untry; a depravity which proceeds unchecked
because of the total want of discipline, and for which there is no other
corrective than what may be supplied by fanaticism, which is itself an
evil.
If there be nothing exaggerated in this representation, you must
acknowledge that though the human race, considered upon the great scale,
should be proceeding toward the perfectibility for which it may be
designed, the present aspects in these kingdoms are nevertheless rather
for evil than for good. Sum you up now upon the hopeful side.
_Montesinos_.--First, then. I rest in a humble but firm reliance upon
that Providence which sometimes in its mercy educes from the errors of
men a happier issue than could ever have been attained by their
wisdom;--that Providence which has delivered this nation from so many and
such imminent dangers heretofore.
Looking, then, to human causes, there is hope to be derived from the
humanising effects of Literature, which has now first begun to act upon
all ranks. Good principles are indeed used as the stalking-horse under
cover of which pernicious designs may be advanced; but the better seeds
are thus disseminated and fructify after the ill design has failed.
The cruelties of the old criminal law have been abrogated. Debtors are
no longer indiscriminately punished by indefinite imprisonment. The
iniquity of the slave trade has been acknowledged, and put an end to, so
far as the power of this country extends; and although slavery is still
tolerated, and must be so for awhile, measures have been taken for
alleviating it while it continues, and preparing the way for its gradual
and safe removal. These are good works of the government. And when I
look upon the conduct of that government in all its foreign relations,
though there may be some things to disapprove, and some sins of omission
to regret, it has been, on the whole, so disinterested, so magnanimous,
so just, that this reflection gives me a reasonable and a religious
ground of hope. And the reliance is strengthened when I call to mind
that missionaries from Great Britain are at this hour employed in
spreading the glad tidings of the Gospel far and wide among heathen
nations.
Descending from these wider views to the details of society, there, too,
I perceive ground, if not for confidence, at least for hope. There is a
general desire throughout the higher ranks for bettering the condition of
the poor, a subject to which the gover
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