After having stated, as shortly as I am able, the effects of this
system on our foreign affairs, on the policy of our Government with
regard to our dependencies, and on the interior economy of the
Commonwealth; there remains only, in this part of my design, to say
something of the grand principle which first recommended this system
at Court. The pretence was to prevent the King from being enslaved
by a faction, and made a prisoner in his closet. This scheme might
have been expected to answer at least its own end, and to indemnify
the King, in his personal capacity, for all the confusion into which
it has thrown his Government. But has it in reality answered this
purpose? I am sure, if it had, every affectionate subject would
have one motive for enduring with patience all the evils which
attend it.
In order to come at the truth in this matter, it may not be amiss to
consider it somewhat in detail. I speak here of the King, and not
of the Crown; the interests of which we have already touched.
Independent of that greatness which a King possesses merely by being
a representative of the national dignity, the things in which he may
have an individual interest seem to be these: wealth accumulated;
wealth spent in magnificence, pleasure, or beneficence; personal
respect and attention; and above all, private ease and repose of
mind.
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