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¬end to them for ever was crowned with the justest and most triumphant success, consti- tutional fear, which had for ages watched over and subdued them, unhappily fell asleep — the centrifugal force was lost; — and power, stripped of its terrors, but invested with the means of dazzling and corrupting, soon began to undermine a system of government which the most formidable prerogatives had for ages been unable to destroy. ¬" The progress of this renowned people, from the period of their earliest struggles for liberty, to the final and, I trust, immortal con- summation of their political constitution, was slow and eventful, but perhaps on that account the more secure : the safest road from an un- settled government, of any description, to one that is more perfect, being through those almost imperceptible changes by which the character and circumstances of a nation are changed. The Armatians, from their insular situation and enterprizing genius, were amongst the ¬earliest ¬
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