National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-05-15 00:00:00, page 1

For the Na - : 10.NAL Gazette.
Aucirejs to the Citizens of the United States
[Concluded from our lad.]
X_tAVING attempted a lhort explanation
" of our duties wirh refpeit to pity, len
<-!l>ililv, and gratitude ; apologized tor the
part which some friends of mankind have
taken in conversation againd the rigid pro
ceedings of the French ; traced the out
lines of a portrait of the violent enemies
of Frenc i principles ; considered it as in
dubitable that the king of the French had
secretly aflided the invaders of his country;
taken a (light view of the three principal
nations engaged in the late war ; ot the
war, and fo'iie of its consequences ; and
given a colouring to the portra t of our
Anti-republican Americans : I lhall now
proceed to notice some general afperlion*
thrown upon the French nation, and the
partieular charges of unparaleiled cruelt)
and arbitrary proceedings against Louis
C pet, and intersperse the remaining part
of this efl <y with such observations as may
elucidate my ideas of the necessity of rigo
rous measures, and serve as a lookiiig
glafs, as well to our bewildered republi
cans, as to the declared defenders of 1110-
narchs.
The French, itisfaid, are devoid of ah
religion, a nation of Atheills! A heavy
charge indeed, and perhaps 100 true wit.:
respect to many of them, but not much, it
any, more applicable to them than 10 their
accusers. Are the cabinets and armies ot
their enemies, are their (la ulerers puritifd
from Atheism ? They are not —they arc in
aliemblage of Biguts and AtheifU, it is *
mark of a political creed ; and tho' tlie
Hate of religion in France may be very low
at present, there is n< doubt, but th t un
der the liberty of couCcience there permit
ted, the French will reflect upon, and be
convinced of the importance o4 religious
opinions.
The French, fay their enemies, are mad
men, in endeavouring to introduce whai
they call the levelling system, and the idea
of equality, which is not found d in na
ture. It is true, that the diilin&ions
which nature and accident occaliou will
always remain, but let those definitions
be regulated by nature and accident only,
not by law ; yet th.s fyltem ought ratlu r'o
be called an elevating, than a I villi
one, as it raises the bulk of the people, but
deb ifes none.
Again, the tryal ar.d the condemnation
of the late king was neither the real voice
of the nation nor that of the convention,
many members of that body went to the
trial, with a determination to vote for
him, but were forced, through the fear ol
immediate death, to join the mob; the
falfehood ot this aflertion will appear to a
ny candid person, if he reflects but a mo
ment on the liberty of speech exercised by
fevcral with impunity, whillt aflaflination
was the fate of Michael Le Pelletier. In
all revolutions of government and civil
wars, it has been a misfortune common to
the fmallelt and weaked party to believe
that they spoke the will of a great majori
ty of the people : Thus, in 1775, the ad
herents to Britain, were fully perfuadtd
that they spoke the voice of the count, y—
thus, in La Fayette wrote, that the
French were for monarchy ; and now, in
1793, the partizans of Louis Capet alledge
that clubs and mobs do every thing, againll
law, and the voice of the nation ; but we
believe, that those clubs and mobs are the
nation itfelf.
If we believe the various declaiiners a
£ainft the French, the decapitation of their
late king was the moll arbitrary, the mod:
bale, bloody, cruel, horrid, ferocious,
murderous action that is mentioned in the
annals of mankind, or that ever disgraced
any people or country. Tht fuchafferti
ons Ihould be advanced among a gang ot
the molt ignorant beings in the creation,
who had never read a page, nor heard ot
cruelty, would not have been fnrprizing—
but that such absurdities fliould be printed
is truly ridiculous, for it pre-fuppofes a
capacity to read, which, to every cool re
flecting perlon, mull be a fuffie.ent anti
dote to repel the poison and fury which it
was withed they Ihould indil : Thus, the
enemies to the rights of man, alio flew
themlelves inimical to common sense : But
in one thing, they have shewn a portion of
knowledge, in beingfenfible that the ef
fects of their favourite governments are
not yet so perfectly eradicated, but that
there are 110 affections, however absurd
and contradictory they may be, but what
Nums. 57 of Vol. ll.]
By P. FRENEAU: Publi/hed Wednesdays nn.i Satosdays, ai Three Doiurj
will have many advocates. —Let them be
combated with faits a.id with reason, not
witli violence.
Fel low-citizens, it is not my intention tngo
into the minutiaot tilings,nor even cur on v
to take a view of" ail the ..ppiicable circtn. -
ihnces which might be adduced fioio bil
tory, to prove, that in every nation, o,
tv hich we have circumflantial initiatives,
the French people, and legislators of the
pref;nt cby. have been exceeded in ill eg .
and cruel aits ; the innumerable facts 11:
I upport of what 1 f..y. a: (o notorious tc
readers of history, that it would be almoi:
as great an in u.t to your underllandings tc
attempt an enumeration ot them, as it is 11
the ido.aters ot kings, to advance such wil
ful f alfelioods, in ur.er to influence the
minds of the uninformed. But it may no.
fie amif-. jolt to query ; —h ve you evei
read of :h-many bloody battles, aiialfim
tions, pOi(uni:igi, cruiades : g.inlf relig.on.
ind malUcres—of the m ny absurd and in:
"nousdecilions of the different tribunals
3". France, when governed by her darlino
-.'•if, —lfyouhave, why so boldly aflVrt
■ hat fuc.i illegil proceedings iiad never clif
jraced taac Kingdom ? Why so b.ockcci
>vhy so indignant at the fillies of an tnra
£ed and long injured people ? V\ hy—fay
.is advocates, because he wasfo good a
King, so generous, la co 'plaifant to tile
'.v lilies of Ins people: Beci.ufe it was so hare:
thus to treat one, v ho was ever brought
up in the molt delicate manner—so horrm
an att to commit regicide, elpecially on .1
pei ion of fuc J1 all ancient race as Louis the
XVltii, whole ancellors had fat upon the
throne 10. many centuries, tha. every out
iiult Ihudder at tlie thought, unless he be
duelled 0; all tender feeling;, a mere ty
£er —Ah ! thi i the language of the ene
mies ot progreatve liberty tue secret 01
the a - , Jnends ot defpotii'm ;
iiu n not- -it , ,10 criterion of a tendei
■"•art, to be of their sentiments ;
of I ouis was cnietty negative —tn.it is
he was i.i a lituaiion to do much evil, anc
lie did not do ail the evil he could ; to
wiiom vvos he generous ? 1 o his courtier:
no uoubr--or. trum « lie ce drew he the
i' nice ii hi;generoiity r From the oppref
ieti of nib country : V\ as ne ioiicitous tc
anticipate the uifhes of the nation? Hi:
.0 .duct denies it ; the lumerous difputti
witii the parliaments during tile molt pari
ut his re.gn, and the imprilonmcnt or ba
nilhment 01 all who si. inly opp .fed his e
tlifts, deny it j thepjit lie look with the
people a few years ago u -111 order to o
bf ge certain pri v if ged pt rfons to p ay t: x
, winch might enable liimand h l3 favou
rites to riot 1 additional excels, lie wai
drawn from liep to {lep, because he die
not know where to flop fecnrely. Tokil
irking, is like kill. :g another man, it i:
murder, ifyoi, beluve that you can fafelj
bring him to jnllice in my uther manner ;
but 111 propoi tion as an offender is elevatec
ab .ve the common rank, so much oitner i:
it jul.ifiabic to inflict dentil, because it is ir
tlie fame degr e more difficult to pumlii 01
to fecwre them in ai.y otlier manner; aut
vice versa.
A firm persuasion of the propriety of thi:
doctrine, has decided me in favour of thi
refutation ot the convention, 111 pre erenct
toimprifonment, and has induced me 11
this essay, to e uleavuur to inculcate it.—
To make humanity, juftiee, and policj
harmo.i ze. would be, perhaps, tue per
le. ioil'(i penal laws; indeed, it is believ
ed that tney are infep 1 abie that jultice
and true policy wili arways be fubfervieni
to humanity ; but, among people who ad
mit of felf-defencc, humanity is fublervi
ent to lelr preservation. I'ut to return tc
the ariftoci at c ideas. He was come ot fuel
an ancient and iiluftriousrace 1 True—five
or lix thousand years old at lealt, like the
relt of mankind, and like the relt of man
kind,he had probably fotue worthy ancellors
but he was also the descendant of the am
bitious, bigottedLouisXlV, the descend
ant of the bigotted, the murderous affaflin.
Charles IX, who, 011 St. Bartholomew'!
day, gave his all'ent to the mafl'acre 01
thirty thousand of his fubjeOs; the de
fcenda't 01 Hugh Capet, who was, by thi
noblt s, placed 011 the throne of France
without tiie consent of the people; this is
written from memory alone, had I nov
the afliitance of books, a catalogue of hi
infamous progenitors need not have clofecl
so oon. Whether it is right or wrong, 1
am not certain, but I have always set a
liigh v: lue upon a virtuous anceltry, and
if upon equal terms, fhotild prefer a person
I'd clefcended, to another whose lii)eag<
was unknown, and flill more l'o, if known
WEDNESDAY, May 15, 1793.
to be bad : Has Louis any thing to boast
of ,n this nfpec> ? His anct-ftors, placed i:;
a conspicuous Itation, where they iiiigh
iiave done much good, have, as long as
they have been known, cillj'layec] negative
v irtues an-d attue vices ; from the time
that they have been seated oh the Frenc),
throne, now eight or nine hundied yea, s.
they have been gr; Iping more power, ant!
becoming more ablolnte; what theygain
o of til- m bits they did not give to tht
people.
Now , afi *v words to the English, a peo
pie whom J elleem in many refpetts, s
people of many vices and much partiality.
I have already carried this eii'ay to thret
tin.es the lengthorigirially intended, there
lore a thonfand enormities, each of then
qual at lealt to the cutting off the head o:
Charles ili. (hall be palled over, and o
ill the kings and queens «f their island, uhi
na\e been driven into banifliment, private
ly aflaiiinated, or publicly executed, I Ihal
ax only on trie fate of Mary, Queen o:
■>COtS.
It the conduct of Elizabeth, queen o:
i.n.,land, towards her coulin, tan bt
ded. or is capable of any palliation,
fom wife men have thought, upon the
jrefumption that it was neceii'ary for the
mefervation ol theftate. how much mor«
orcibiy ~lay the fame reason be applied ir
.lie cafe o. L- uis Caput ! And w hctlier tht
ondart ot Elizabeth can i.-t delendtd 01
• otis altogether immaterial j the fact is.
Hid when v\e recoiiect the measures uftt
)y that woman of bltfled memory, as tht
, .nglilii tail her, upon iiti learned, crown
rd, beautiful female i t latiou, the ridicn
oils prejudices, iiiconliltciicy, a.id appa
- ;it igiioraiue of molt of the Britilh wri
ters and fpiaku i supon the fubjeft of French
tfairs are tiuiy dilgufting.
Let us now look at home- Our Ameri
an id Olivers ol monarchy and its atieadan!
, res, endeavour 10 i j-iti us v it, . n »>.
jinion, that gratitude den, nds otii iit;ei
;letilt.ition ot the french. became Lour
-ili:ted lit in the late revolution :M , k the
nconliltency ! An utter deteltation of a
jeopie for their republicamfih. betaufe ihe
jbjeet 01 their anger had been instrumental
II eltablilhiiig a repuolic ! Bu more ol it
jy and by. ,»
Xnthe former part of this effay,l mention
ed the behaviour offoine of the inhabitants
,il ihe ealtern llates ; I now find the lame
iilpolition is creeping fouth-weftard ; the
two 1 alt r.umners ot the Delaware Gazette
printed in Wilmington, have fallen i,.(c
my hands , in one of them, a writer, who
[ignsfu.,<felf a Delaware Citizen, has giv
en a compleat apotheolis of Louis Capet ;
in the other, the Subscriber, as he ligns
himfelf, almost as compieatly enrolls the
Citizen's ideas among the divine illumina
tions*: 1 do not kno a what ge tlemen are
the writers of those two pieces, but hope,
for the honor o the Delaware ltate, that
they are both written by the fame hand.
I mail not, like the Subscriber, pledge
myfelf t„ prove the perfect innocence and
limb l.k di polition of either party in
France; on the contrary, I believe that
excelles have oeen committed as well 0,.
the part of the people, as on that of their
kings, or at lealt w hat might be called so
in the common ot.urrences of life ; but
in the preient liate ol society you have n,
right to expect any tiling Ids, and more
elpetially in a country, where you fa,
there is no sense of religion, of moral du
ties, nor of civil r ghis. Admitti g this
accufationo: 'general depravity to be true,
it is a very ,iro ig argument to pro\e the
infulhtienty and villainy oi the former go
vemment and religion The d fpofition
ot a man is not formed in a day, and much
time is required to divelt him ol evil, fe
rocious, habits ■, the vices ot the present
inhabitants ol France are, as far as the)
depend on government, the offspring o'
the ancient laws, man ers ana religion,
then, i; a people who might have been fa
iliioned, or \sho were lallnoued by tht
hand, and to the w ilh of the government
and religion, ire the most bale murderou;
rienas in the universe, it is a poor comment
on that government and that religion in
deed, and Ihews the necessity of a reform,
which, among warriors, must neceliarilj
be accompanied with " confufed noises,
and garments rolled in blood."
But to , eturn to the Delaware Citizen ;
ne ulliers in his piece with afciap of La
tin ; had I an acquaintante with that lan
guage, I too, might have cholen lor my
.elf ome prjtty plirafe or liirrhfiiant ex
ellionfroin one of the claflics. in order
,11 (hew my 'cholarlhip ; but as things are,
f tliere must be fume Latin in my eflay, X
(hail be obliged to content myfelf with an
adoption of his quotation ; —" Cum ingra«
luni dixeris, omnia tlixifti"—and to avail
m>fell oi his tranfl. l tion, but cannot help
applying them very differently : He charg
es with ingratitude, such Americans as do
not cxprcls a lively concern at the loss of
Louis XVI, and join in execratirg the
French Nation for putting him to death,
ami purely upon this account, that when
he was king of Franco, he ordered his
troops to fight for America against his old,
>nveter3ie euemies* He, the Citizen, is
extravagant in his prailes of our Congrtfa
in '7/8, in order to bring forward a quo
cation from their minutes, to prove t!: ;t is
was not interelfesl motives alone that in
duced him to do so. Ihe N..ticn.il Con
vention of France being a lime removed
from the time of action, and yet not so far,
but thai many of them were personally ac
quainted with the king and the mimlters of 1
the day, are surely more capable of judg
ing ot the motives of action, than the Con-»
grefs of the United States ; but h -d the
Congress known the true caufts of the af
filtance given u by the French king, y,Hit
would have been extren eiy impolitic at
that critical moment to have nientk id
them: That the heart of Louis X\ I was
penetrated with a sense of the ti .hts of
man, a? we held them in the ye | 1778,
there is no good reason to believe j-but on
the contra!}, that his motives were chiefly,
if not wholly the offspring of felf love of
hatred to Cleat-Britain; refpefting this
matter, is the inconliftency alluded to a
vvlule ago. Some of the fame men, who
now talk as the Citizen, of the gratitude
due to Louis, did, in the yrar 1778 and
'?79''P e akin a very different manner j
tluy (aid that the buik ot the individuals of
the French nation are enthufiaftit in favor
of w hat you call liberty, yet the court of
V erfailles has no intention of folfering fu. rt
notions, indeed, it is scarcely cliargeaL. e
111 this inftai ie with their ufi.al perfu , I,uf
nels, for your agents have abfolutel) fold
the country to tlie French, and foirie of"
them pretended that the cererr ony ot de
livery wasaciually executed at Cht-fltr, "n
the year 1778 —dreams are sometimes tri v,
lometimes falfe, and sometimes a mixture,
not altogether true nor altogether falfe,
so were the assertions of those Del: ware
C tizem. Now you, the citizens of Ame.
Rica, who vilify the French people for the
l-ke of the king, ycu may fully take to
yourselves a very heavy charge, that is,
every species of baseness, when you psy
I lint r 1 honours to a man. who w or,ld not,
for a fiugle season have refilled hip-felt" the
luxuries oi the table, nor the atnu.ements
of the theatre for the lake of you cause ;
whillt you brand with villainous epithet;',
tlioufaiids ot soldiers who, leavi their
native country, braved the dai. firs of the
Tea and even death itfelf, in ord< ■ to pre-
I'erve your fieedom ; for. as fystl ■ De
laware Citizen—" Cum ingrauim i.ixei is,
omnia dixilli —Tax a man with inj'ra.
titude. and you aacufe him of every spe
cies of baseness.
If, in contemplating the king, you for
get hisfaults. or if you fee his faults a d
orgive them because of his offce, yoi are
-till under the influenci of the magic of the
ceptre. \ou lay the person ot the ki >g
was inv iolable, or atmofl the greattfl pti
lilhmept could only have been ail exptillioil
from the throne; there lliould be no rt trot
pcctive law : To this I answer as above,
and it the conllituent afl'eu by did m: ke a
constitution so contrary to reason, as to al
>w any individual for a tin e, the power*
o. committing the molt horrid crimes witlj
impunity, yet the voice of nature will not
cr demn the injured from standing in his
>wn defence. But even admitting vhat the
execution of Louis Capet was altogether
arbitrary, conhder, before you grow loud
>n your fpecul. tive censure, whether yorr
mod f.,vourite govei nraents have not b it
guilty of the like. Jll certain fitvat .< »- it
has been ,lie practice of all govern, cms,
even thole of Great-Britain "and the Uni
ted States to ast arbitrarily, and to make
what they conceived to be the law ne
ceflity, paramount to all wriitf 11 law.
Witness theprefa-gangs in England, wit
ness your imprisonment and bainnimeoi of
divers refpeitable inhabitants of Philadel
phia, in tile year 1777, without any form ef
rrial, or attempt to prove any charge a
gainit them, hut upon the bare furn ife that
they were dilafftctcd in mind to the revo-
The reader will recollect try ideas and
definition of j>ity,Jevfil/ility and gratitude,
in the firJi part of this di/i urje.
[Total No. 161.]