To the Earl of ----.
Silleri, April 20.
'Tis indeed, my Lord, an advantage for which we cannot be too
thankful to the Supreme Being, to be born in a country, whose religion
and laws are such, as would have been the objects of our wishes, had we
been born in any other.
Our religion, I would be understood to mean Christianity in general,
carries internal conviction by the excellency of its moral precepts,
and its tendency to make mankind happy; and the peculiar mode of it
established in England breathes beyond all others the mild spirit of
the Gospel, and that charity which embraces all mankind as brothers.
It is equally free from enthusiasm and superstition; its outward
form is decent and respectful, without affected ostentation; and what
shews its excellence above all others is, that every other church
allows it to be the best, except itself: and it is an established rule,
that he has an undoubted right to the first rank of merit, to whom
every man allows the second.
As to our government, it would be impertinent to praise it; all
mankind allow it to be the master-piece of human wisdom.
It has the advantage of every other form, with as little of their
inconveniences as the imperfection attendant on all human inventions
will admit: it has the monarchic quickness of execution and stability,
the aristocratic diffusive strength and wisdom of counsel, the
democratic freedom and equal distribution of property.
When I mention equal distribution of property, I would not be
understood to mean such an equality as never existed, nor can exist but
in idea; but that general, that comparative equality, which leaves to
every man the absolute and safe possession of the fruits of his labors;
which softens offensive distinctions, and curbs pride, by leaving
every order of men in some degree dependent on the other; and admits
of those gentle and almost imperceptible gradations, which the poet so
well calls,
"Th' according music of a well-mix'd state."
The prince is here a centre of union; an advantage, the want of
which makes a democracy, which is so beautiful in theory, the very
worst of all possible governments, except absolute monarchy, in
practice.
I am called upon, my Lord, to go to the citadel, to see the going
away of the ice; an object so new to me, that I cannot resist the
curiosity I have to see it, though my going thither is attended with
infinite difficulty.
Bell insists on accompanying me: I am afraid for her, but she will
not be refused.
At our return, I will have the honor of writing again to your
Lordship, by the gentleman who carries this to New York.
I have the honor to be, my Lord,
Your Lordship's, &c.
Wm. Fermor.