But for a principle of active
and zealous service, none but idiots could think of it. Is the conduct
of a war to be trusted to a man who may abhor its principle, who, in
every step he may take to render it successful, confirms the power
of those by whom he is oppressed? Will foreign states seriously
treat with him who has no prerogative of peace or war? No, not so much
as in a single vote by himself or his ministers, or by any one whom he
can possibly influence. A state of contempt is not a state for a
prince; better get rid of him at once.
I know it will be said that these humors in the court and
executive government will continue only through this generation, and
that the king has been brought to declare the dauphin shall be
educated in a conformity to his situation. If he is made to conform to
his situation, he will have no education at all. His training must
be worse, even, than that of an arbitrary monarch. If he reads-
whether he reads or not- some good or evil genius will tell him his
ancestors were kings. Thenceforward his object must be to assert
himself and to avenge his parents. This you will say is not his
duty. That may be; but it is nature; and whilst you pique nature
against you, you do unwisely to trust to duty. In this futile scheme
of polity, the state nurses in its bosom, for the present, a source of
weakness, perplexity, counteraction, inefficiency, and decay; and it
prepares the means of its final ruin.
Pages:
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318