Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness, and faction/Section 13
SECT.XIII.
Among what Ranks, Licentiousness and Faction may most probably be expected.
THOUGH this Want of Principle must naturally infect every Rank of Men, in a certain Degree; yet some Ranks stand more exposed to it than others.
And, that we may give as little Offence as possible, while we speak the Truth; let it be observed, that all Orders of Men being born with an equal Tendency to Virtue or Vice; their adopting the One, or falling into the Other, depends chiefly on the Temptations to which their Rank exposes them.
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.
With Respect to the Principle of Religion, their present Situation is no less unfavourable. Dissolute Opinions flatter their disordered Passions: Nor will they ever want Sycophants, to present this alluring Bait to their Desires.—The Maxims of Irreligion are now so generally established among Those with whom the young Men of Fashion converse, that they must be peculiarly fortunate, if they escape the Infection. Wherever This Taint is given, the Principles of Honour and Conscience become vague and ineffectual, if considered as the Supports of Liberty. Certain Delicacies of personal Conduct they may produce; but can never rise to an unbiassed and steady Prosecution of the public Welfare.
Another Circumstance unfavourable to the public Virtue of the higher Ranks presents itself. Their Situation leads them to expect, and to claim, the great and lucrative Offices of the State. I need not here point out, how strongly This tends to betray them into the Extremes of selfish Views, Ambition, Party-Rage, Licentiousness, and Faction.[1]
Add to all these Considerations, their frequent and long-continued Meetings in the Capital: A Circumstance which, from the powerful Effects of free Communication, cannot but inflame all these Causes of political Dissention.
If we next examine the State of the Populace of the great Cities, we shall find that Their Situation naturally exposes them to such Temptations as lead to factious Conduct, when not early fortify'd by a virtuous Education. They are often urged by Want; of which, Discontent and Envy are the inevitable Effects. They are let loose to every Impulse of Appetite, by frequent Opportunity and Secrecy of Action: They are tempted by wicked Examples; inflamed by evil Communication and intoxicating Liquors: And though the industrious Mechanic may sometimes escape the Infection; yet the Life of the uninstructed Poor in great Cities, is too commonly a horrid Compound of Riot and Distress, Rapacity and Thieving, Prostitution and Robbery, Wickedness and Despair.
Now if this Body of Men be indeed, what Candour itself cannot deny, "too generally ignorant and ill-educated; too generally profligate in Manners, and void of Principle;" it follows, that like "the Athenian Populace of old, they must be liable to the Seduction of artful Men;" the ready Tools of every unprincipled Leader, who may choose to misguide them, to the Ends of Licentiousness and Faction.
But "The People of Great Britain, as above distinguished,[2] are of a Character essentially different from both These. The landed Gentry, the Country Clergy, the more considerable Merchants and Men in Trade, the substantial and industrious Freeholders and Yeomen," possess a middle State of Life, which guards them from many of those Temptations that surround the higher and the lower Ranks. Their imaginary Wants are fewer than those of the Great: Their real Wants are fewer than those of the Poor: Hence Their Appetites are less inflamed to Evil.—Their Education generally seconds this happy Situation, in a certain Degree: Though imperfect, it is commonly more consistent with the main Outlines of public Law, than that of the superior or inferior Ranks.—Their Principles of Religion confirm this Education: They stand not generally exposed to the Infection of dissolute Opinions. Their Sentiments of Honour and Conscience are most commonly built on the Doctrines of Christianity.—Their Numbers and their Station conspire to exclude them from a general Claim to the lucrative Offices of the State. Their collective Knowledge is of sufficient Reach to prevent their general Seduction to the Purposes of Licentiousness: Their Dispersion, and rural Life, prevent those continued and unrestrained Communications, which are alike fatal to private and public Virtue.
Let not the Writer be misunderstood. There are Examples of Integrity and Dishonour, of Virtue and Vice, among all Degrees of Men. He only points out the Circumstances which naturally tend, upon the Whole, to form the several Ranks into these distinct Characters.
From this View of the several Ranks, it follows, that although "The People of this Kingdom" must inevitably partake of the various Manners and Principles of the Great and the Populace, with which they at Times communicate; though they be subject to the common Failings of Men, and to the incidental Inroads of Licentiousness from higher and lower Life;—yet upon the Whole, and considered as one collective Body, they stand comparatively clear of many Temptations to Vice; and therefore must naturally be least exposed to the Influence of Licentiousness and Faction.
One Consequence, arising from their Dispersion, must not pass unnoticed. It not only prevents the general Depravation of their Manners and Principles, but likewise prevents their uniting in large Bodies, upon all slight Occasions. Hence, though they are apt to doubt, nay to be alarmed, on the factious Clamours of the Capital; yet they are not rowzed into Action, but on singular and important Emergencies.
To conclude: 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."