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THE

MORAL STATE

ог

NATIONS.

ENGLAND.

I BRING this country first under consideration, because the world are agreed in giving the high pre-eminence of thought, or mental powers, to the natives of this island. This opinion I do not respect for its universality, but having examined it closely, and brought it to the test of experience, by constant observation, I find it to be an incontrovertible truth. However, that I may not be subject to the suspicions of prejudice in holding such an opinion in favor of my native country, I shall explain my experi

ence.

The excellence or supreme power of the intellectual faculties, depends on their capacity to form the greatest number of simultaneous ideas, or [rather,] to take in at one view, the different relations or parts of the object under consideration. As, when we say, government is necessary for man; a weak mind views the object, man, as a bad being; and government as a good coercion. A great mind takes in all the relations and connections of

these two objects-considers profoundly the nature of man and of government, establishing conclusions conform-. able to their present state, and continuing the investigation which liberal speculation adduces.

The English peasant in conversation with his lord, looks down, blushes, scratches his head, and shows every sign of extreme sensibility; while the capacity, or operative power of his intellect, takes a simultaneous view of the lord's riches and his own poverty, the lord's power and his own weakness, the lord's knowledge and his own ignorance; and excites the passions of fear and shame. When a peasant of any other part of the globe is accosted by a superior, and conversation is entered into, the questions of the one put in action the memory of the other, which keeps the imagination from operating, and which, when too much burthened, oppresses and almost annihilates the judgment. The foreign peasant, occupied with his memory alone, to furnish an answer to his lord, discovers no agitation, and proves that he has neither sensibility nor extensive mental faculty.

It is, however, a curious problem, that the instinct or memory of the foreign peasant acts right, while the extensive intellectual faculty of the English peasant does wrong. The following observation will however solve this problem.

Instinct and intellectual existence are two extremes in the essence of man; at the first point he possesses happiness without conscientiousness, and at the last he unites both; but in his progress from the first to the last, he struggles through much ignorance and misery, upon quitting his guide Nature, to reach the goal of intellect.

Whoever takes a moral view of the English nation, will observe that in approximating the goal of intellectual existence, they have left far behind them all other nations; and this pre-eminence they mark by the superior degree of thought or consciousness which they possess, while the very inferior degree of animal happiness they enjoy, shows that they are still very distant from the goal. The reason of this is, that their mental capacity is exter

nally employed to acquire power, riches and knowledge, which are the causes of much pain and ignorance, and these, meeting with consciousness and thought, conspire to render them miserable. When, on the contrary, the mental capacity shall be internally employed to discover the source of moral motion or knowledge of self; they will then arrive at the goal of intellectual existence, when consciousness and thought will augment the happiness sought after, and procured in an enlightened state of Na

ture.

The greatest field for observation of this truth is in domestic society. Individuals, when forming these associations, are oppressed with silence and reserve. That this is not the effect of apathy or stupidity, is discovered by the restless and uneasy attitudes of the men, by the blushes and downcast eyes of the women, which, if at any time, through a wonderful effort of courage, they are elevated to a horizontal position, seem rather wandering in their orbits, to look for an asylum from the regard of others, than directed with benevolent assurance to mest the eyes of those with whom they converse. This embarrassment proceeds from extreme sensibility, or great proportion of intellect, which is constantly reflecting and revolving within its own sphere, producing extreme apprehensions, and reasoning thus:

"If I speak, I may say something impertinent, as to time, place, subject or person, this will give my associates an unfavorable opinion of me; whereas, if I keep silence, I shall risk no criticism, and feel no mortifications of self love, by encountering an argument that may prevail, and cause the impeachment of my judgment."

This habit of reflection keeps the mental faculties in constant exercise, and gives it the same vigor as the body acquires from corporeal exercise, and forms that real capacity of mind called good sense or sound judgment. In this consists the pre-eminence of man over man, and over brutes; as it enables him to take a comprehensive view of the past, present and future, to discover the relation of different events, and their consequen

ces, and to notice such only as have an effect upon his happiness or well-being, which is the only object worthy the contemplation of a great and wise man.

The activity of the intellectual powers of the people is to be discovered in their deportment in the social relations of inferior and superior; in their intercourse embarrassment is testified by both parties, and an uneasy reserve is reciprocal. What can this proceed from, but, that the mind, with its great reflective powers, turns over many pages of the great volume of memory; draws forth matter upon which it reasons relatively, and multiplies its apprehensions and fears. Thus, when the lord converses with his peasant, the latter, with downcast eyes, and agitation of mind discoverable by a thousand awkward motions of the body, reasons upon the extensive ideas of his lord conveyed in eloquent language, which compared with his own, humiliates and confounds him; then he reflects upon his power, and comparing it with his own weakness, he is alarmed, and almost annihilated. The conduct is almost similar between the lord and his sovereign, the soldier and general, the servant and master, the lover and sweetheart; in short, through all the social relations of life, this active power of the mind, or its very intimate connection with the body, called sensibility, is the only universal and common feature-which marks the character of the English nation.

The extensive operation of the mental faculties proceeds, no doubt, [] from a greater sensibility in the nerves to vibrate strongly; and these receiving the concussions of the passions with more violence, increase the powers of the volition. If this is controlled only by reli gious or political laws, the sagacity of the mind breaks down these imaginary limits, and urges the man to action; and hence the cause of the violent character of the English nation, and of all private and public injustice committed in that country.

This shows that sagacity is but a dangerous and critical degree of excellence, at which the human mind arrives in its progress towards wisdom, or the source

of moral motion-the knowledge of self. When it reaches this acme of human perfection, the breach of order would be treason against self-happiness.

By this sensibility or intimate connection of the moral and physical part of man, the passions acquire the same power as the understanding, and while the latter operates with its penetrative and anticipative powers, to examine the volition which induces action, whether it be well formed for the future and present well-being of the man, or in other words productive of his happiness; the impulsive and collossal force of the passions opposes it with dreadful violence, and precipitates the man to decision and action, whose consequences are not distant but almost instant pain and misery, though veiled with a gauze of pleasure.

Hence is the origin of suicide, robbery, and personal violence of every kind, which occur in this country more frequently than in any other part of the globe.

Hence those political atrocities of the people, collectively to sacrifice the civil rights of mankind, to the base and detestable advantages of a mean and avaricious commerce, testified by the intrigues of the English Cabinet with the Court of Berlin, in the affairs of Holland, Flanders, and Poland; in which countries they support despotic aristocracies against the great body of an oppressed and enslaved people. Hence the support of their own aristocracy, the most abandoned, shameful and profligate of any upon the face of the globe; who, not satisfied to buy one half of their constituents, hire bravos and ruffians to beat the other half into compliance. O Italy! your assassins are honorable, compared to these degenerate miscreants. It is the violent and impetuous passion of love that directs your poniard to the rival's heart; but those miscreants sacrifice for a crown piece and a pot of porter, the lives of their fellow citizens, and the happiness of their country; and hold out an example that disgraces human nature, and shows men so depraved as to delight in the most atrocious acts of deliberate murder without the plea of temptation. This example is enough

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