reign: a man going along the street that fronts the Emperor's apartment, must pull off his hat; and it is a heinous trefpafs to write a letter with the Emperor's name in small characters. Defpotifm is every where the fame: it was high treafon to fell a ftatue of a Roman Emperor; and it was doubted, whether it was not high treafon to hit an Emperor's ftatue with a ftone thrown at random (b). When Elifabeth Emprefs of Ruffia was on her death bed, no perfon durit enquire about her; and even after her death, it was not at first fafe to fpeak of it. The deep filence of the Ruffians upon matters of government arifes from the encouragement given to accufations of treason. The by-ftanders muft lay hold of the perfon accufed: a father arrefts his fon, a fon his father, and nature fuffers in filence. The accufed with the accufer are hurried to prison, there to remain till they be tried in the fecret court of chancery. That court, compofed of a few minifters named by the Emperor, have the lives and fortunes of all at their mercy. The nobility, flaves to the crown, are prone to retaliate upon their inferiors. They impofe taxes at pleasure upon their vaffals, and frequently feize all at fhort hand *. Servility and depreffion of mind in the fubjects of a defpotic government cannot be better marked than in the funeral rites of a Roman Emperor, described by Herodian (c). The body being burnt privately, a waxen image reprefenting the Emperor is laid in a bed of state. (b) 1. 5. ad legem Juliam Majeftatis. The following incident is a ftriking example of the violence of paffion, indulged in a defpotic government, where men in power are under no control. Thomas Pereyra, a Portuguese general, having affifted the King of Pegu in a dangerous war with his neighbour of Siam, was a prime favourite at court, having elephants of state, and a guard of his own countrymen. One day coming from court mounted on an elephant, and hearing mufic in a houfe where a marriage was celebrating between a daughter of the family and her lov er, he went into the house, and defired to fee the bride. The pa rents took the vifit for a great honour, and chearfully prefented her. He was inftantly fmit with her beauty, ordered his guards to feize her and to carry her to his palace. The bridegroom, as little able to bear the affront as to revenge it, cut his own throat.. (e) Lib. 4. Book II. On the one fide fit the fenators several hours daily, cloth ed in black; and on the other, the moft refpectable ma trons, clothed in white. The ceremony lafts feven days, during which the physicians from time to time approach the bed, and declare the Emperor to be worfe and worse. When the day comes of declaring him dead, the most dignified of the nobility carry the bed upon their fhoulders, and place it in the old forum, where the Roman magiftrates formerly laid down their office. Then begin doleful ditties, fung to his memory by boys and women. These being ended, the bed is carried to the Campus Martius, and there burnt upon a high ftage with great folemnity. When the flames afcend, an eagle is let loofe, which is fuppofed to carry the foul of the Emperor to heaven. Is that farce lefs ridiculous than a puppet-fhew? Is it not much more ridiculous? Dull muft have been the specta tor who could behold the folemnity without fmiling at leaft, if not laughing outright; but the Romans were crushed by defpotifm, and nothing could provoke them to laugh. That ridiculous farce continued to be acted till the time of Conftantine: how much later I know not. The finest countries have been depopulated by defpot. fm; witnefs Greece, Egypt, and the Leffer Afia. The river Menam, in the kingdom of Siam, overflows annually like the Nile, depofiting a quantity of flime, which proves rich manure. The river feems to rife gradually as the rice grows; and retires to its channel when the rice, approaching to maturity, needs no longer to be wa tered. Nature befide has bestowed on that rich country variety of delicious fruits, requiring fcarce any culture. In fuch a paradife, would one imagine that the Siamites are a miferable people? The government is defpotic, and the fubjects are flaves: they muft work for their monarch fix months every year, without wages, and even without receiving any food from him. What renders them still more miferable is, that they have no protection either for their perfons or their goods: the grandees are exposed to the rapacity of the king and his courtiers; and the lower ranks are expofed to the rapacity of the grandees. When a man has the misfortune to poffefs a tree remarkable for good fruit, he is required in the name of the King, or of a courtier, to preserve the fruit for their use. Every proprietor of a garden in the neighbourhood of the capital must pay a yearly fum to the keeper of the elephants; otherwife it will be laid wafte by thefe animals, whom it is high treason to moleft. From the fea-p -port of Mergui to the capital, one travels ten or twelve days through immenfe plains of a rich, foil, finely watered. That country appears to have been formerly cultivated, but is now quite depopulated, and left to tigers and elephants. Formerly, an immenfe commerce was carried on in that fertile country: hiftorians atteft, that in the middle of the fixteenth century above a thousand foreign fhips frequented its ports annually. But the King, tempted with fo much riches, endeavoured to engrofs all the commerce of his country; by which means he annihilated fucceffively mines, manufactures, and even agriculture. The country is depopulated, and few remain there but beggars. In the island Ceylon, the King is fole proprietor of the land; and the people are fupinely indolent: their huts are mean, without any thing like furniture: their food is fruit that grows fpontaneously; and their covering is a piece of coarse cloth, wrapped round the middle. The settlement of the Dutch East India company at the Cape of Good Hope is profitable to them in their commerce with the Eaft Indies; and it would be much more profitable, if they gave proper encouragement to the tenants and poffeffors of their lands. But thefe poor people are ruled with a rod of iron: what the company wants is extorted from them at fo low a price as fcarce to afford them common neceffaries. Avarice. like many other irregular paffions, obftructs its own gratification: were industry duły encouraged, the product of the ground would be in greater plenty, and goods be afforded voluntarily at a lower price than they are at present obtained by violence. The Peruvians are a fad example of the effects of tyranny; being reduced to a ftate of ftupid infenfibility. No motive to action influences them; neither riches, nor luxury, nor ambition: they are even indifferent about life. The fingle pleasure they feel is, to get drunk, in order to for Book II. get their mifery. The provinces of Moldavia, Walachia, and Beffarabia, fituated between the 43d and 48th de grees of latitude, are defended on three fides by the Niefter, the Black Sea, and the Danube. The climate of that region, and the fertility of its foil, render it not inferior to any other country in Europe. Its paftures, in particular, are excellent, producing admirable horses, with an incredible number of sheep and horned cattle; and its industrial fruits, fuch as corn, wine, oil, honey, and wax, were formerly produced in great plenty. So populous was that region a few centuries ago that the prince of Walachia was able, in that province alone, to raise an army of feventy thoufand men. Yet, notwithstanding all thefe advantages, the wretched policy of the Turkish go. vernment has reduced thefe provinces to be almost a defert. A defpotic government ftifles, in the birth, all the bounties of nature, and renders the finest spots of the globe equally fterile with its barren mountains. When a patriotic king travels about to vifit his dominions, he is received with acclamations of joy. A defpotic prince dares not hope for fuch reception: he is locked up in his feraglio, ignorant of what paffes; and indolently fuffers his people to be pillaged, without even hearing of their dif treffes.. At the fame time, defpotifm, though calculated to elevate the Sovereign above the rules of juftice, and to make him the only free person in his dominions, tends, above all other governments, to render him infecure. He becomes odious by oppreffion; and every hand would be raised against him, but for the restraint of fear. A situation fo ticklish lays him open to every bold spirit, prompted by revenge to feek his ruin, or by ambition to ufurp his throne. In that refpect, Ruffia and Turkey are precifely fimiliar confpiraces against the Sovereign are equally frequent, and equally fuccefsful. The moment an ufurper feizes the palace, all obftructions vanish: all proftrate themselves before the throne, without enquiring about the poffeffor's title. In that manner was the prefent Emprefs of Ruffia established, notwithstanding a very unfavourable circumftance, that of dethroning her own : husband Peter III. No free fpirit regrets fuch events in a defpotic government: the only thing to be regretted is, that they concern the monarch only; not the people, who remain abject flaves as formerly. The prefent Empress, fenfible of her precarious fituation, is intent to humanizę her people, and to moderate the defpotifm. In that view, fhe has published a code of laws fit for a limited monarchy, and expreffing great regard to the lives, liberties, and property of her fubjects But a monarchy, with all the moderation that despo tifm can admit, is inconfiftent with liberty of the prefs. Political pamphlets and even news papers, are no lefs useful for inftructing the King, than for fecuring his subjects. In France, the miniftry are deprived of that means of acquiring knowledge; and are reduced to the neceffity of trufting to infinuating men, who cunningly creep into favour, with a view to their own interest. After the peace in 1763, that miniftry formed a plan for establishing a colony in Guiana; and no fewer than twelve thoufand perfons were landed there all at one time. But fo groffly ignorant were they of the preparations neceffary for planting a colony in the torrid zone, that contagious difeafes, occafioned by unwholesomt food, and want of accommodation, left not a fingle perfon alive. This could not have happened in England: every article of manage. ment would have been canvaffed, and light would have broke in from every quarter. 1 now I have infifted longer upon the deplorable effects of defpotism than perhaps is neceffary; but I was fond of the opportunity to juftify, or rather applaud the fpirit of liberty fo eminent in the inhabitants of Britain. proceed to compare different forms of government, with refpect to various particulars, beginning with patriotism. Every form of government must be good that infpires patriotism; and the best form to invigorate that noble paffion is a commonwealth founded on rotation of power, where it is the study of thofe in office to do good, and to merit approbation from their fellow citizens. In the Swifs Cantons, the falaries of magiftrates and public officers are fcarce fufficient to defray their expences; and |