第80章 Letter XIX(5)

If then a spirit of rapine and venality,of fraud and corruption,continue to diffuse themselves,not only luxury and avarice,but every kind of immorality will follow.and the whole may be improved by such ways as have been sketched out,and by others,whenever the nation falls under a bad government,till the prince on the throne shall not be able to say,speaking of his whole people,even that which Philip the Second said,speaking of the corruption of his own court;'They all take money,except myself and Sapena.'Britain will then be in that very condition in which,and in which alone,her constitution,and her liberty by consequence,may be destroyed;because the people may;in a state of universal corruption,and will in no other,either suffer others to betray them,or betray themselves.How near a progress we have made towards this state,I determine not.This I say.It is time for every man,who is desirous to preserve the British constitution,and to preserve it secure,to contribute all he can to prevent the ill effects of that new influence and power which have gained strength in every reign since the Revolution;of those means of corruption that may be employed,one time or other on the part of the crown,and of that proneness to corruption on the part of the people,that hath been long growing,and still grows.It may otherwise happen,that these causes remaining in force,their effects will become too strong to be checked,and will ensure the ruin of the best constitution upon earth,whenever the men in power shall think their grandeur or their safety concerned in the ruin of it.

We are not exposed at present,most certainly,to any such contingency;but the bare possibility of being so is a reason sufficient to awaken and alarm every honest man.Hath not every such man,indeed,reason to be alarmed,when he hears the cause of corruption publicly pleaded,and when men are suffered,nay paid by somebody or other,to plead this unrighteous cause,as if it was that of our most righteous government.Had we lived when the Star Chamber tyrannized,and many other extravagant powers were exercised,under the authority of the crown,we should have found fault as much as we dared,no doubt,and vet have waited patiently,perhaps,for some favourable opportunity of redressing the grievances.But when we heard these acts of power justified as legal and constitutional,and the prerogative,by virtue of which they were done,claimed as a right in the crown,we should have taken the alarm,I presume,as hot as our predecessors did.Thus,in the case now before us,corruption may have been practised in some degree,perhaps,at all times.But then it hath been always kept under by the shame and danger,that attended both the corrupter and the corrupted.

It hath been always complained of,never defended,and endeavours have been used,from time to time,with general applause,to prevent it.But according to the principles now avowed,these endeavours were unjust;they ought to be repented of;and the Acts made in consequence of them ought to be repealed:for the constitutional independency of the crown cannot be supported,unless the crown have the right and the means of taking their independency from the other parts of the legislature,by keeping the members of those assemblies under a pecuniary influence.Let no man think that the absurdity and profligacy of these doctrines secure us against the effect of them.They may soon grow into vogue,and be reputed as sacred truths as any of those falsehoods,that are established by the systems of policy and religion,in many other countries.What can be too absurd,or too profligate,for an absurd and profligate,or for a superstitious people?