currence at least, of even such men as Russel, Sydney, and Hollis, in order to accomplish a great political purpose, which, unhappily, was not to be effected by more open and honorable means. Men of virtue and integrity, who hold the noiseless tenor of their way through the cool sequestered veil of private life, will be incited by the purest motives to feel and express a far greater degree of indignation at these irregular practices, than the nature of the facts, weighed with their attendant circumstances in the impartial scale of reason, will justify. The sublime theories of visionary speculatists but too often ill accord with the humbler lessons of practical wisdom. Fiat justitia ruat cœlum, is with such men a fundamental maxim of political morality. They consider not that virtue is itself founded upon utility, or, in other words, its tendency to promote the general good. The end is not to be ultimately sacrificed to the means; and when the public safety is the end in view, an object of such transcendent importance will certainly justify the adoption of such means as are really and indispensably necessary to its attainment. There exists not any principle of human action, however just or important, nor, on the other hand, is it possible to imagine any, even the most necessary deviation from such principle, which may not be perverted and abused in the application. But the rule and the exception both rest upon the same basis, and aim at the accomplishment of the same object, the good of mankind. The politician versed in the great volumes of human nature and human life, and who is solicitous to render real service to his country and to the world, will and must suffer his conduct to be guided and influenced by circumstances; regarding with a watchful and steady eye the ever-varying combinations of events. "Civil knowledge," says lord Bacon," is conversant about a subject which above all others is most immersed in matter, and hardliest reduced to axioms." Had the nation fallen again under the yoke of popery and arbitrary power, in consequence of those refinements of delicacy, or scruples of conscience, by which, now the danger is past, many are ready to affirm that the patriots of the last century ought to have been actuated, Russel and Sydney, Lyttelton and Hollis, might have a just claim to regard and esteem, as honest and well-meaning men but posterity would have had little reason to applaud their sagacity as statesmen, or to venerate their memory as enlightened patriots.* * "Lord Russel presses that it may be made known to the party," says M. Barillon, in his dispatches to Louis XIV. " that your Majesty has no connexion with the king of England to oppress them; but that you will not suffer him, under the pretence of an imaginary war, to find means to bring them into Nation. ENGLAND, after the conclusion of the peace State of the of Nimeguen, remained in a state of extreme dissatisfaction and uneasiness. The honor as well as the interest of the nation was thought to be sacrificed. It was evident that France had obtained much more advantageous terms than she was entitled to expect. The king was universally acknowledged to be the arbiter of the peace; and he had justly incurred the imputation of having been bribed to betray the interests of the confederates. Of Charles's predilection for popery, also, doubts could no longer be entertained and though the king's natural good sense, as well as his want of political firmness, had prevented him, and would probably continue to prevent him, from urging matters to any desperate extremity himself, the attention of people began now to be fixed on his immediate successor, whose subjection." And again, "Lord Russel and lord Hollis were pleased, that the king of France is convinced it is not his interest to make the king of England absolute master in his kingdom.” Algernon Sydney was neither at this time in parliament, or held any office under government: and the probability, nay, the historic certainty, is, that in his present state of embarrassment and indigence, he was induced to accept, though certainly with no dishonorable design, of considerable pecuniary assistance from Barillon. That this celebrated patriot was a man of lofty and heroic virtue, there exist incontestable proofs; but to ascribe to him, or to any one, an ideal perfection not to be found in human nature, is to convert the pages of history into a species of sentimental romance. Popish Bigoted attachment to the Romish religion became every day more apparent, whose temper was known to be extremely violent, whose capacity was proportionably narrow, and whose obstinacy was systematic and invincible. At this critical juncture an incident happened, in itself important, but much more so in its consequences, attended by very extraordinary circumstances, some of them of a very dark and mysterious nature, and which time has not enabled the most sagacious historians completely to elucidate. In the month of August 1678, the king walking, as his custom was, in the Mall, was addressed by a stranger, who informed him that a plot was concerted against his life. Upon being referred to lord Danby for examination, he introduced to that minister various other persons, amongst whom was the famous Titus Oates, who all agreed in the reality of the plot, not only to murder the king, but to extirpate the protestant religion after which they pretended the crown was to be offered to the duke of York, who was to receive it as a gift from the pope. To this evidence was appended a prodigious variety of incoherent and incredible circumstances. When the witnesses were farther examined before the privy council, several persons of very high rank were accused; and Coleman, secretary to the duke of York, was expressly affirmed to be in the whole secret of the conspiracy. When the papers of Coleman, however, were seized, nothing more appeared than a fiery and intemperate zeal for the restoration of the catholic religion and the extirpation of heresy, and some sanguine expressions of hope that a favorable opportunity would shortly present itself for the accomplishment of these glorious purposes. This certainly was far from amounting to the discovery of a plot-and men were at a loss what to think of the testimony of these informers, who were persons of extreme profligacy of character, when the murder of sir Edmundbury Godfrey, a popular magistrate by whom the depositions had been taken, threw the whole nation into a paroxysm of rage and consternation. He was found at a considerable distance from his own habitation, with evident marks of violence about his person, and his own sword thrust through his body. It was immediately concluded that he was assassinated by the papists, and the reality of the plot was no longer doubted. During the height of this political ferment, the parliament assembled, and almost instantly passed a vote, "That a damnable and hellish popish plot was actually carrying on for assassinating the king, subverting the government, and rooting out the protestant religion:" and the lords Powis, Arundel, Stafford, Petre, and Bellasis, were, upon the evidence of Oates, &c. committed |