Civil Liberty, &c.
147
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.[1]
On this Foundation, therefore, it appears, that every upright Minister ought, as far as possible, to check the Progress of Corruption: And tho' at Times he may be embarassed, and under a po-
- ↑ Were it necessary to pursue this Gentleman through all the Windings of his political Labyrinth, and trace him to the End of his Course, where he suddenly starts up in the Form of a severe Moralist; there could not, perhaps, be exhibited a more striking Instance of Self-Contradiction, in the whole Compass of literary Debate.—At present I shall only remark, that this Essay was published in the Year 1757, at a Time when the System of political Corruption much needed some Kind of Apology, because its fatal Effects began to glare too strongly upon the Nation to be longer doubted. Hence, though we should not inquire "who the Author is," we may give a shrewd Guess, "what political School he was bred in."
