God, I do not. The body of the people is yet sound, the Constitution is
in their hearts, while wicked men are endeavoring to put another into
their heads. But if I see the very same beginnings which have commonly
ended in great calamities, I ought to act as if they might produce the
very same effects. Early and provident fear is the mother of safety;
because in that state of things the mind is firm and collected, and the
judgment unembarrassed. But when the fear and the evil feared come on
together, and press at once upon us, deliberation itself is ruinous,
which saves upon all other occasions; because, when perils are instant,
it delays decision: the man is in a flutter, and in a hurry, and his
judgment is gone,--as the judgment of the deposed King of France and his
ministers was gone, if the latter did not premeditately betray him. He
was just come from his usual amusement of hunting, when the head of the
column of treason and assassination was arrived at his house. Let not
the king, let not the Prince of Wales, be surprised in this manner. Let
not both Houses of Parliament be led in triumph along with him, and have
law dictated to them, by the Constitutional, the Revolution, and the
Unitarian Societies. These insect reptiles, whilst they go on only
caballing and toasting, only fill us with disgust; if they get above
their natural size, and increase the quantity whilst they keep the
quality of their venom, they become objects of the greatest terror. A
spider in his natural size is only a spider, ugly and loathsome; and his
flimsy net is only fit for catching flies. But, good God! suppose a
spider as large as an ox, and that he spread cables about us, all the
wilds of Africa would not produce anything so dreadful:--

Quale portentum neque militaris
Daunia in latis alit esculetis,
Nec Jubæ tellus generat, leonum
Arida nutrix.