Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/165

 This Union, at first View, seems of such a Nature as could hardly need to be inforced: Yet it is frequently retarded by several Circumstances.

Among the Great, this rational Union is often counteracted by the Ties of false Honour; a dangerous Principle, which we have already noted, as being productive of Party-Rage and Faction. This Principle, even in honest Minds, will sometimes prevail over the Dictates of Religion and private Virtue. On this false Foundation, political Connexions are often maintained, in Defiance of a just Sense of public Utility: While the unhappy Man who acts on this mistaken Motive, is inwardly rent by two contrary and contending Powers. Severe Moralists may perhaps discard such a Character from the List of the Honest: But it should seem, that he is rather an Object of Clemency than Indignation. Remove but the unhappy Prejudice from his Breast;