Nations  are  not  primarily  rtiled  by  laws  :  less  by  vio-
lence. Whatever  original  energy  may  be  supposed
either  in  force  or  regulation,  the  operation  of  both  is,
in  truth,  merely  instrumental.  Nations  are  governed
by  the  same  methods,  and  on  the  same  principles,  by
which  an  individual  without  authority  is  often  able  to
govern  those  who  are  his  equals  or  his  superiors  ;  by
a  knowledge  of  their  temper,  and  by  a  judicious  man-
agement of  it ;  I  mean,  —  when  public  affairs  are
steadily  and  quietly  conducted  ;  not  wlien  govern-
ment is  nothing  but  a  continued  scuffle  between  the
magistrate  and  the  multitude ;  in  which  sometimes
the  one  and  sometimes  the  other  is  uppermost ;  in
which  they  alternately  yield  and  prevail,  in  a  series
of  contemptible  victories,  and  scandalous  submis-
sions. The  temper  of  the  people  amongst  whom  he
presides  ought  therefore  to  be  the  first  study  of  a
statesman.  And  the  knowledge  of  this  temper  it  is
by  no  means  impossible  for  him  to  attain,  if  he  has
not  an  hiterest  in  being  ignorant  of  what  it  is  his
duty  to  learn.
OP   THE   PRESENT  DISCONTENTS.  437

To  complain  of  the  age  we  live  in,  to  murmur  at
the  present  possessors  of  power,  to  lament  the  past,
to  conceive  extravagant  hopes  of  the  future,  are  the
common  dispositions  of  the  greatest  part  of  mankind  ;
indeed  the  necessary  effects  of  the  ignorance  and  lev-
ity of  the  vulgar.  Such  complaints  and  humors  have
existed  in  all  times ;  yet  as  all  times  have  not  been
alike,  true  political  sagacity  manifests  itself  in  distin-
guishing that  complaint  which  only  characterizes  the
general  infirmity  of  human  nature,  from  those  which
are  symptoms  of  the  particular  distemperature  of  our
own  air  and  season.
