From the state of
Parties it now would draw public thought to the state of the
People whom those parties for two centuries have governed.
The comprehension and the cure of this greater theme depend
upon the same agencies as the first: it is the past alone that
can explain the present, and it is youth that alone can mould
the remedial future. The written history of our country for
the last ten reigns has been a mere phantasma; giving to the
origin and consequence of public transactions a character and
colour in every respect dissimilar with their natural form and
hue. In this mighty mystery all thoughts and things have
assumed an aspect and title contrary to their real quality and
style: Oligarchy has been called Liberty; an exclusive
Priesthood has been christened a National Church; Sovereignty
has been the title of something that has had no dominion,
while absolute power has been wielded by those who profess
themselves the servants of the People. In the selfish strife
of factions two great existences have been blotted out of the
history of England--the Monarch and the Multitude; as the
power of the Crown has diminished, the privileges of the
People have disappeared; till at length the sceptre has become
a pageant, and its subject has degenerated again into a serf.
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