Some have risen to them by drudging long in business:some have been made ministers almost in the cradle:and the whole power of the government has been abandoned to others in the dotage of life.There is a monarchy,an absolute monarchy too,I mean that of China,wherein the administration of the government is carried on,under the direction of the prince,ever since the dominion of the Tartars has been established,by several classes of Mandarins,and according to the deliberation and advice of several orders of councils:the admission to which classes and orders depends on the abilities of the candidates,as their rise on them depends on the behavior they hold,and the improvements they make afterwards.Under such a government,it is neither impertinent nor ridiculous,in any of the subjects who are invited by their circumstances,or pushed to it by their talents,to make the history of their own and of other countries a political study,and to fit themselves by this and all other ways for the service of the public.It is not dangerous neither;or an honor,that outweighs the danger,attends it;since private men have a right by the ancient constitution of this government,as well as councils of state,to represent to the prince the abuses of his administration.But still men have not there the same occasion to concern themselves in the affairs of the state,as the nature of a free government gives to the members of it.In our own country,for in our own the forms of a free government at least are hitherto preserved,men are not only designed for the public service by the circumstances of their situation,and their talents,all which may happen in others:but they are designed to it by their birth in many cases,and in all cases they may dedicate themselves to this service,and take,in different degrees some share in it;whether they are called to it by the prince or no.In absolute governments,all public service is to the prince,and he nominates all those that serve the public.In free governments,there is a distinct and a principal service due to the state.Even the king,of such a limited monarchy as ours,is but the first servant of the people.
Among his subjects,some are appointed by the constitution,and others are elected by the people,to carry on the exercise of the legislative power jointly with him,and to control the executive power independently on him.
Thus your lordship is born a member of that order of men,in whom a third part of the supreme Power of the government resides:and your right to the exercise of the power belonging to this order not being yet opened,you are chosen into another body of men,who have different power and a different constitution,but who possess another third part of the supreme legislative authority,for as long a time as the commission or trust delegated to them by the people lasts.Freemen,who are neither horn to the first,nor elected to the last,have a right however to complain,to represent,to petition,and,I add,even to do more in cases of the utmost extremity.For sure there cannot be a greater absurdity,than to affirm,that the people have a remedy in resistance,when their prince attempts to enslave them;but that they have none,when their representatives sell themselves and them.
The sum of what I have been saying is,that,in free governments,the public service is not confined to those whom the prince appoints to different posts in the administration under him;that there the care of the state is the care of multitudes;that many are called to it in a particular manner by their rank,and by other circumstances of their situation;and that even those whom the prince appoints are not only answerable to him,but,like him,and before him,to the nation,for their behavior in their several posts.
It can never be impertinent nor ridiculous therefore in such a country,whatever it might be in the abbot of St.Real's,which was Savoy I think;or in Peru,under the Incas,where,Garcilasso de la Vega says,it was lawful for none but the nobility to study --for men of all degrees to instruct themselves in those affairs wherein they may be actors,or judges of those that act,or controllers of those that judge.On the contrary,it is incumbent on every man to instruct himself,as well as the means and opportunities he has permit,concerning the nature and interests of the government,and those rights and duties that belong to him,or to his superiors,or to his inferiors.This in general;but in particular it is certain that the obligations under which we lie to serve our country increase,in proportion to the ranks we bold,and the other circumstances of birth,fortune,and situation that call us to this service;and,above all,to the talents which God has given us to perform it.
It is in this view,that I shall address to your lordship whatever I have further to say on the study of history.
