pirit
of that law, justified in stepping a little out of their ordinary sphere.
They enjoy a privilege of somewhat more dignity and effect than that of
idle lamentation over the calamities of their country. They may look
into them narrowly; they may reason upon them liberally; and if they
should be so fortunate as to discover the true source of the mischief,
and to suggest any probable method of removing it, though they may
displease the rulers for the day, they are certainly of service to the
cause of Government. Government is deeply interested in everything
which, even through the medium of some temporary uneasiness, may tend
finally to compose the minds of the subjects, and to conciliate their
affections. I have nothing to do here with the abstract value of the
voice of the people. But as long as reputation, the most precious
possession of every individual, and as long as opinion, the great support
of the State, depend entirely upon that voice, it can never be considered
as a thing of little consequence either to individuals or to Government.
Nations are not primarily ruled by laws; less by violence. Whatever
original energy may be supposed either in force or regulation, the
operation of both is, in truth, merely instrumental. Nations are
governed by the same methods, and on the same principles, by which an
individual without authority is often able to govern those who are his
equals or his superiors, by a knowledge of their temper, and by a
judicious management of it; I mean, when public affairs are steadily and
quietly conducted: not when Government is nothing but a continued scuffle
between the magistrate and the multitude, in which sometimes the one and
sometimes the other is uppermost--in which they alternately yield and
prevail, in a series of contemptible victories and scandalous
submissions. The temper of the people amongst whom he presides ought
therefore to be the first study of a statesman. And the knowledge of
this temper it is by no means impossible for him to attain, if he has not
an interest in being ignorant of what it is his duty to learn.

To complain of the age we live in, to murmur at the present possessors of
power, to lament the past, to conceive extravagant hopes of the future,
are the common dispositions of the greater part of mankind--indeed, the
necessary effects of the ignorance and levity of the vulgar. Such
complaints and humours have existed in all times; yet as all times have
_