happy order of things to the nations whose interests were the subjects of their thoughts, WISDOM attempted to correct the errors and restrain the excesses of benevolent sentiments, to prevent the prevalence of partial theories, to make not metaphysics, but experience the guide to judgment; and to teach men, from the whole circumstances of the case, what judgment to form.

Burke, as the friend of mankind, had reprobated the old government of France: although he thought it in the reign of Louis the Sixteenth softened in its exercise by the progress of civilization, and the personal character of the monarch, still he deemed the welfare of the people to rest on an unstable basis, and to require very considerable reform before it could be a good government. But esteeming arbitrary power a great evil, he knew that unwise efforts to shake it off might produce greater calamities. Respecting the spirit of liberty, as, when well directed and regulated, a means of human happiness, his respect for it in every indi

vidual case was proportionate to its probable tendency to produce that end, where he had not actual experience to ascertain its effects. From principle and habit, guided by EXPERIENCE in his judgments and conduct, he considered liberty as a matter of moral enjoyment, and not of metaphysical disquisition. It was not merely the possession of it that constituted it a blessing, but the possession of it in such a degree, and with such regulations, as could make it subsidiary to virtue and happiness, without being able to produce vice and misery. Its operation as a blessing or a curse depended, he thought, partly on its intrinsic nature, partly on the character of its subjects, and partly on more extrinsic causes. He uniformly controverted those doctrines of the Rights of Man, which would allow the same degree of liberty to all persons and in all circumstances. Like Livy, he did not think a horde of barbarians equally fitted for the contests of freedom, as men in a more advanced state of knowledge and civilization. Neither did he conceive that every one state, though refined, was

equally fit for the beneficial exercise of liberty, as every other state not more refined. The controul, he thought, must be strong in the direct ratio of passion, as well as the inverse of knowledge and reason. I DO NOT (he said) REJOICE TO HEAR THAT MEN MAY

DO WHAT THEY PLEASE, UNLESS I KNOW WHAT IT PLEASES THEM TO DO. And in another place, SOCIETY CANNOT EXIST UN

LESS A CONTROULING POWER UPON WILL AND APPETITE BE PLACED SOMEWHERE; AND THE LESS OF IT THERE IS WITHIN, THE MORE THERE MUST BE WITHOUT. IT IS ORDAINED IN THE ETERNAL CONSTITUTION OF THINGS, THAT MEN OF INTEMPerate minDS CANNOT THEIR PASSIONS FORGE THEIR

BE FREE.
FETTERS.

Mr. Burke having long viewed with anxiety the new philosophy become fashionable in France, bestowed the most accurate attention on the designs of its votaries as they gradually unfolded themselves. In 1787 the noted Mr. Thomas Paine had been intro

duced to him by a letter from Mr, Henry (

Hiring Laurens of so. Cartina

He

Lawrence, and was treated by Burke with the hospitality which he thought due to an American stranger so recommended. was frequently a visitor at Beaconsfield, and then informed his host that he had entirely given up politics, and was devoting his attention to mechanical enquiries. He had a model of an iron bridge, which he wished to be seen by eminent characters of Mr. Burke's acquaintance. Burke introduced him to Mr. Windham, Lord Fitzwilliam, the Duke of Bedford, and, during a summer's excur sion to Yorkshire, he went with him to Rotheram's original manufactory at Sheffield. Not long after he spent the day with him at Lord Fitzwilliam's.

At this time Paine continued to abstain from political discussions. The following winter he went over to France, and became. deeply connected with the anti-monarchical partisans at Paris. Returning in 1788 to England, his discourse took a new turn. Calling frequently on Burke, he endeavoured to impress on him the views which he himself

had recently formed concerning French affairs. People in general, he asserted, did not know the change speedily about to take place in that country. The French, he averred, were determined to surpass every nation in liberty, and to establish a pure democracy. Mr. Burke saw that this was not an opinion resulting from Paine's penetration into principles and their probable effects, but from his knowledge of actually declared intentions. He was therefore the more certain that attempts would be made -to carry these designs into effect. Paine prophesied that the same species of liberty would be extended to other countries; and, led away by his wishes, fancied all Europe would unite in overturning monarchy. Whether of himself, or from the suggestion of his French friends, Paine expressed his wishes that the British Opposition should coincide in the republican views, and use par·liamentary reform as the pretext. Burke answered to him, Do you mean to propose that I, who have all my life fought for the

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