CHAPTER IV.

Blessed art thou, O land! when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness.-Eccles. x. 17.

I THINK I have shown my readers that, although free governments, or liberal institutions, as they are styled in our days, have prospered for awhile, from partial, local, and other extraordinary causes, and have afforded great advantages for the acquirement of wealth, they are nevertheless, unsolid and dangerous, go rapidly to decay, and consequently offer no security for the preservation of life and property. The tranquillity and industry of the nation are exposed to the danger of tumults and interruptions at every instant, and they are called away from their regular occupations by political intrigues, contentions, and elections, and are one-half their lives involved in riots and disputes, quarrelling and fighting. Divided into parties, fiery and implacable in the defence of their demagogues and leaders (for principles they have none), their whole existence is nothing but a scene of irreligion, turbulence, discord and recriminations. Party spirit is carried to such an extent, and particularly in the Paradise of the Liberals, the

United States of America, that oftentimes it. occasions the division of families, the enmity of near relations, and causes those whom God has created to be loving friends, to become the bitterest and most inveterate enemies. The haughty pride and arrogance of democracy, in every country where it exists, distroys, in a great measure, all that harmony and urbanity of manners which are found amongst nations governed by kings. In a republic, where manners are always coarse and vulgar, the pride, ostentation, and overbearing deportment of the rich are not only ridiculous, but truly disgusting. This species of vulgarity is found in all ranks, in proportion to their wealth, or their power under government, consequently gives rise to great envy and jealousy, and totally extinguishes all the harmonies of social life, and the finer feelings of philanthropy and humanity. All this arises out of the form of government; for in a country where men make riches their God, and have no titles, honours, or distinctions to elevate them but their wealth, the human heart becomes hardened, and the mind debased, by being wholly absorbed in money-making. Men of vulgar origin, and of no education, acquiring large fortunes, and finding themselves in an elevation they never anticipated, become proud, vain, overbearing and ostentatious, and, knowing nothing of life and manners, are rough, unpolite, and inhospitable. Many of them, ambitious of the honour of being a member of the State Legislature where they live, or a member of Congress, they use their influence and their riches, of course, to attain this end. There it is that the public prints are had recourse to by their friends and their foes. The former exalt them to the skies, whilst the latter recount every

immoral act or baseness of conduct that they have ever been guilty of, tearing them piecemeal. Nothing is omitted, however low and indecent; the opposite party retorts again, and thus a paper war, the most scurrilous, violent, and disgraceful, is kept up on both sides, until the election is at an end. At the hustings, the leaders and their mobs are equally furious and malignant; and, heated with the liberal grog of the candidates, they fight like mad dogs. What a disgusting picture of barbarity, and impiety, and unchristian principles! What a scene of license, riot, and misrule!-the most disagreeable part of which is, that oftentimes those who wish to remain quiet, are dragged forcibly into the vortex of iniquity, and against their will are made to take an active part. No political privilege or advantage can compensate for such a life of vice, intrigue, discord, and iniquities of all sorts. The Americans, however, are fond of these abominable practices and immoral habits, which they dignify with the false names of Independence and Liberty. Electioneering is bad enough in England, but in America it is horrible! To form a just idea of it, a man must go there, and be an eye-witness to the diabolical uproar it produces. Besides, there is no doubt that frequent elections not only debauch the morals, but occasion the loss of much precious time, and certainly tend to render the manners and character of the people more unkind, rough, and uncharitable. No one who posesses religious feelings, sound morals, and a just idea of social order, and brotherly love, can find an excuse for such a form of Government, which, instead of softening and calming the passions of the people, only serves to excite them, and render them more barbarous, unchristian,

and uncivilized. I think I have proved to the satisfaction of every impartial mind, that man, 、 to have his passions kept within reasonable bounds, and to make him prosperous and happy, must live under the government of a king. Ay, reader, a crowned head, whom God has commanded us to obey-raised by Him above us ordinary men-and to the antiquity, splendour, glory, and respectabilty of whose ancestors we can refer to with pride, and dwell upon with satisfaction. A well-born prince, of an ancient and glorious house, has something attractive and commanding in himself; but when he adds to noble lineage virtuous qualities and talents, which distinguish him as a man as well as a monarch, the coldest heart cannot resist the impulse of veneration, respect, and attachment, which those qualities naturally inspire. What is one of your new-fashioned vulgar presidents, or mushroom democratic liberal chiefs or demagogues, compared to a king or an emperor? The glare of a short-lived transient meteor, in comparison with the bright but mild and steady blaze of a fixed star! Fellows who disgrace the ordinances of nature, climbing to heights which dazzle their weak minds, because unprepared for such an elevation. They act the farce of Majesty with so bad a grace, they make the seats of kings the rostrums of mountebanks and impostors, and are despised even by those who raised them. They have no dignity of character; no elevation of sentiment; none of that honest, noble self-esteem (without dirty pride), which is the peculiar attribute of a well-born and well-bred gentleman. The majesty of conscious worth and high birth, joined to unassuming manners and modesty, which so strongly mark the features and actions of those nobly descended, immediately attract

the crowd, and rivet their attention and respect. Democracy having none of these attractive graces and qualities, and being unholy withal, is the reason it does not prosper. In Russia, where fifty millions of brave, loyal, and excellent Christian subjects are not ashamed to be styled subjects of a paternal, wise, and excellent Sovereign-his Imperial Majesty Nicholas Iwhere commerce, agriculture, manufactures, and the arts and sciences flourish; yet the tranquillity, harmony, and good fellowship, and contentment which reign throughout his wide and extended empire is really enviable. He is married to a daughter of the good King of Prussia, who possesses an elegant person, graceful manners, a mind enriched with every charm, and a heart like that of her father's-kind and maternal. To say all that could be said of the Emperor and his highly accomplished, lovely Empress, would be deemed flattery by those who do not know them. Those two exalted personages prove, in the strongest manner, what I have just remarked of the impression native majesty makes upon those who come within the sphere of its glory. Nor can I pass this subject without saying something more of the most remarkable man, as well as the most renowned monarch of the present day. His public virtues command respect and veneration, whilst his inestimable private character renders him the object of the love and admiration of his devoted people; nay, it makes him admired even by his enemies.* I dwell with peculiar pleasure on the character of this truly religious and virtuous Sovereign, who in his public and foreign relations

On the first day of every new year the Emperor gives a masquerade to the people. The immense suites of rooms of his truly Imperial palace, are then all thrown open, where are assembled never less, and oftentimes more, than twenty