Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/108

 natural Inclination to corrupt Practices: Yet he rather chose to rule by These, than to resign his Power. Nay, perhaps he thought this corrupt System the only one, which, under the Circumstances of Those Times, could support that illustrious Family, which was brought in, as the happy Support of Liberty. Farther, perhaps, he judged This the only possible Expedient for prolonging a Peace, which He thought necessary, till Time should wear out the false Principles, on which the expelled Family still held their Influence in the Minds of the People.—From some or all of these Motives, He not only gave Way to Corruption, but encouraged it. To this End, Religion was discountenanced: And Christian Principle, which would have been the firmest Friend of Liberty, was discarded, as the Enemy of Corruption.

In the mean Time, Trade, Wealth, and Luxury increased: These, in their Extreme, having an unalterable Tendency