the curve would become a parabola. This is
the alarming result of the extinction of one focus. Abolish the House of
Lords, and you will soon find that the Throne will be disturbed; the
State will become disorganized; the nation will become confused by the
magnetic force of the Lower House, uncounteracted by any other
attraction; and very soon a complete revolution of the whole system
will set in: the monarch will be dethroned, and a Republican form of
government, with all the eccentricities of a parabolic course, will take
the place of a more orderly and settled constitution. This is a plain
deduction from our mathematical investigations; and it behoves all our
statesmen, our philosophers and great men, our fellow-citizens and the
humblest artisans in our manufacturing towns, to weigh well this
alarming result of the abolition of that House which has been threatened
with destruction; and to ascertain for themselves the truths upon which
my proposition and reasoning rest.

I have already observed that the fact that the earth's orbit and that of
other planets are in the form of ellipses; that the curvature of the
earth is nearly the same, ought to guide us in choosing this particular
curve as a model of the projection of a complete and most advantageous
social system.

The circle described on the major axis of an ellipse, is called the
_auxiliary circle_, and affords much assistance in the investigation of
the properties of an ellipse. As we have already shown, the circle
represents the simplest form of monarchical government. Hence, if we
compare the form of government represented by an ellipse (_i.e._, such
as we now enjoy) with that of a system where the king is the only
governing power, we may obtain great assistance in solving complicated
political problems.

In all conics there is a straight line called the 'directrix,' which
represents in social or polemical science the laws of the nation, and
plays a prominent part in the mutual relations of the individual
particles. For instance, in the case of the parabola, the distance of
any particle from the directrix is equal to its distance from the focus.

From this we may conclude that if an individual deviates at all from the
path which the laws (or, directrix) indicate, if he does not show true
respect to the decrees of the focal government, and preserve the true
position between them, directly he is found deviating from his course,
he is quickly banished to a less