subject, I shall confine myself to the benefits arising, in a national point of view, from the cultivation of that virtue, which is equally enforced both by natural and revealed religion. To expa

tiate on the rewards which the latter holds out in a future state, would be inconsistent with my plan, and I shall therefore leave it to the divine, whose peculiar province it is, and who must be better qualified to treat the subject in a proper manner. Neither shall I here attempt to shew the advantages arising to individuals, from a strict adherence to the dictates of virtue, although it must follow, that if such conduct contribute to individual happiness, it cannot fail to promote the aggregate happiness of the community.

Under a constitution like the British, the professed patriot, if devoid of virtue, is a dangerous character. The inferior orders of society are naturally inclined to envy the situation of their superiors; and hence every assertion, that the former are made the dupes or prey of the latter, is swallowed with avidity, and believed on the slightest grounds. The passions of the multitude are generally headstrong, and when excited in favour of any person whom they are led to consider as their advocate, sober appeals to their judgment are ineffectual, in proportion to their want of real information. Depravity of heart

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will often lead a designing man to assume the mask of patriotism, in order to obtain that consequence in the state, and those honours and emoluments, from which his evil passions, without this disguise, would have effectually excluded him. Ambition, envy, or avarice, will prompt him to revile the characters of those in power, from a hope of supplanting them; while to those who cannot penetrate into his motives, his conduct may appear to originate in a zeal for the public service. The want of sound principles will leave him at liberty to prosecute his object, without regarding the means by which it is attained; and like another Catiline, he will hazard the welfare of the community rather than suffer his vicious propensities to remain ungratified, But if the practice of virtue were more generally prevalent, we should not so frequently see the garb of patriotism assumed for the sake of procuring personal advantages. We should find fewer imitators of the example of a late popular character in this nation,* whose unqualified opposition to the measures of government is known to have originated in his being refused an appointment to a certain embassy. I do not mean to infer, from these remarks, that every professed patriot

*John Wilkes, Esq.

is actuated by similar motives, nor to dispute the good effects which in some instances were produced by the exertions of the individual above alluded to; but I think it may fairly be concluded, that if all classes were more generally virtuous, there would be less reason for censuring the conduct of men in power; and it would also cause the remonstrances of those who oppose their measures from principle, to be attended with greater effect.

The want of that information, which I have before adverted to, as rendering the multitude, in a popular government, more liable to be made the dupes of designing demagogues, would, in a great degree, be remedied by the prevalence of virtuous habits. Vice has a natural tendency to debase and enervate the mind, by the preference which it instils for sensual gratifications, above those mental inquiries and pursuits which tend to advance the empire of reason and knowledge. The man who is habitually given to drunkenness, idleness, lasciviousness, dishonesty, &c. will feel little inclination to cultivate his rational faculties; since this would only quicken those perceptions of right and wrong, which such characters are generally solicitous to stifle. Besides, his habitual bias will lead him to devote every portion of time which can be spared from his

ordinary avocations, to the gratification of his sensual appetites, and thus deprive him of the opportunities of cultivating his understanding and enlightening his judgment.

The same regard to virtue, however, is necessary in the higher as in the lower ranks of society. Indeed, in the light under which I am now considering the subject, the former are under stronger obligations to it, if possible, than the latter. If national happiness be actually dependent upon the prevalence of national virtue, those who hold a larger stake in the public prosperity ought to feel greater solicitude for the cultivation of those principles by which alone that prosperity can be perpetuated. The force of example is too obvious to need insisting upon. If those persons who, from their situation and opportunities, possess every advantage in point of information respecting the obligations to a life of virtue, are notwithstanding found to act in such a manner as if there were no essential difference between virtue and vice, it cannot be wondered at, should the multitude shelter their own wicked propensities under the sanction of such illustrious names. If those in whose province it more peculiarly lies to legislate for the community, should enact regulations for the punishment of actions in others, which they themselves apparently con

sider as venial, it must be expected that their decisions will be disregarded, and their functions exposed to contempt. Should every device which depravity can invent be adopted by the great, in order to carry their purposes into effect in the upper walks of life, they need not be surprised to find their dependents and inferiors resorting to the same means in their humbler situations. In fact, that corruption which originates in the higher departments of society, and is propagated downwards among the lower classes, is of all others the most pernicious in its consequences. It is like poisoning the fountain, by which all the streams are insensibly contaminated.

In regard to national strength, it may also be reasonably concluded, that the efforts of a people inured to habits of temperance, industry, and every active virtue, would be much more efficacious in repelling the attacks of an enemy, than those of an effeminate race, immersed in luxury, and degraded by gross vices. It has indeed been maintained, that among the latter alone can the elements of a military force be collected. There is no reason to apprehend any deficiency in the numbers of this class; but the history both of ancient and modern times will afford many instances in which the exertions of a community,