power of the purfe fo enormous an authori came the power to opprefs: the right to li- which method has been purfued to call forth VOLUNTEERS" (p. 88). "The ftate of the roads (under the old government the envy of Europe) is fuch as would alone, without any other addition, very much impede the tranfportation of corn, and add to the fcarcity in many fituations. I am informed by a perfon who lately travelled across the kingdom, that no repairs whatever have been done for 3 years paft; and that he was informed on enquiry in feveral districts, that the people abfolutely refused to contribute either money or labour to mend them. The minifter of the Interior, Jan. 6, complains to the Convention that they are in a shocking state of ruin (dans un état de délabrement épouvantable). In a -ftate of anarchy, the object of roads may be thought fall, but it fhews that, in a point where the people themfelves are fo intimate ly concerned, government for every purpofe of doing good is abfolutely at an end, and that it remains for evil only. They abolished tithes and feudal payments; the next step is, the people will not pay the land-tax, and then they will not repair the roads that are for their own ufe. Such is their ftate, and there are politicians in England who tell us that all will end well in France; as if it were poffible to remedy fuch evils by new experiments. The abfolute and unequivocal restoration of the old government, with terrors in its train, not the beneficence of Louis XVI. feems now to be the only remedy" (p. 91). Mr. Y. pleads hard for A MILITIA, RANK AND FILE, OF PROPERTY among us, and obferves that, next to the establishment of fuch a militia, the prefent fpirit of affociation among the friends of the conftitution is an old and genuine effort of feeling truly worthy Britons; an eletric ftroke of patriotifm fpread with vital energy through the am Fire. Had fuch atlociations exilled in France, or any thing tending to them, at the early age of the revolution, all the horrors which flowed from it might have been prevented; but the higher otders of fociety knew not their own danger. Here the cafe is directly contrary. We are inftructed by their alacrity and experience, and, of all effective means to be ready to meet a florm, this of allociation is, next to a militia of property, the moft direct" (p. 101-2). Mr. Y., fays a great deal more than we have room for, in favour of the fpirit thus happily called forth in defence of our excellent conliitution; and paints, in the very terms of its enemies, their wifhes to deftroy by reforming it. He judges them by their own mouth; and potterity will fearcely believe that the patfaget he quotes exifted in the writings of the prefent day both in England and Ireland. "In the former revolutions of the modern world, whether in Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, Holland, or England, the people foon fettled into a form of government nearly refembling that which they enjoyed before the troubles; they never dreamed of making experiments on principle. Even in the cafe of America the fact holds true in almoft every inftance; for, there is not now in the world a conftitution fo near the British as that of the United States. I think, fince the events in France, that it is inferior, for the plain reafon of not providing fo well against the danger now fo much to be apprehended, popular potuer. The defpotifm of a monarch was every where the object of rational deteftation; it is fo no longer; a worfe monster has fhewn itfelf in the world, that carries a venom in its fangs more rabid than the canine.in all former revolutions thereof the people reafoned in argument, and felt in fact, that whatever might be the event of a struggle it could fcarcely place them in a worse fituation; and this with exception only to America. Experiment, therefore, juftified the nations who felt their own oppreffion in the attempts they made to effect a revolution. Reverfe the medal, and let us afk how this great question ftands at prefent; the principles of equality and the rights of man are afleat, and an experimentum crucis tells us that a nation, though under a very bad government, may change for one a thousand times worse. This great and difaftrous event will give men, let their rank be what it may, the honeft workn an equally with the prince, a horror at the idea of revolution; will teachmen Rather to bear the ills they have Than fly to others which they know not of;' and, confequently, has done more against the cafe of that real and fafe liberty which was gradually pervading the world than any other event in the power of monarchy to effect. A reflexion that ought to make us view a Jacobin with the fime deteftation as noxi114). Take the worst of the German miliou animals, of hideous deformity" (p. 113, tary governments, and comparethe fituation of the people in any point whatever and it may be afferted that they are in a happier and better fituation than the French under the anarchy given them by the rights of man. Το anfwer that this anarchy may fubfide and produce a good government is fo completely befide the question reasoning on facts, that I am aftonished to hear it fo often recurred to; the experiment of the new government in France was complete, it was finished decreed, and accepted. It is farcical to fuppofe tirat Louis XVI. had more power to fap or destroy it than any other king; if it could not go on with him, it could not go on at all, and therefore was rotten at, heart. It had made a thoufand provifions against a difarmed king, but had made none against an armed mob. This mob broke into the fanctuary 1793-1 fanctuary and kicked the conftitution out of has worse then loft. ple to inftruct them" (114-115). "There appears to me to be a fingular propriety in the affociations which are at prefent fpreading through the kingdom, petitioning parliament to pafs an act to declare all clubs, affociations, focieties, meetings of men that affociate for the purpose of obtaining changes in the Conftitution, illegal; and that no meeting can legally correfpond, either in their own name or in the names of their fecretary or other officers, with any foreign body or government, unless fuch meeting is fanctioned by charter. The friends of order and good government are now collected; the time is precious, and it ought not to be loft: and, while we are threatened with the horrors of anarchy, it behoves us to have as much activity and energy in our defence as the violators of all human rights have exerted in their attack: for men to tell us, in fuch a moment as this, and fituated as we are, with the enemy of mankind triumphant on ene fide, and the torch of revolt lighting in Ireland on another fide, that they are not Jacobins but moderate men, withing reform, is as impudent as it would be for a thief to fay that he is not an atlaffin because he only held a candle while another cut my throat" (p. 118, 119).—" That governments cannot be improved, and that legiilation should be the only fcience to ftand fill, by no means follows; experiment profcribes only great changes; fmall and gradual advances in times of ferenity; fuch advances as put nothing to hazard must be good. It is easy to lay the finger on griev ances in England which every honest and moderate man would with removed; but it is not, when much is demanded, that little should be given, for the plain reafon that the little will not THEN fatisfy. I fhall not be fuipected of thinking titles a light grievance; but they are a grievance that would be ill remedied by the lofs of the crop that pays them. The enormity of the taxes I pay is known to every man that reads the tracts I publth: heavy as they are, let them remain Father than be changed for a contribution fon gere: the title left me is my own, which might not be the cafe under the pure difpen- "Perhaps experience will justify us in af- of of Paris of conquering Europe. Should farther fuccefs attend their arms, they will infallibly attempt it. The leaders, who owe their importance to the prefent hurricane of events, would fink too low, in a calm, for fuch men to allow the ftorm to fubfide" (Appendix, pp. 5, 6). "The abufes and plunder in the fale of the poffeffions of the emigrants may be easily conceived from the complaint that Sillery makes in the Convention. The furniture of, the chateau of Nangus, belonging to the Baron de Breteuil, was worth at least 1,500,000 livres, and has produced fcarcely any thing. Six tapestries of the Gobelines, which coft 30,000 livres in money, were fold for 2800 hvres in affignats. A clock, that coft 24,000 livres in money, fold for 800 in paper. (Moniteur, Dec. 31, 1792.) Such is the virtuous adminiftration of the res publica among repub licans" (App. p. 6)." The minifter Roland, who, in his impudent letter to the King, faid, that, as the voice of Truth is nat beard in courts, revolutions became neceffary, now crouching under the uplifted pike, finds, in the difpenfation of Jacobin juftice, that the voice of Truth is heard as little in conventions as in courts, and curfes the folly that called for revolutions" (ibid. p. 7). "I hey dethroned the King, and murdered him, by a majority of frue voices, though their Jaw required three-fourths, at leaft, for de claring guilt, or for pronouncing death, and the majority of ained by the menaces of the araffine paid by Egalité-the confummation of political infamy! The murder of the beft prince that ever fat on the throne of France, the only monarch that country ever knew that was a real friend to liberty, or that ever fincerely withed to make his people happy. A great and aweful effon to all the princes of the world!-- not a lesson teaching mildness, attention to complaints, an ear to the friends of innovation, a protection of ants, and literature, and philosophy, not an inftruction to enlighten, not a call to teach the ignorant, not a wish to sosten power into perfuafion, or to change the ftern dictates of Authority for the mild voice of Humanity and Feeling-No! this great abomination demands other fentiments, and ought to generate, for the real felicity of the human race, a tighter rein in the jaws of that monfter, the weft and moft hideous caricature of h man depanty, the metaphyfical, philofophical, atheistical, Jacobin republican, athored for ever, for holding out to all the fovereigns of the earth, that the only prince who ever voluntarily placed bounds to his own power DIED FOR IT ON THE SCAF FOLD, and, rafed his people while he deitroyed himfell. He gave ear to thofe who told him of abuses; he wished to eafe his people; he fought p pularity; he allowed the iberty of the prefs, and wou'd not refram even its licentioufiefs. He cherifh d the Arts, to produce a David; and nourish ed, in the bofom of protected Science, a Condorcet! He would not fhed the blood of traitors, confpirators, and rebels. He liftened to those who petitioned for a REFORM. We also have those who demand a REFORM; and when the legislature of this kingdom, unwearied by this great example, fhall liften to the doctrines that have drenched France with blood, we alfo may see spectacles too horrid now to think of, did not the late tragedy tell us no iniquity is too black for republican reformation. This damned event, deep written in the characters of hell, has thrown a ftupor over mankind; when the princes and legiflators of the world recover from it, the obfervation of Machiavel will not, probably, be forgotten: Perche con pochiffoni effempi farai piu pictofo che quelli ltquali per troppa pietà lafciono feguire i difordini onde nafcbino occifioni o rapine. It is not Roberfpiere and Egalité that have murdered Louis; it was Neckar, with his double tiers. It is PERSONAL REPRESENTATION, to which this horrible crime preceded, and which will be followed by to many others, is alone to be attributed" (ibid. p. 9-11). One quotation more from this animated performance demands the attention of our readers: The point of religion, politically confidered, is a great and arduous question, which demands talents fully to examine and arrange; greater, perhaps, than any other branch of the legiflature. The ablest men of the age feem rather to fplit on this rock than to efcape it. When I read in a tract a complaint of the author, that, because be cbjeis to particular religious tenets, he has been reprefented as an enemy of order and of government, and in the fame tract meet with the affertion, that the Revolution of the 10th of Auguft was a happy and necessary completion of that of the 14th of July, I fee an inftance which affords a proof of this. The latter fentiment makes one's blood run cold; for it implies more than it profeffes. Freezing with its effect, I turned haftily to the end of the work, to fee if it was not explained (as the publication took place after the death of the King) in a chapter of additions and corrections; but no fuch matter. The queftion comes furely with force: is fuch a man reprciented as an enemy of government on account of his religious tenets, or on account of his political opinions? When fuch fentiments are abroad, and even gloried in, and found most wonderfully connected, one knows not how, with religious tenets, infinitely different becomes the bufinefs, I will not fay of toleration, but of the whole fyftem of legiflation, fo far as it connects with religion. Would you have an Unitarian take a feat on the bench of bishops? Religious reafons have not yet been given why they fhould not. But would you have a man there who publicly declares that The Revolu tion of the reth of Auguft was a HAPPY one? No, most affuredly! How then, in the repeal of tests and fubfcriptions, are they to be confidered as leveled against heterodox duc trines of religion? or as political fecurities that the power and emoluments of the church fhall be lodged with men whofe opinions do not tend to the uiter deftruation of our admirable Conftitution IN STATE? And, farther, if there are any particular fects of religion, whofe profeffors are generally tinctured with Republicanifm and Jacobitifa, will any man of common fenfe fuppofe, that the non-repeal of tefts and restrictions was perfifted in merely on religious motives ?" (ibid. pp. 14, 15). Mr. Y. is of opinion, that there is one obfervation on allociating which has not been thought of, but which would perhaps be as ufeful and effective as any other; and that is, for affociators to refolve against dealing with any fort of Jacobine tradefmen. It is a common obfervation, that fellers form combinations to keep up the price of commodities, but buyers never combine to krep it down. Yet, if we attend to Mr. Y's remark, "Go among fectaries of various denominations, political and religious, and examine if the individuals are not attentive to this point," we fhall not think it undeferving the regard of the friends of our Conftitution. 1. Letters to the Philofophers and Politicians of France, on the Subject of Religion By Jofeph Priestley, LL.D F.R.S. &c. WHEN St. Anthony, of Padua, preached to the fish, and faid to them, My dearly beloved fifh, although the infinite power and providence of God difI the works of his crecovers itfelf in ation, as in the heavens, the fun, moon, and ftars, the lower world, in man, and other perfect creatures, nevertheless the goodrels of the Divine Majefty fhines out in vou more eminently than in any other created beings,' the fiory fays, the *See Addifon's Travels, art. Padua. fifh, as though they had been endued + Which fets out thus: "Gentlemen, The reprefentatives of your nation, zealous to dfinguith themfelves as the patrons of liberty, and the friends of the oppressed and perjecuted in on p part of the world, have done me the honour of making me a citizen of France; and many of your departments, conceiving too highly of me, and miftaking my talents, did me the farther honour of inviting me to take a feat in your Conventional Atlembly. Though conscious of my incapacity to discharge the duties of this appointment, and unwilling to abandon a fituation I accepted with gratitude that of cis of fame usefulness in this country, I declined zbis honour. tizenship, for myfelf as well as for my fon; and, willing to do every thing in my power for that country which has fo generoufly adopted me, I thall run the risk of being lefs favourably thought of by fome of you, by addreiling you on a fubject which I conceive to be of inte importance to all mankind, though it appears to be too much overlooked, or grofily mitderftool, by the greateft part of the French nation. You, to whom I particularly addruis theft letters, viz. the plit jophical and political, will finile, and fome of you, perhaps, will proceed no turther, when I fay that this rubject is religion." exertions |