1 Sept 1809

Parl y Reform

B. I. Necessity

Ch. 18 Idol-Worship Mischief

§.1. Inconsistency with end of government

§.1

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1

[…?] idols-worship

King the Baal of the constitution.

Worship of King is d o of […?]. Vox populi, vox dei

1. Personal character of King should not be talked of

2. Laudation[?] mischief

3. Laudation ground of. i.e. without […?] Grounds

4. Mode of […?] is to keep character if worth while

Ch. Mischief and unreasonableness of idol-worship in the person of the King

§.1. Inconsistency of King-worship with the acknowledged end of government

Notwithstanding the Revolution, a point that seems never as yet to have been

settled, is – what is the proper and preferable end in view and object of pursuit in

government: whether the aggregate /universal/ interest of the whole community of

which the Monarch is a member, or the particular interest of that one individual.

That in case of competition (and the case of competition is a case that occurs but

too frequently) that in case of competition it is the interest of the whole community

that ought to give way is a proposition which I do not remember to have any where

observed to be directly maintained or asserted: but as to /of/ its being tacitly

assumed and openly acted upon, and even argued from /grounded upon in point of

argument/ in so far as a proposition which is not directly asserted can be said to be

argued from /grounded upon/, so copious are the instances that the difficulty is

rather /what there is of difficulty consists/ in finding any principle /proposition/

of the opposite {complexion} than are /such as are/ of this cast

Nay but it may be said /says some one/ those who write or speak this are but the

tools of the Court: men who perceiving their own sinister interest to be dependent

upon those of the King, take this as they do every other occasion to promote his,

because promoting his is promoting their own.

That to a most desperate extent, such as above must on this occasion have been the

cause of what goes by the name of loyalty, does not admitt of doubt. But tools of the

Court are not the less members of the community: and if on this occasion it be by one

man’s[?] instance an interest of the self-regarding class that pens and tongues have

in a great multitude of instances been set to work, yet what seems scarcely more

exposed to doubt /less indubitable/ is, that no inconsiderable extent the effect may

have had principles of a less ungenerous nature, such as social sympathy, and the

contagious influence of example, for its cause.