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as a buriesqfce . A matt fe less dignified than a pampered horse , and lute Bte less valued . Public and private virtue , the author contends , are found chiefly in the middle ranks . Ok thi& subject , he makes the following spirited remarks :
<< « Who is this Luther ? said Margaret , governess of the- Netherlands . The . courtiers around her repHed , ' He is an ILLITERATE MONK , / * Ifi he SO ? ' Said She < I am glad to hear it . Then do you * gentlemen , who are not illiterate , who
are both learned and numerous , do you , I charge you , write against this illiterate monk . That is all yon have to do . The business is easy ; for the world will surely pay more regard to a great many scholars ' , and great men , a » you are , than ? to one poor iuuitera , t « monk /
" Many did write against him , awl poured forth the virulence of a malice unchecked by truth , and encouraged by crowned heads . But Luther prevailed ; and we Englishmen have reason to celebrate the victory of truth and virtue over corrupt influence and'cruel persecution .
" The greatest scholars , poets , orators , philosophers , warriors , statesmen , inventors and improvers of the arts , arose from the lowest of the people . If we had waited till courtiers had invented the art of printing , clock-making , navigation , and a thousand others , we should probably have continued in darkness to this hour . They had something else to do , than to add to the comforts and conve *
mencies of ordinary life . They had to worship an idol , with the incense of flattery , who was often much more stupid than themselves , and who sometimes had no more care or knowledge of the people under him , or their wants , than he had of arts or literature .
" The education of the middle classes is infinitely better than the education of those who are called great people . Their time is less consumed by that vanity and dissipation which enfeebles the mind , while it precludes opp 9 rtunity for reading and reflection . They usually have a regard to character * which contributes
much to the preservation of virtue . Their honour and integrity are valued by them , as pearls of great priced These are their stars , and these their coronets . They are for the most part attached to their religion . Thtty are temperate , frugal and industrious ! In otoe particular , and that one adds a value above all that Courts
ca glvej | ^ ey g tly exceL the or eat , and that particular is sincerity . They are in earnest in their words and deeds . 1 hey have little occasion for simulation a nd dissimulation . Courtiers are too
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often * varnished * factitious persons , wham Gob and nattrre never made ; while the people pieserre the image unefraced which the Supreme Being impressed when he created man . "—» pp , 40 , 41 , War is thus intf ^ jnaflrtly described as murder :
" Language has found ao name suflU ciently expressive of the diabolical vil lainy of wretches in bigh life , who * without personal provocation ^ in the mere wantonness or power , and for the sake of increasing whai ; they already possess in too great abundance , rush into murder I Murder of the Innocent ! Murder
of myriads ! Murder of the stranger Neither knowing nor caring hotr maity of their fellow-creatures , with ^ ights to life and happiness equal to their own , are urged by poverty to shed their last drop of blood in a foreign land , far from th ^ endearments of kindred , to gratify the pride of a few at' home , whose despotic
spirit insults the wretchedness it first created . There is no greater proof of human folly aucF weakness , than that a whole people should suffer a few worthless grandees , who evidently despise and hate them , to make the world one vast slaugh- * ter-house ,. that the grandees may have > the more room to take their insolent
pastime in unmolested state . A man , a reasonable being , a Christian , plunging the bayonet , without passion , into the bowels of a man for hire ! The poor creatures wha actually do this ( in despo * tie countries ) are but mechanical instruments of knaves in power . Their poverty %
and not their will , consents . May heaven ' s sweet mercy , then , wash off the blood-stains from their hands , and reserve * its wrath for those whose thirst of power * which they never had a wish to use for the good of man , leads them to wacte to > it through seas of human gore 1
" Let any dispassionate man , uninfluenced by placemen , pensioners , contract tors and expectants of court favour impartially consider * from the earliest ages to the present , the history of war .
He must observe that scarcely any wars have been Just and necessary ; though they almost all have claimed these epU thets , with a persevering formality which would excite ridicule , if ridicule were not lost in abhorrence . He will find that
folly , extreme folly , wearing a crown instead of a fool ' s cap , has , ui many countries , from the mere wantonness o £ mischief , cried , * Havoc , and let slip the dogs of war / He will find that in most countries ( our- own , of course , always excepted ) war has been eagerly sought , from policy > to divert the people ' s atten-r tion from domestic abuse , to aggrandize
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Review . ** - The Spirit ef Despotism . \ 67
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 167, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/39/
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