ent parts of his limbs. We ftill remained without any kind of proviflons, and began to be reduced in firength for want of nourishment.

(To be continued.)

To the EDITORS of the BOSTON MAGAZINE.

Gentlemen,

If you think the Inclosed worthy to fill a Page in your Useful Magazine, it is at your Service, from

Your bumble Servant,
Daphne.

Sentiments on Libertinifm.

TH

H.E maxim that "a reformed rake makes the beft husband," is a common, and I am forry to fay, a too well received one; yet I can. not think any woman who values, or properly confiders her own happinefs, will venture on the dangerous experiment. The term reformed can, in my opinion, be allowed to preponderate but very little; as one, whofe principles are vitiated, and mind tainted by a course of libertinifm, feldom changes them in reality, till it is too late to be of much fervice to himself or others. And however circumftances may alter, or reArain his conduct, very little dependance can be placed on a perfon whofe difpofition is the fame, but is only prevented by prudential motives from indulging it. As a rake is most converfant with the diffolute and licentious of both fexes, he is apt to form his opinion of others by the Aandard he has been used to, and therefore fuppof all women nearly alike, and having been inured to the arts of the bafer part of the fex, cannot form an idea that any are indeed fuperior to them. This renders them, when connected with a virtuous woman, fufpicious, peevish, and tyrannical; and even if their vitious inclinations are changed, their having paffed their best days in vice and folly, renders them very unfit companions for perfons of delicacy, and difcern

ment. But whatever inducement a lady may have to risque herself with one who has the reputation of being reformed, it is furprising that any are fo inconfiderate as to unite with those who are profeffed and open libertines. What hopes of happiness can be formed with a man of fuch a character is to me inconceivable. Vice and virtue cannot affimilate, and hearts divided by them can never be cemented. The firft is the fountain of difcord, difeafe, and diftrefs; the latter, the foundation of harmony, peace, and happiness. We are told that "a houfe divided againft itself cannot ftand," much lefs can domef tic felicity fubfift between fuch contrafted difpofitions. But however negligent or mistaken many women of merit are, with refpe& to their own intereft, I cannot but wish they would pay more regard to the honour and dignity of their fex. Nothing but an unjuft cuftom has rendered vice in a man lefs odious than in a woman; and fhall we fmile upon, and approve of a custom that is fo encouraging to them, and fo deAtructive to us? Were thofe in particular, who glory in feducing, and betraying innocence, to meet with the contempt they deferve, and the neglect of every perfon of virtue, they would foon be ashamed of their practices, and reduced to the neceffity of quitting their unlawful pur fuits. But while they are careffed, and admitted into the best companies they find restraint unneceffary, and their being men of spirit and gallantry (as they have the prefumption to ftyle themselves) rather a recommendation! I cannot help blushing with indignation, when I fee a lady of fenfe and character pleafed with, and entertained by a man, who ought to be banished fociety for having ruined the peace of families, and blafted the reputation of (perhaps) many who might have made valuable, and ufeful members of it; but are by his means reduced to want and infamy. I think the character of a drunkard or a thief not more obnoxious than that of a female feducer. He that is in.toxicated with wine hurts himself only; but he that gives fcope to the intoxication of paffion fhould be fhunned as

a deftructive evil that would fully virtue even by its fhadow. He that fteals the purfe of another takes trash that may be replaced; but he that deftroys a good name commits an irreparable injury, hows as great a deficiency of honour, and lefs benevo lence than either of the former.

But the conduct of many judicious and worthy people of both fexes appears often inconfiftent and anjuft, Women are laid to be the weaker veffel; and but few men will allow them to be equal in ftrength of mind; yet is the uprightnefs and rectitude of angels expected from them! inftead of imputing their errors to the defect of their judgment,and the inferiority of understanding, they pretend to reduce them 10, they view every failing in an aggravated light, and for one falle flep forever deprive them of all that renders life valuable. And, although (as is often the cafe) their miftake may be owing to ignorance,, inexperience, or a credulity that re

fults from an honeft heart, their per.

fons are defpifed, their company avoided, and their chara&ers facri

ficed; and however they may frive to gain the path of virtue, no one ex. tends the helping hand, or lends their compaffionate aid to reftore the unhappy wanderer. While the base betrayer is fuffered to triumph in the fuccefs of his unmanly arts, and to pafs unpunished even by a frown. Is conduct like this, let me afk, confiftent with virtue, juftice, or humanity? any person who has a regard for tncle characteristics ought to deteft vice wherever it is found, and not en courage it by fuffering it to pass unnoticed. But the feverity of the men in these cafes to our fex, and partiality to their own, is not fo much to be wondered at, as the unkindness of females in general to one another. That we ought to make a diflinction between those who merit our esteem, and our displeasure, I do not deny, but furely compaffion is due to mis fortune, even if it arifes from miscondu. To hide the faults, extenuate the follies, and alleviate the fufferings of others, are duties we are peculiarly calculated to perform, and I believe a neglect of them oftener proceeds from inattention, and incon

fideration, than any other caufe, we have the frongeft motives to ftand by and fupport the dignity of our own fex. The other ftyle themselves our guardians, but we have no caule to thank them for ufurping the title, as the generality, when their own intereft is not concerned, take more pains to debafe, or at least detract from our honour and right, than to guard or exalt either. Let me then conjure my fifter Americans, to cosvince the world they are virtuous in principle as well as practice. Let us unite in defending the reputation of one another, and in treating those, who are the betrayers of our sex, and the difgrace of their own, as they deferve.

Bofton, July, 1784.

We flatter ourfelves with hopes: of continued favours from the Ingenious Pen of DAPHNE.

The Free Republican, No. V.

of contes, abufes and corruption

T has been obferved, that the feeds

are fown in every government, at the very moment of its inflitution; and I may now add, that thefe dangerous evils ever arife from a concieved difference of interefts and never fail immediately to make their appearance, under fome form or other. That government, in which the fopreme power is fo diftributed, as the moft effectually to check their growth, is the moft fecure. To enquire into the fource of this concieved difference of interefts, the effects it has on the paffions and purfuits of men, and the mode, in which the affairs of every government may be influenced by it, Teems neceffary, previous to making any animadverfions on our own conflitution, in order clearly to apprehend the dangers, to which it is ex pofed in common with others, and the remedies provided against them.

When we confider the various difpofitions of men, the diverfity of their genius, their abilities, their aftivity and fpirit,it is impoffible to concieve, that an equality fhould long egift amongst them, e.ther, as to the

EXLEDE

thofe civil wars, with the fad relation of which the hiftories of the antient and modern nations of the world fo generally abound. Whether the parties to the contefis fiyle them felves the Rich and the Poor, the Great and the Small, the High and the Low, the Elders and People, Patricians and Plebeians, Nobility and Commons, fill the fource and effects of the dispute are the same.

each other give them Arength and ftability. Hence, as a union of interefts is the ftrongest cement of friendfhip, we generally find them, not only united in public life, but associating together in private. This connexion is undoubtedly ftrengthened by the principles of dignity and pride. Ease and reft from labour are amongst the greatest pleafures of human life, pursued by all with inconceivable avidity, and, when attained, at once create a fenfe of fuperiority. Wherefore, as men feldom floop but with reluctance, the wealthy for inftance rarely affociate with the laborious and the poor; but court the fociety of thofe, whofe employments, from their not being of the laborious kind, place them on the fame level. These two defcriptions of men are perceiv

vernment at the moment of its inftitution. They grow with its growth, encrease with its ftrength, ripen with its age, and at laft terminate in its diffolution. Great care must be taken to prevent their early growth in our youthful government, or otherwife in the weakness of its infancy it may be thrown into convulfons and fall an early facrifice to its own inattention.

I have frequently, in the course of my obfervations, made use of the terms, the Few and the Many, the former as defcriptive of such, as poffefs the rights of perfons and those of property the latter thofe, that poffefs the rights of perfons only. In the latter defcription are included all thole, whose fubfiftence is derived from their bodily labours; in the former fuch as obtain their riches and fupport, not from their own, but the labours of others. With men of property therefore, I rank the merchant, the phyfician, the lawyer and divine, and in a word, all of every kind whofe fubfiftence is not derived from the labours of their body. I do this, not becaufe that men in the literary walks of life are poffeffed of accumulated property: but because, deriving their fupport from the fame fource, they must be interested with them to keep it open to their respective demands. Their joint exertions in favour of

are univerfally diftinguished in the common language of men. With us they are defcribed by the gentlemen, and the common people. This dif tination is general, because founded in the feelings of human nature, tho3 perhaps few, even in their own imaginations, have ever traced the dividing line. I believe, however, that it will always be found to be the one I have already drawn between the few and the many. Various examples that might be adduced, to prove the truth of this fentiment, I leave to the reflection of the reader.

At the time the conflitution of this commonwealth was effablished, the diftin&tions I have described had long exifled, and were ftrongly felt; for having been born and educated under a government, favouring highly of monarchical principles, the property of the citizens was very unequally accumulated, their employments exceedingly multiplied, and marked with different degrees of refpectability and honour. A democracy, for this people, would therefore have been defpotic, and, in the course of a very few years, in all probability, have terminated in the tyranny of an individual. "It was, fays the great Montefquieu, a very droll ípectacle in the last century to behold the impotent efforts of the English to establish a democracy." Had the inhabitants of this government attempted the

fame

fame fyftem, fome modern Montef quieu would probably have drolled upon the attempt. A democratical government can never be free, unlels there is an equality of rights and of property among the governed; because men are entitled to political power, in proportion to the rights they poffefs at entering into fociety. Wherefore that government is as arbitrary, where there is an inequality of rights, and an equal divifion of power, as where there is equality of rights, and an unequal divifion of power. The proportion in either inftance being deftroyed, thofe natural rights, which it is the fole object of government to protect, must be rendered infecure, and the government, of course, tyrannical. Duly to af certain this proportion, eftablish and maintain it, was the great defideratum of those who accepted the important task affigned them of framing the conftitution under which we live. Two diftin&t and independent rights are by the conftitution in the first place recognized; the rights of perfons and those of property. To enfure fecurity to each, the fupreme power, or in other words the power

of legiflation, is divided equally be tween them, fo that neither can act without the concurrence of the other. The fenate reprefent the rights of property, and the houfe of reprefentatives the rights of perfons. And as all the different interefts of the community may be ranged under one or other of thefe divifions, the whole are represented in one or other of the branches of legiflation, or both. When I fay that thefe diftinet interefts and rights are thus represented, I mean no more, than that by the principles of the conftitution they are intended to be. Whether they effectually are, or are not, will be a fubje& of eaquiry.But to proceed.

As all thofe, who poffefs the rights of property, poffefs equally, and in common with every member of the community, the rights of perlons, and as thefe dinin rights are recog nized by the conftitution and their prefervation provided for, it follows that equality is not the principle of the government, but a ípecies of homour, or a refpe&t for that di&tin&tion,

Hhh

which the conftitution acknowledges to exift. If the provifions made by the conflitution to give fecurity to thefe diftin& rights were in the first place neceffary to its freedom, to fupport and preferve them must be the business of a patriot; while, on the other hand, he who, to gain popularity, by diffufing a fpirit of levelling through the community, will attempt to defroy them, is a traitor to liberty and the conflitution. In a word, our government will certainly cease to be free, whenever the few deprive the many of their fhare in the adminiftration of it. For it will then at once become an ariftocracy. But it is equally true, that its freedom will be deftroyed, whenever the former are denied a voice in the councils of the public, or as foon as their rights and their interefts are borne away in the torrent of popular faction. It is the act and not the agent that confiitutes tyran

ny.

In a flate where there are perfons diftinguithed, either by their birth, their riches or their honours, "If they were confounded with the common people, fays Montefquieu, and to have only the weight of a fingle vote, like the reft, the common liberty would be their flavery, and they would have no intereft in fupporting it, as most of the popular refolutions would be against them. The share they have, therefore, in the legiflature, ought to be proportioned to their other advantages in the ftate; which happens only when they form a body which has a right to check the licentioufnefs of the people, as the people have a right to oppofe any encroachments of theirs."