On the Gradual Progress of Nations from Democratical States to Despotic Empires
Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae!--VIRGIL.
Oh fatal day! when to the Atlantic shore, European despots sent the doctrine o'er, That man's vast race was born to lick the dust; Feed on the winds, or toil through life accurst; Poor and despised, that rulers might be great And swell to monarchs, to devour the state.
Whence came these ills, or from what causes grew This vortex vast, that only spares the few, Despotic sway, where every plague combined, Distracts, degrades, and swallows up mankind; Takes from the intellectual sun its light, And shrouds the world in universal night?
Accuse not nature for the dreary scene, That glooms her stage or hides her heaven serene, She, equal still in all her varied ways, An equal blessing to the world displays. The suns that now on northern climates glow, Will soon retire to melt Antarctic snow, The seas she robb'd to form her clouds and rain, Return in rivers to that source again; But man, wrong'd man, borne down, deceived and vex'd, Groans on through life, bewilder'd and perplex'd; No suns on him but suns of misery shine, Now march'd to war, now grovelling in the mine. Chain'd, fetter'd, prostrate, sent from earth a slave, To seek rewards in worlds beyond the grave.
If in her general system, just to all, We nature an impartial parent call, Why did she not on man's whole race bestow, Those fine sensations angels only know; Who, sway'd by reason, with superior mind In nature's state all nature's blessings find, Which shed through all, does all their race pervade, In streams not niggard by a despot made?
Leave this a secret in great nature's breast, Confess that all her works tend to the best, Or own that man's neglected culture here Breeds all the mischiefs that we feel or fear. In all, except the skill to rule her race, Man, wise and skilful, gives each part its place: Each nice machine he plans, to reason true, Adapting all things to the end in view, But taught in this, the art himself to rule His sense is folly, and himself a fool.
Where social strength resides, there rests, 'tis plain, The power, mankind to govern and restrain: This strength is not but in the social plan Controling all, the common good of man, That power concentred by the general voice, In honest men, an honest people's choice, With frequent change, to keep the patriot pure, And from vain views of power the heart secure: Here lies the secret, hid from Rome or Greece, That holds a state in awe, yet holds in peace.