Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/11

 an unpardonable offence. From readers of this description, you will soon perceive, I cannot hope for quarter. Nor is it to readers of this description alone, that the intention with which my Cottage Tale is written, will appear erroneous or absurd.

The politician, who measures the interests of his country by her preponderance in the scale of empire, regards all consideration for individual happiness as a weakness; and by the man who thinks riches and happiness synonymous, all that does not directly tend to increase the influx of wealth, is held in contempt. Each of these dictates to the opinions of numbers. In the school of the former, the political value of the various classes in society is judged of by their political influence; and in that of the latter, their importance is appreciated by their power of creating wealth. It is the few by whom these privileges are possessed, that are objects of consideration in the eyes of both. The great mass of the people are, in their estimation, as so many teeth in the wheels of a piece of machinery, of no farther value than as they serve to facilitate its movements. No wonder if, in their eyes, a regard to the moral