When a wicked man in power has a mind to glut his appetite in any
respect, innocence or even merit is no protection against him. The
cries of justice and the voice of reason, are of no effect upon a
conscience hardened in iniquity, and a mind versed in a long practice
of wrong and robbery. Remonstrances, however reasonably urged, or
movingly couched, have no more influence upon the hearts of such,
than the gentle evening breeze has upon the oak, when it whispers
among its branches; or the rising surges upon the deaf rock, when they
dash and break upon its sides. Power should never be trusted in the
hands of an impious selfish man, and one that has more regard to the
gratification of his own insatiable desires, than to public peace and
justice; but as a wicked son may succeed to the station of a virtuous
and patriotic father, care should be taken to guard against a surprise,
by a vigilant watchfulness of the encroaching nature of power, even
when in benevolent hands, that those checks may not be undermined which
counteract its abuse in bad ones. Had the poor Cock exerted his usual
vigilance, it would have served him much more effectually than either
his innocence or his eloquence.
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