nation groans.

Among the mass of national delusions calculated to amuse and impose upon
the multitude, the standing one has been that of flattering them into
taxes, by calling the Government (or as they please to express it,
the English Constitution) "_the envy and the admiration of the world_"
Scarcely an Address has been voted in which some of the speakers have
not uttered this hackneyed nonsensical falsehood.

Two Revolutions have taken place, those of America and France; and both
of them have rejected the unnatural compounded system of the English
government. America has declared against all hereditary Government, and
established the representative system of Government only. France has
entirely rejected the aristocratical part, and is now discovering
the absurdity of the monarchical, and is approaching fast to the
representative system. On what ground then, do these men continue a
declaration, respecting what they call the _envy and admiration of other
nations_, which the voluntary practice of such nations, as have had the
opportunity of establishing Government, contradicts and falsifies. Will
such men never confine themselves to truth? Will they be for ever the
deceivers of the people?

But I will go further, and shew, that were Government now to begin in
England, the people could not be brought to establish the same system
they now submit to.

In speaking on this subject (or on any other) _on the pure ground
of principle_, antiquity and precedent cease to be authority, and
hoary-headed error loses its effect. The reasonableness and propriety of
things must be examined abstractedly from custom and usage; and, in this
point of view, the right which grows into practice to-day is as much a
right, and as old in principle and theory, as if it had the customary
sanction of a thousand ages. Principles have no connection with time,
nor characters with names.

To say that the Government of this country is composed of King, Lords,
and Commons, is the mere phraseology of custom. It is composed of
men; and whoever the men be to whom the Government of any country is
intrusted, they ought to be the best and wisest that can be found, and
if they are not so, they are not fit for the st