Page:A Few Plain Observations Upon the End and Means of Political Reform.djvu/17

 in which the Opus Magnum should be conceived and carried forward to it's completion? Are these the true principles of that political alchymy which is to purify and exalt the spirit of constitutional liberty from the dross of self-interest and the dregs of corruption?

Vain and useless were the study and toil which a dull race of philosophers, legislators, and statesmen have in less enlightened times conceived it necessary to bestow upon this interesting, this awful speculation: Such qualifications are no longer requisite to these gifted adepts, who, like the Antient Pythagoreans, are prompt to swear by the opinions of their leader—the mob-worshipped alderman or ruling common-councilman of the day.

It was asserted by one gentleman