ABSTRACT

BEFORE this diabolical Art was introduced among men, there was social order; and as the great Locke expresses it, some subordination—man placed an implicit confidence in his temporal and spiritual directors—Princes and Priests—entertained no doubts of their infallibility; or even questioned their unerring wisdom. Indeed, the lower orders, though in other respects immersed in the most profound ignorance, knew full well (their superiors having taken care to inform them) that the existence of society depended upon distinctions of rank, fortune, &c. They therefore chearfully submitted without murmuring, to be the basis upon which the pillar of society was erected, and patiently bore the weight of the shaft, cornice, frieze, and capital; nor ever complained of the expences of supporting this structure, notwithstanding the taxes and contributions necessary for keeping it in repair, reduced them to the most abject poverty and dependence—to toil and labour for their superiors they never thought a hardship, sensible that submission was their duty, they never uttered a wish for a change in the order of things.