John Brown

“ Thus, hatched by Licentiousness, Faction would attain to its enormous Growth: The unprincipled among the Great would form the Head, the unprincipled among the Populace would form the Body, of this rapacious Monster. ”

“ If natural Conscience were in itself a well-regulated and sufficient Guide; could any Thing have been more odious to its Dictates, than Prostitution, Adultery, Thieving, and Assassination? Yet all these did the severe Spartans practise, not only without Remorse, but with Self-Approbation; the infant Mind being before-hand modeled to this preposterous System of imagined Duty. For, on the very ruling Principles of the State, their Daughters were debauched, their Wives were common, their Victuals were stolen, their Slaves were murdered. ”

“ WHAT, then, are the permanent Foundations, on which perfect Liberty can arise?—I answer, it can only arise on the Power of such a System of Manners and Principles effectually impressed on the human Mind, as may be an inward Curb to every inordinate Desire; or rather, such as may so frame and model the Human Heart, that its ruling Desires may correspond, coincide, or coalesce, with all the great and essential Appointments of public Law. ”

“ But it is in the Power of every Private Man to educate his Child, not only without a Reverence for These, but in an absolute Contempt of them. It is much in every Parent's Option, whether he will impress his Childrens Hearts with such Habits and Principles as accord to the Genius of the State, or with Impunity suffer them to contract such Manners and Opinions as tend to its Dissolution. ”

“ FROM the Nature of civil Liberty, thus delineated, the Nature of Licentiousness will easily be fixed: Being indeed no other than "Every Desire carry'd into Action, which in any Respect violates those equal Laws, established for the common Benefit of the Whole." ”

“ For in Truth, the Mind cannot be compelled to receive any Habit of Thought, Principle, or Opinion. These may indeed be offered to the infant Mind, but the Reception of them is its own voluntary Act; and is equally so, whether they be presented by fortuitous Incidents, or designed Instruction. All the Difference is, that in the first Case such a System of Habits and Opinions will certainly arise, as tend to the Destruction of Society: In the second, such a System of Habits and Opinions may be infused into the free Mind, as will lay a sure and lasting Foundation of public Liberty and Happiness. ”

“ The Manners and Principles of early Rome, which tended to enlarge and aggrandize the Republic, were 1. A Love of their Country instilled into their rising Youth: Formed chiefly on the Power of Custom; and more particularly on the warlike Genius of the State. Their Annals abound with so many Instances of this grand Passion, that present Times stand amazed, and with Difficulty credit their Story. ”

“ If they should now absurdly magnify and exalt the Privileges of the lower House, beyond the Limits prescribed by a free Constitution:—If their Pretence should be the Vindication of the People's Rights; while their real Motive was "the Restoration of their own exorbitant Power, founded on an expected Majority of their own Dependents:"—
If this Conduct was pursued by any Set of Men, they would stand convicted of a clear Mark of Licentiousness and Faction. ”

“ But this free Union can only be the happy Effect of an early and rigorous Education; by which the growing Minds of the Community are voluntarily led, by public Institutions, into one common Channel of Habit, Principle, and Action... Plutarch tells us, that the Effect of this entire Union was so conspicuous in Sparta, that "the Commonwealth resembled one great and powerful Person, actuated by one Soul, rather than a State composed of many Individuals. ”

“ Here, then, lie the first Foundations of civil Liberty: In forming the Habits of the youthful Heart, to a Coincidence with the general Welfare: In checking every rising Appetite that is contrary to This, and in forwarding every Passion that may promote the Happiness of the Community: In implanting and improving Benevolence, Self-Controul, Humility, Integrity, and Truth ”

“ For it was indeed "the Establishment of barbarous Manners, carried into Permanency by political Institutions." That Mankind should be carry'd back to This, from a State of Humanity and Civilization;—that they should quit private Property, Money, Commerce, Decency, domestic Comforts, Wives and Children, and give them up to the Possession of the Public, is a Contradiction to all the known Powers and Passions of the human Mind. ”

“ It is foolish to say, that Government is concerned to meddle with the private Thoughts and Actions of Men, while they injure neither the Society, nor any of its Members. Every Man is in Nature and Reason, the Judge and Disposer of his own domestic Affairs; and according to the Rules of Religion and Equity, every Man must carry his own Conscience: So that neither has the Magistrate a Right to direct the private Behaviour of Men ”

“ For Faction, unopposed, and led on by the higher Ranks, will never cease in its Demands, till it terminates in the Possession of an unbounded aristocratic Power: This is a Power, which nothing but the Courage and Steadiness of the Prince can possibly contend with: Because the final Object of such a Faction will always be, "Those high and lucrative Offices of State, which are in His sole Disposal." ”

“ The Education of Children was still left in an imperfect State: This great Revolution having confined itself to the Reform of public Institutions; without ascending to the first great Fountain of political Security, "the private and effectual Formation of the infant Mind." ”

“ For whatever is fashionable is apt to draw Respect and Applause: Whatever is unfashionable is for the present intitled only to Contempt. Hence the Principle of Honour becomes fluctuating and uncertain in its Nature, and therefore in its Effects: A Regulation of this Principle, therefore, is of the most important Consequence; because, if left to its own fantastic Dictates, it will often endanger instead of strengthening the Foundations of public Freedom. ”

“ We may lay it down as a fundamental Truth generally acknowledged, that the political Constitution of Great Britain, in its main Outline, is better modeled than those of Sparta, Athens, or Rome. The legislative and executive Powers are more equally balanced, and more clearly distinguished. Now, if Laws could support themselves, it would follow, that this political State must therefore be of longer Duration. But as it hath been made appear, that the Duration of free States depends not so much on their mere Form, as on the Manners and Principles which support them ”

“ If ever there had been a Time, when All who presumed to dissent in any Degree from those in Power, were indiscriminately and unjustly branded with the Name of Jacobite or Tory;—and if These very Men who had bestowed such Appellations should now deal them as freely round, on All who assent to Those in Power:—This were surely a clear Indication, that the Spirit of Faction were abroad. ”

“ Declaimers may express their Wonder, that a System so perfect should not at once attain its End: But they who take a nearer View of the Manners and Principles of those Times, will rather say, that the Tumults and Dissentions which instantly arose, were in their own Nature inevitable.
The Manners of the Times, tho' in the Main favourable to Liberty, were mixed with a gross Alloy of private Licentiousness: And hence, factious Measures of Course arose, from the Prospect of Power or Gain. ”

“ It is his Duty; both because Corruption can only flourish on the Ruins of Virtue and Religion, good Morals and Principles, without which public Liberty is essentially destroy'd; and because Corruption tends inevitably and invariably to weaken the public Administration of Government, by filling every high Department with the Venal, the Ignorant, the Selfish, the Dishonest. ”

“ The Frame and Situation of Man admits of no other Principle, from whence the Idea of Duty can arise.
The Principle of Religion tends to this End of confirming civil Liberty, as it induces the Idea of Duty; and urges the Performance of it, on the Belief of a just, omnipotent, and all-seeing God; who approves and condemns, will reward or punish, according as our Thoughts and Actions are Good or Evil. ”

“ Yet, while virtuous Manners and Principles clearly predominate in their Effects, a State may still be justly called free.
But in Proportion as these Manners and Principles decay, and their Contraries rise into Power and Action, public Freedom must necessarily decline. For in that Case, the Passions and Powers of the human Mind are all set in Conspiracy against the Dictates of public Law. Hence unbridled Passions will have their Course; every Man's Heart and Hand will be set against his Brethren ”

“ The natural Liberty of Man, considered merely as a solitary and savage Individual, would generally lead him to a full and unbounded Prosecution of all his Appetites. Some Savages there are, though few, who live nearly, if not altogether, in this brutal State of Nature. ”

“ The infant Mind cannot remain in a State of Indifference and Inaction, either with Regard to Habits of Conduct, or Principles and Opinions. Habits, Impressions, Beliefs, Principles, of one Kind or other, the growing Mind will inevitably contract, from its Communication with Mankind: If therefore rational Habits and Principles be not infused, in order to preclude Absurdities; it is Odds, but Absurdities will get the Start, and preclude all rational Habits and Opinions. The Passions and the Reason of a Child will put themselves in Action, however wretched and inconsistent ”

“ It is true, that an imperfect Semblance of Liberty often appeared, amidst the Factions of succeeding Times: It is true, that Wealth and Luxury contributed to hasten the Fall of Athens: It is true, that Pericles and Alcibiades, in their Turn, while they seemed to polish the Manners, inflamed the Vices of the Populace; and led them on to the certain Destruction of the State. ”

“ LET us now consider, what might be in the Power of the Legislature and the Magistrate immediately to effect.
1. 'Tis generally acknowledged, that Power naturally follows Property. Therefore exorbitant Property in Individuals must always be unfavourable to civil Liberty; must always tend to produce Licentiousness and Faction; because it throws exorbitant Power into the Hands of Individuals: And the greater the Inequality between the Poor and Rich, the more the one will ever be under the Influence of the other. ”

“ If neither Age nor Virtue should be a Security against the Arrows of public Calumny:—If a Man of the most distinguished Worth in private Life, a known and zealous Friend of public Liberty, one of the Ornaments of his Age and Country, should be overwhelmed by a Load of the most unprovoked and malicious Slander ”

“ Let us consider the Temptations to Licentiousness and Faction, to which the leading Ranks stand exposed.
Wealth and Power give Opportunities of Indulgence; Indulgence naturally inflames Appetite.—Flattery awakens contempt; and Contempt weakens the Fear of Offence or Shame.—Laws which bind little Men, are often too weak for Great ones.—Leisure, when not dignify'd by suitable Accomplishments, ends in Idleness; and Idleness is the Parent and the Nurse of licentious Folly. To such Temptations do the Great stand exposed, in the important Article of Manners. ”

“ The third Principle, that of natural Conscience, which tends to confirm the Establishment of Liberty, is founded in the Approbation of our own Heart. This Principle is in one Respect independent on the other two, but in another Respect seems to stand intimately related to them. It is independent of them, as it neither looks out for the Approbation of God, nor the Applause of Men: It seems intimately related to them, because on a strict Examination of the human Frame, as well as the History of Mankind, it appears generally to be the Result of the one, or other, or both. ”

“ Whatever Means, therefore, are most effectual in curbing and subduing the selfish Desires of Man, are the most effectual Means of regulating his Actions, and establishing civil Liberty on its most permanent Foundations. ”

“ They are a great, but quiescent Power; on whose collective Knowledge and Integrity, the Freedom and Fate of this Nation must finally depend. In the last Age, through the Influence of false Principles, pre-established or infused, they had well-nigh shaken the Foundations of Liberty: [3] In the present, these mistaken Principles being no more, They are now "the firmest Bulwark of Britain's Freedom." ”

“ The favourite Subject of its Clamours will be the Misconduct of Those who govern. And in a Country where Liberty is justly ranked among the greatest national Blessings, the most plausible Pretence of Faction will be, "to load the executive Power with the Charge of Despotism." ”

“ For This, even in its best Forms, was ever built on the History and Examples of deify'd Men, whose Lives had often been blotted with the most flagrant Crimes; and therefore, could never exalt the Heart of Man, beyond this weak Principle of Elevation.—But as the Power of a Religion depends, not only on its excellent Genius, but on its being effectually impressed on the Mind ”

“ The noble Writer was naturally led to embrace this growing Error of the Times, by a too flattering Opinion which he had imbibed concerning unassisted human Nature; as being sufficient of itself to establish the unerring Practice of Virtue, unless beforehand sophisticated by servile Institutions. ”

“ It follows then, that his leading Proposition is as false in itself, as it is pernicious to Society, that "Corruption must always increase in due Proportion to the Decrease of arbitrary Power:" Because Virtue and Religion, upright Manners and Principles, properly instilled, may much better supply Corruption's Place. ”

“ Above all, This will give Stability to civil Liberty, if the social Passions of Individuals can be so far extended, as to include the Welfare of the whole Community, as their chief and primary Object. This Affection is distinguished by the Name of public Spirit, or the Love of our Country; the highest Passion that can sway the human Heart, considered as a permanent Foundation of true Liberty. ”

“ The History of human Nature confirms this Truth: Hence it is, that this boasted human Reason is indeed so poor and unprofitable a Possession; being warped and moulded into that particular Form, which the varying Accidents of Climate, Soil, established Manners, Religion, Policy, bodily Frame, or prevailing Passions and Principles, chance to give it. ”