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    force of the whole confederacy , its Authority would be paramount . No question could arise , in which kings and states would have long to sevk for the rigid of the case .

    The reg-itnm ^ or rec-tum ^ or right i would be supplied by the central chamber : just claims Would be supported : the refractory would be put down : the

    strong would not be permitted to oppress the weak , nor the- weak to combine against the strong . Jt is manifest , that this happy state of things must be ascribed solely to the power of the central chamber , as to that every thing subordinate would be accountable .

    £ ) . Now as there exists no such provision as this centrai chamber , sovereigns and independent states are amenable to no human tribunal for their conduct . If there be such a thing as the law of natwjiSy it ie useless and lifeless .

    The monarch * who has at his command the most numerous and best disciplined army , or the most powerful fleet , laughs at it ; nor , in so doing , is he guilty of

    contempt of any court . ] f as is almost ahvavs the case , he can disregard the odium and reclamations excited , he is at liberty to commit the most atrocious

    outrages with impunity . Jn this calamitous state of affairs , where are the rights of the oppressed , and where the wraggs of the oppressor ? —both are swallowed np by overwhelming and irresistible power .

    10 . But it may happen , that opposing means may be miscalculated- The domestic tyrant may not be aware o £ the spirit and resources of the subjects whom he purposes to enslave : the foreign invader may be ignorant of the people he means to subdue . In

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    either case , defeat and disgrace , are the portion of the aggressor . . The right , together , with the poro-; cr , is transferred to the victori - ous party , which , becoming in itsturn above all human controul is liable to no human response biiity . Hence an obvious

    inference may be drawn , that the oh , ligation to submission , or the rHjt or" resistance , is to be collected from comparing their respective consequences . In some cases of this kind , great wisdom , and in others wry little , is requisite to form a just comparison ^ but , ia all cases , such a comparison lathe onl y foundation x > f the

    practical rule . " There is no point , " says Mr . Fox , [ Hist , of James \\ . \ ic in human concerns , wherein the dictates of virtue and of worldl y prudence , are so identified , as inthis great question of resistance by fnrce to established government . ' Here , perhaps , the reader will exclaim ,

    11 . Is this system to be endured ?—Is it for a moment to be tolerated , that all regard to justice and equal rights shall be excluded from political transactions and decisions ? I answer , that this could not happen , unless those possessed of power were destitute of a sense of moral obligation and of accountableness to God : but such , in fact , has hi « therto been , and such , in all probability , for ages to come , will be the state uf the world ;

    ** Nee magls id nunc cst , xicc erito mox , quam fuit ante . " From this melancholy and humiliating spectacle , from the basefcss , fluctuating , and immoral policy of man , from the res lioinance perituraque wgna ihe Christian , philosopher . withdraws

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    588 Of Right considered as founded or * Powev *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1808, page 588, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2398/page/12/