England could have attained her present pitch under a series of such
governors.

We should, however, be labouring under a very erroneous impression. Run
over the statesmen that have figured in England since the accession of the
present family, and we may doubt whether there be one, with the exception
perhaps of the Duke of Newcastle, who would have been a worthy colleague
of the council of Mr. Perceval, or the early cabinet of Lord Liverpool.
Assuredly the genius of Bolingbroke and the sagacity of Walpole would have
alike recoiled from such men and such measures. And if we take the
individuals who were governing England immediately before the French
Revolution, one need only refer to the speeches of Mr. Pitt, and
especially to those of that profound statesman and most instructed man,
Lord Shelburne, to find that we can boast no remarkable superiority either
in political justice or in political economy. One must attribute this
degeneracy, therefore, to the long war and our insular position, acting
upon men naturally of inferior abilities, and unfortunately, in addition,
of illiterate habits.

In the meantime, notwithstanding all the efforts of the political
Panglosses who, in evening Journals and Quarterly Reviews were continually
proving that this was the best of all possible governments, it was evident
to the ministry itself that the machine must stop. The class of Rigbys
indeed at this period, one eminently favourable to that fungous tribe,
greatly distinguished themselves. They demonstrated in a manner absolutely
convincing, that it was impossible for any person to possess any ability,
knowledge, or virtue, any capacity of reasoning, any ray of fancy or
faculty of imagination, who was not a supporter of the existing
administration. If any one impeached the management of a department, the
public was assured that the accuser had embezzled; if any one complained