=Source.=--_Cowper’s Letters._ Thomas Wright. London: Hodder and
Stoughton. 1904. Vol. iv., pp. 332-335.
_To Lady Hesketh, Dec. 1, 1792._
The French are a vain and childish people, and conduct themselves on
this grand occasion with a levity and extravagance nearly akin to
madness; but it would have been better for Austria and Prussia to
let them alone. All nations have a right to choose their own mode
of government, and the sovereignty of the people is a doctrine
that evinces itself; for whenever the people choose to be masters
they always are so, and none can hinder them. God grant that we may
have no revolution here, but unless we have a reform, we certainly
shall. Depend upon it, my dear, the hour is come when power founded
in patronage and corrupt majorities must govern this land no longer.
Concessions too must be made to dissenters of every denomination. They
have a right to them, a right to all the privileges of Englishmen, and
sooner or later, by fair means or by force, they will have them.