does not act in conjunction with conscience; and that the delicacy of superior minds is as much above every kind of trick and jockeyship, as above the meanest acts of peculation. CUSTOM. The excuse, however, for all the practices to which I have alluded, ought not to pass without notice. It is not, indeed, very satisfactory, but it is the best which can be furnishedWhat has been practised long, and practised by many, loses in time its original deformity; and we are gravely told that, whatever musty moralists may say, and however surprised persons who know not the world may be, what every one does must be right; and, therefore, "all is fair" where a beloved object is to be attained, and nothing is too mean to be practised in order to defeat him who in search of the same object depends only on candid measures, and is not versed in tricks and jockeyship. Such an excuse, as I have hinted, may be thought unsatisfactory; but I have looked over the records of many elections, and I have found no other. There is one position, however, in it, which must not be taken for granted: it is not true that "what every one does must be right," and it is not true that every one adopts the principle here censured. But it certainly is too true that many are led to relax the principles of honour, while they cannot deny that the obligation is perpetual. By what means they are induced to do so, they have not told us. The nature of ambition will in part account for such a phenomenon as a man voluntarily disgracing the character he professes to defend with his life; and the influence of example may perhaps account for the rest. I shall conclude the subject with a story which is related of certain school-boys. "A proposal was made to rob a cherryorchard, which was instantly agreed to by many of the boys: others (amongst whom, says the relater of the story, I was one) objected to it as being a wrong thing, particularly as the person it belonged to was a poor man, who got his living by selling his fruit. But these arguments (though certainly just) were overbalanced by numbers; who urged that they and supposing it should be found out, it would be no worse for one than another; you may, therefore, said they, as well come and partake of the fruit, for, whether you do or not, I promise you, not a cherry shall we leave upon the trees, and therefore your staying away will not be of any service to the owner. Well if that is the would go; case, said one, I as not; and so may I, said another; and I, said a third and fourth; and I love cherries as well as any of you, said a fifth, and if the poor man is to lose them all, I may as well eat them as any body else. Aye! and so may I too, added I (seeing them all going); if you are all determined to go, there is no use in my staying at home by myself: I think it a wrong thing to take the cherries; but, if you intend to strip the trees, my being of the party will do no harm.” THE PROJECTOR. No 72. "Quod, si comminuas, vilem redigatur ad assem, "One farthing lessen'd, you the mass reduce, And, if not lessen'd, whence can rise its use?" HOR. FRANCIS. July 1807. NATIONS, ATIONS, as well as individuals, are subject to a species of self-conceit, for which they are sometimes too severely blamed. The man, for example, who prefers his own country to every other, and thinks it superior to every other, is usually reckoned a sort of political bigot. This exclusive fondness for one's own country may certainly be carried too far; and is always carried too far, when we forget that the inhabitants of other nations, if not our fellow-subjects, are at least our fellow-creatures, and equally entitled to the offices of humanity. It is carried too far, likewise, when we reject visible improvements in the state of society, or in the arts or sciences, merely because they have not originated from ourselves. But, on the other hand, a certain degree of reserve in favour of our own country is rather beneficial than hurtful. It forms no inconsiderable proportion of the union which is necessary for the defence and independence of nations; and perhaps no man can be cordially and rationally attached to the land which gave him birth, if he does not consider it as the best in the world. Whether he be right or wrong in this opinion, it will inspire him with a constant wish to make his country what he represents it; and the same prejudice existing in the minds of the inhabitants of other countries, there will be promoted a beneficial rivalship, although the grand question of superiority may never be satisfactorily decided. When I consider the many circumstances attached to the history and actual state of our own country, of which we are apt to make our boast, I observe none so often repeated as the flourishing and unrivalled state of our manufactures; and readers will not be surprized that my attention should be caught by this particular in our list of national blessings, when they reflect that it is on manufactures chiefly that the whole tribe of PROJECTORS have so long employed their genius. my I am not, however, about to enter into a representation of the existing prosperity of the manufactures of Great Britain. My readers, I am convinced, do not expect such subjects to be introduced in this paper. I have nothing new to advance on the state of our linens, our woollens, our iron works, or our potteries. But when we are congratulating one another on the improvements introduced of late years in such articles, there is one manufacture which I observe has a decided preference in all our thoughts, at least if language be the expression of thought, upon which I wish to offer a few remarks. And this is the MANUFACTURE OF |