IF to any people it be the avowed object of policy, in all its internal refinements, to secure the person and the property of the subject, without any regard to his political character, the consti∣tution indeed may be free, but its members may likewise become unworthy of the freedom they possess, and unfit to preserve it. The effects of such a constitution may be to immerse all orders of men in their separate pursuits of pleasure, which they may now enjoy with little disturbance; or of gain, which they may preserve without any atten∣tion to the commonwealth.IF this be the end of political struggles, the design, when executed, in securing to the indivi∣dual his estate, and the means of subsistence, may put an end to the exercise of those very virtues that were required in conducting its execution. A man, who, in concert with his fellow-subjects, contends with usurpation in defence of his estate or his person, may find an exertion of great ge∣nerosity, and of a vigorous spirit; but he who, under political establishments, supposed to be fully confirmed, betakes him, because he is safe, to the mere enjoyment of fortune, has in fact turned to a source of corruption the very advan∣tages which the virtues of the other procured. Individuals, in certain ages, derive their protection chiefly from the strength of the party to which they adhere; but in times of corruption, they flat∣ter themselves, that they may continue to derive from the public that safety which, in former ages, they must have owed to their own vigilance and spirit, to the warm attachment of their friends, and to the exercise of every talent which could 0