Page:An address to the thinking independent part of the community.djvu/23

( 23 ) monarchy, but whether the present plan of defence be the best calculated for its protections seems very questionable.

There can be no doubt that an inclination for republican forms of government, is becoming very prevalent among a large portion of mankind: And should opinions and events proceed for any length of time in the fame train as at present, it is impossible to foresee what means may be sufficient to save any antient establishment from perishing by a fate which threatens them all in common. But whence is it that the minds of men have received this impression? The glaring abuses which existed without hope of remedy in mod of the European governments, and particularly the profuse and enormous expence at which they were supported, first gave rise to an opinion, that all the valuable ends of government might be obtained by means much less burdensome and oppressive. The American revolution pointed out the mode by which these ideas might be reduced to practice: And when the French revolution took place among a people long accustomed to lead the taste and opinions of the neighbouring nations, it seemed as a glorious light placed in the very centre of the civilized world, to dispel the last remains of Gothic darkness, and reveal to man the true principles of his social nature. The horrors which for a time obscured its brightness scarcely weakened