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458  The Royal AMERICAN MAGAZINE,

are excluded from feats in parliament, the sovereign must have a mighty influence upon all the deliberations of that august assembly. It ought also to be observed, that the increase of our dominions, and the consequent necessity for the proportionable increase in our military establishment, are both of them pernitions to liberty; for seldom or ever has it been known, that any nation has preserved its liberty, after having greatly extended its conquests, and still less after having established a large standing army. And though the increase of commerce, which is likewise the consequence of extensive dominions, be favourable in some measure, to the cause of liberty, by introducing among the people a greater degree of equality, and by drawing them into large towns, which always breathe a republican spirit; yet does it also, by this very circumstance of drawing them into large towns, tend evidently to corrupt their minds, and to enervate their bodies, and thus  to prepare them for the reception of that slavery, which a variety of other causes is likely to bring upon them. Thus, as there is no good but what is attended with some evil, commerce seems in some sence, to counteract its own end; for whilst on its commencement and progress, it favours the interest of liberty, it is, perhaps in its utmost extent prejudicial to that interest. With regard to the jealousy of the crown, which is said to be inherent in the British constitution; this jealousy, however great, may yet by an artful minister be laid asleep. The power of the crown is certainly upon the increase; but it advances, at the same time, with such slow and imperceptible steps, as not to awake the jealousy of the public; and before this jealousy be effectually awaked, the power of the crown may have become so great, as to be altogether irresistable. Every new tax that is imposed upon the people, every foot of ground that is added to our dominions; every increase that is made in out military establishment; all conspired, by their united influence to increase the power of the frown; and if things be suffered to proceed in their present course, and no extraordinary convulsion happens in the state, the British liberties must, at last, be swallowed up in absolute monarchy.

Might I presume, amidst these opposite arguments, to deliver my own sentiments; I would affirm, that the British government tends immediately neither to a republic, nor an absolute monarchy, but to an Aristocracy; though this last will, in all probability, only pave the way for the introduction of monarchy. The very soul of our liberty [[consists]] in the people's having the right and the power to chuse their representatives in parliament; that is, in other words, in being their own legislators. But should we ever come to have a great number of hereditary legislators, or those who are such, independant of the people's choice; and should these hereditary legistalors be possessed of the whole or of the greatest part of the national property; and should they, by means of that property, be able to influence the election, and to controul the proceedings of the members of the lower house; though

For DECEMBER, 1774  459

thought we may be still amused with the pleasing sound of liberty, and though the lower house may be permitted to subsist in its present form, the national liberties are from the moment, ruined. For it is well known, that the forms of a constitution may long remain, after its spirit has been entirely extinguished. How far this is our case at present, or how far it is likely to be our case in some not very distant period, any one may easily determine, by considering the great number of wealthy commoners, who, within this half century past, have been advanced to the peerage, and the spirit which still prevails of advancing others to the same dignity. The moment a commoner becomes troublesome in the lower house; if he is possessed of a competent fortune, he is immediately transplanted to the upper, where he, at once strengthens the aristocratic, and proportinably weakens the democratic part of our government. And how great an influence the members of the upper have upon the elections, and consequently upon the proceedings of those of the lower house, may be easily collected from perusing a court calender, where we shall see, that almost all the noblemen's sons in England, who are of a proper age, are members of the lower house; and that many commoners have obtained their seats there by the interest and countenance of some powerful nobleman. In a word, we seem to be in a fair way of becoming, in a short time, a nation of great lords and of needy vassals; the consequence of which must infallibly be that the people, harrassed by the oppressions of the great, conscious that their liberties are already ravished from them, and chusing rather to submit to one mild master than to two or three hundred petty tyrants, will petition the sovereign, as the last favour he can grant them, that he will be graciously pleased to establish an absolute monarchy. This was very lately the case in Denmark; and, if nothing extraordinary happens it will, in all probability be very soon the case in Great Britain. How to prevent the impending calamity, or if it cannot be prevented, how it may, at least for some time warded off, I will not take upon me to say. A peerage bill was some years ago attempted, or an act to confine, within certain limits, the number of peers. Perhaps such a scheme may again be received; but their seems very little likelihood, in the present disposition of parties, that it would meet with success.

HISTORY OF LAURETTA
A MORAL TALE
[Continued from page 428.]

It was still worse the next morning, when she was to return to work, and sustain the heat of the day on the sunny side of an hill. "At Paris," says she, "I should awake free from all care, except loving and the desire of pleasing. The count

Transcription Notes:
Please note the different letterforms of f and s in this typeface. The f looks like the long 's', but it lacks the crossbar. Reopened for Transcription 5/11/2023 12:43PM