Thus he
begins:
'The time is now come, in which every Englishman expects to be informed
of the national affairs; and in which he has a right to have that
expectation gratified. For, whatever may be urged by Ministers, or those
whom vanity or interest make the followers of ministers, concerning the
necessity of confidence in our governours, and the presumption of prying
with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident that this
reverence can be claimed only by counsels yet unexecuted, and projects
suspended in deliberation. But when a design has ended in miscarriage or
success, when every eye and every ear is witness to general discontent,
or general satisfaction, it is then a proper time to disentangle
confusion and illustrate obscurity; to shew by what causes every event
was produced, and in what effects it is likely to terminate; to lay down
with distinct particularity what rumour always huddles in general
exclamation, or perplexes by indigested[909] narratives; to shew whence
happiness or calamity is derived, and whence it may be expected; and
honestly to lay before the people what inquiry can gather of the past,
and conjecture can estimate of the future[910]'.
[Page 311: Dr. Lucas. AEtat 47.]
Here we have it assumed as an incontrovertible principle, that in this
country the people are the superintendants of the conduct and measures
of those by whom government is administered; of the beneficial effect of
which the present reign afforded an illustrious example, when addresses
from all parts of the kingdom controuled an audacious attempt to
introduce a new power subversive of the crown.
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