choice confers neither the one nor the other on those upon whom they lay their ordaining hands. They have not the engagement of nature, they have not the promise of revelation, for any such powers.-Reflect. on Rev. in France.

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE.

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 governments. Nations are not primarily ruled by laws; less by violence.. The laws reach but a very little way.-Thoughts on Pres. Dis

contents.

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. Thoughts on Pres. Discontents.

I think

No man carries further than I do the policy of making government pleasing to the people. But the widest range of this politic complaisance is confined within the limits of justice. I would not only consult the interest of the people, but I would cheerfully gratify their humours. We are all a sort of children that must be soothed and managed. I am not austere or formal in my nature. I would bear, I would even myself play my part, in any innocent buffooneries to divert them. But I never will act the tyrant for their amusement. If they will mix malice in their sports, I shall never consent to throw them any living, sentient creature whatsoever, no, not so much as a kitling, to torment.— Speech at Guildhall, Bristol.

THE DELIBERATE SENSE OF THE NATION MUST IN THE END PREVAIL.

I most heartily wish that the deliberate sense of the kingdom on this great subject should be known. When it is known, it must be prevalent. It would be dreadful indeed if there was any power in the nation capable of resisting its unanimous desire, or even the desire of any very great and decided majority of the people. The people may be deceived in their choice of an object. But I can scarcely conceive any choice they can make to be so very mischievous as the existence of any human force capable of resisting it. Letter on Dur. of Parliaments.

It is not consistent with equity or wisdom to set at defiance the general feelings of great communities, and of all the orders which compose them. Much power is tolerated, and passes unquestioned, where much is yielded to opinion. All is disputed where

everything is enforced.-Reflect. on Rev. in France.

Sure I am that no precipitate resolution on a great change in the fundamental constitution of any country can ever be called the real sense of the people.—Letter on Dur. of Parliaments.

THE LOUD ASSERTIONS OF A FEW-NOT TO BE MISTAKEN FOR THE GENERAL OPINION OF A PEOPLE.

The vanity, restlessness, petulance, and spirit of intrigue, of several petty cabals, who attempt to hide their total want of consequences in bustle and noise, and puffing, and mutual quotation of each other, makes you imagine that our contemptuous neglect of their abilities is a general mark of acquiescence in their opinions. No such thing, I assure you. Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thou

sands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that of course they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little, shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome, insects of the hour.-Reflect. on Rev. in France.

Faction will make its cries resound through the nation as if the whole were in an uproar, when by far the majority, and much the better part, will seem for a while, as it were, annihilated by the quiet in which their virtue and moderation incline them to enjoy the blessings of government. Besides that the opinion of the mere vulgar is a miserable rule even with regard to themselves, on account of their violence and instability. So that if you were to gratify them in their humour to-day, that very gratification would be a ground of their dissatisfaction on the next.Thoughts on Pres. Discontents.