urnishes but too just a solution of Irish misgovernment in general.
It is, that excessive severity toward conquered rebels, is by no means
inconsistent with the principles of free government, or even with the
triumph of a democracy. The truth of this fact is extorted from us by
all history, and may be accounted for first, by the circumstance, that
large bodies of men are less affected than individuals, by the feelings
of shame and a sense of responsibility; and, secondly, that conduct the
most selfish and oppressive, the mere suspicion of which would be enough
to brand an individual with everlasting infamy, assumes, when adopted by
popular assemblies, the air of statesmanlike wisdom and patriotic
inflexibility. The main cause of the difference with which the lower
orders in France and England regarded the Revolution in their respective
countries, is to be found in the different nature of the evils which
they were intended to remove. The English Revolution was merely
political--the French was social also; the benefits of the Bill of
Rights, great and inestimable as they were, were such as demanded some
knowledge and reflection to appreciate--they did not come home directly
to the business and bosom of the peasant; it was only in rare and great
emergencies that he could become sensible of the rights they gave, or of
the means of oppression they took away: while the time-honoured
dwellings of the Cavendishes and Russells were menaced and assailed,
nothing but the most senseless tyranny could render the cottage
insecure; but the abolition of the seignorial rights in France, free
communication between her provinces, equal taxation, impartial
justice--these were blessings which it required no economist to
illustrate, and no philosopher to explain. Every labourer in France,
whose sweat had flowed for the benefit of others, whose goods had been
seized by the exactors of the Taille and the Gabelle,[1] the fruits of
whose soil had been wasted because he was not allowed to sell them at
the neighbouring market, whose domestic happiness had been polluted, or
whose self-respect had been lowered by injuries and insults, all
retribution for which was hopeless, might well be expected to value
these advantages more than life itself. But when the principles of the
Revolution were triumphant, and the House of Brunswick finally seated on
the throne of this country, it remains to be seen what were, during the
eighteenth century, the fruits of