ABSTRACT
This chapter relates to a discussion of Libel law and Parodies in the House of Commons. It also discusses old doctrine of Divine Right, which is vamped up under the style and title of Legitimacy. The Government is instituted for the benefit of the governed, for which there can be little doubt; but the interests of the Government (when once it becomes absolute and independent of the people) must be directly at variance with those of the governed. The interests of the one are common and equal rights: of the other, exclusive and invidious privileges. The power of an arbitrary King or an aspiring Minister does not increase with the liberty of the subject, but must be circumscribed by it. The state of most of the countries of the European Continent is but very imperfectly known in England. France, indeed, was surveyed at the commencement of the Revolution, in a very masterly manner, by Arthur Young.
