Page:Scott - Tales of my Landlord - 3rd series, vol. 1 - 1819.djvu/52

42 chanced to prevail, the delegated powers of sovereignty were alternately swayed. The evils attending upon this system of government, resembled those which afflict the tenants of an Irish estate owned by an absentee. There was no supreme power, claiming and possessing a general interest with the community at large, to whom the oppressed might appeal from subordinate tyranny, either for justice or for mercy. Let a monarch be as indolent, as selfish, as much disposed to arbitrary power as he will, still, in a free country, his own interests are so clearly connected with those of the public at large; and the evil consequences to his own authority are so obvious and imminent when a different course is pursued, that common policy, as well as common feeling, point to the equal distribution of justice, and to the establishment of the throne in righteousness. Thus, even sovereigns, remarkable for usurpation and tyranny, have been found rigorous in the administration of