The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1791-11-26 00:00:00, page 2

last winter from Paris, arid gave him an
account how profperouil, matters were
going on. Among other fubjeds in
that letter, I referred to the happy situ
ation the National Alterably were pls.
ced in ; that they had taken a ground
on which their moral duty and their
political interest were united. They
havei6: to hold out a language which
they do not believe, for the fraudulent
parpofe of making others believe it.
Their Ration requires no artifice to fop
port it, and can only be maintained by
enlightening mankind.' It is not their
interest to cherish ignorance ; but to
eluded by the greatest body of men ex
ercifiog the right of election the Euro
pean world ever saw. They 'fang not
from the filth of rotten boroughs, nor
are they the vassal representatives of
• ariftocratieal ones. Feeling the proper
dignity of their charadernhey fuport it.
Their parliamentary language, whether
for or against a question, is free, bold,
and manly, and extends to all the pares
and ci camftances of the case. If any
matter or fubjed refpeding the execu
tive department, or the perlon who pre
,sdei in it, (the King) comes before
them, it is debated on with the spirit
of men, and the language of gentlemen;
arid their anfwer,or their address is turn
ed in the fame flile. They itand not
aloof with the gaping vacuity of vulgar
ignorance, nor bend with the cringe of
fyeophantic insignificance. The grace
ful pride of truth,knows no extremes,
and preserves, in every latitude of life,
the right Angled character of man.. ;
Let us now look to the other fide of
the question. In the pddreffes of the
English Parliaments to their Kings, we
fee neither the intrepid Spirit of the old
Parliaments of France, ,nor the serene
dignity of the present National Aflfein,
bly ; neither do we fee in.them any
thing of the Stile of English manners,
which borders Somewhat on bluntness,
Since then, they are neither of foreign
extraction, nor naturally of English pro
duction, their origin muff be fought
for elsewhere, and chat origin is the
Norman conquest. They are evidently
of the vassalage class of manners,and em
phatically mark the proftrace distance
that exists in no other condition of men
than between the conquerer and the
conquered. That thi^ vassalage idea
and stile of speaking was not got rid of
even at the Revolution of i6BB. is evi
dent from the declaration of Parliament
co William and Mary, in theSe words :
'' We do molt humbly and fai hfully
submit oarfelves, our heirs and posterities
forever." Submission is wholly avaffala
ges term, repugnant to the dignity of
Freedom, and echo of the language used
at the Conquest.
As the eftimatiod of all things is by
comparifoo, the Revolution of 1688,
however from circumStances it may have
been exalted beyond its value, will find
its level. It is Already on the wane,
cclipfcd by the enlarging orb of reason,
and the laoliaons revolutions of Ameri
ca arid France. In less than another
century, it will go as wellj as Mr.
Burke's labours, ''to the family vault of
all the Capulets." Mankind will then
scarcely believe that a country calling
itfelf free, would fetid to Holland for a
man, and clothe him with power on
purpose to put thenfelves in fear offfiim,
and give him almost a million ftearling
a year for leave to submit themselves
arid their posterity, like bondmen and
bondwomen, forever.
But, there is a truth that ought to be
made known : I have had the opportuni
ty of feeing it ; which is, that, notwitb
flanding appearances, there is not aky de-
Jiription of men that defpije monarchy so
much as courtiers. But they well know,
that if it were ften by others, as it is
seen by them, the juggle could not be
kept up. They arejn the condition of
men who get their living by a (how,
and to whom the folly of that Show is so
familiar that they redieule it : but
were the audience to Be made as wife,ifi
this rtfpea, as themselves, (here bould
be an end to the (how, arid the profits
with it. The difference det&een a re
publican and a courtier with refpe& to
monarchy is, that the one opposes mo-.
narchy, believing it to be something;
and the ocher laughs at it, knowing it
to be nothing.
As f used fomptimes to correspond
with Mr. Burke, believing him then to
be a man of founder principles than his
book (hews him to be, I wrote to him
dispel it. They are not in the case of
a ministerial or an opposition party in
England, who, though they are oppof
ed/are Aril united to keep up the com
mon mystery. The National Assem
bly must throw open a magazine of
light. It must (hew man the proper
character of man ; and the nearer it can
bring him to that Standard, the stronger
the National Assembly becomes.
In contemplating the French consti
tution, we fee in it a rational order of
things. The principles harmonize
with the forms, and both with their o
rigin. It may perhaps be raid as an
excafe for bad forms, that they are no
thing more.than forms ; but this is a
mistake. Forms grow out of principle,
and operate to continue the principles
they grow from. It is impossible to
practice a bad form on any thing but a
bad principle. It cannot be ingrafted
on a good one ; and wherever the form's
in any government are bad, it is a ceri
tain indication that the principles are
bad also. , ofi
I will here finally cTofe this fubjea.
I began it by remarking that Mr.
B,ke had voluntarily declined going
into a. Comparison of the English and
French constitutions. He apologizes
(n P a g e zfo) for not doing it, by fay
ing that he had not time. Mr. Burke's
book was , upwards of eight months in
hand, and i, extended to a volume of
three hundred and fifty fix pages. As
nis omidion does injury to his cause, his
, apology makes it tyorfe ; and men on
the Eoglilh fide tlie water will begin to
conffder, whether there is trot some ra
dical defeft in , what is called <he.;En
glilh constitution, that made it neces
sary in Mr. Burke to fapprefs the com
parison, to avoid bringing it into view,
jAs Ms. Burke has not written Qn
constitutions, so neither ha: he written
on the French Revolution. He gives
;no account of its commencement or its
/progress. He only expresses his won
! der. '' It looks (fays he) to me, as if
I were in d great critis, not of the af
fairs of France alone, but of all Europe;
perhaps of more than Europe., All
circumstances taken together,the French
revolution is the most affoniShing that
has hitherto happened in the world."
As wife min are aftoniihed at fool
ilh things, and wither people at wife
ones, I know not on which ground to
account for Mr. Burke's astonishment;
but certain it is, that he does not under
hand the French revolution. It has
apparently burst forth like a creation
from a chaos, but it is no more than the
consequence of a mental revolution, pri
orily existing in France. The mind of
the nation had changed beforehand; and'
the new order of things has naturally
followed the new order of thoughts. I
will here, as concisely as I can, trace
out the growth of the French revolution,
and mark the circumstances that have
contributed coproduce it.
The despotism of Louis XIV, united
with the gaiety of his court, and the
gaudy ostentation of his charader, had
so humbled, and at the fame time so
fafeinated the mind of France, that the
people appear to have loft all sense of
their own dignity in contemplating that
of their grand monarch : And the whole
reign of Louis XV. remarkable only for
weaknefi and effeminacy, made no other
alteration than that bf Spreading a fort
of lethargy over the nation, from which
it Shewed no difpoficion to rife. A
The only Signs which Appeared of the
Spirit of liberty during tbofe periods,,
are to be found in the writings' cf thb
French philosophers. Montesquieu, Rrt^
fident of the Parliament of Bourdeau±„
went as far as a writer, under a defpb
fic goveinroehr, could well proceed",
and being obliged td divide himfelf be-,
tween principle and prudence, his mind
often appears under a veil, and we
ought tofgive him credit for more than
he has expressed.
Voltaire, who was both the flatterer
and the fatyrift of despotism, took ano
ther line. His forte lay in expoling •
and ridiculing the superstitions vhich
prieftcraft, united with fatecraft, had
interwoven wfth governments. It was
not from the purity of his principles, or
his love of mankind, (for fajr and
philanthropy are not naturally concord
ant) but from his Strong capacity of
feeing folly in its true Shape, and his
irrefiftable propensity to expose it, that
lie Made those attacks. They were,
However, a# formidable as if the mo-
The inquest which fat on the body,
have reported a verdid, " Accidental
murder." The man immediately sur
rendered himfelf to justice, and is in
confinement to stand his trial.
By his own Supplicating req'ueft, he
was perm ited to go to the funeral of
hi, murdered infant ; and this was the
reason of his being attended bj consta
bles.
COURAGE.
A dragoon in the, army of Nt. de Rou
vry, commander of the troops in Hispa
niola, in the midst of a&on, perceived
a negro carrying off a standard belong
ing to the whites, he pursues him full
fpecd, dart's thro' the body of the ne.
PHILADELPHIA NOV. 8. .
,THE fr^ht of a wretched man, at
tendeded by two constables, feebly tot
tering after the corpse of his own child
in a small funeral procession, last Wed
nesday, attracted the attention of Seve
ral fpedators : But upon inquiry into
the occasion of this extraordinary feene,
what was our astonishment, on being
informed, that the being who seemed to
fink down by the coffin, had murdered
his child !—An unhappy domeflick dis
pute had provoked him to seize a pair
of tongs, with which he had aimed a
blow at his wife, and a child of eight
yearr old unfortunately rushing between
its misguided parents, received the fatal
Stroke bn the back part of its head,
which put a period to its innocent visit
to this world !
basseterre, (st. Kitt's) sept. 25.
BY accounts from Point- Petre,in Grand
Terre, Gaudaloupe, ape are informed
—that a great riot took 'place there a fe<w
days ago, on intimation basing arrived of
the contents ofjome decrees passed by the N.
Affembl, of France ; that the company of
Grenadiers quartered at Point-Petre, bad
revolted and joined the mob ; and that they
formed on the rifng ground above the town.
In consequence of which, the Planters and
Gentlemen of property in the Ifand affem*
bled, and marched against them sword in
hand ; they were all taken prisoners, at the
time our intelligence came away, and were
flrialj confined. It is farther mentioned,
that the people went on board the Commo
dore of the Merchant feips in the port, and
frucktbe National Flag, in the place of
which they foiled a white ensign on the
Commodore's Mast-bead.
1 PITTSBURGH, bit.29.'.
SATURDAY last, the zzd inst. Ge
neral Harmar arrived at this place
With his lady and suite >On his debark
^g (having come up the river in his
barge) he was received by the train of
artillery, with a difeharge of 16 rounds.
This Compliment Was intended the Ge
neral not merely as a matter of form on
the reception of an officer of his rank,
but as particularly expressive of the sense
which the inhabitants of this place en
tertain of his personal good qualities and
his condu& while at the head of the
troops to the westward..
WESTERN TERRITORY
On the contrary, we find in the writ
ings of Roaffeau, and the abbe Raynal,
a levelinefs of sentiment in favour of
liberty,that excites refped, and elevates
the human faculties ; but having railed
this animation, they do not dired its
operations and leave the mind jn lo.be
with an pbjed, without defcritiirg the
means of possessing it.V
The writings of Quifne, Turgot, rind
the friends of those authors, are of the
fericus kind; but they laboured under
the fame disadvantage with Montes
quieu ; their writings abound with mo
ral maxims of government, but are ra
ther direded to economife and reform
the administration of the government,
than thegovernment itfeif.
tives had been virtuous ; and he merits
the thanks rather than the esteem of
mankind.
[To be Continued ]
American Advices.
tb^^MAILS.
WEST-INDIES.
ment to the liberties and happicefs of
mankind. Upon an idea suggested by
the late Dr. Franklin, a question is now
agitated at the Ruffian Court, that in
their future maritime warfare the com
mercial (hips even of avowed enemies
(not laden with warlike stores ((ball not
be molested on the high seas or elsewhere
by the Ruffian publick or private ships
of war that may be fitted cut to cruise
against the said enemy. This seems to
be putting matters upon^an equitable
footing. If we examine the hiitor, of
mankind, we (hall fee that in all ages
war has been the work of kings&i ncblcs,
and that the multitude of every commu
nity have ever been pitted agai^ft each
other,to support the honqurand supposed
interest of the monarch and his circle ;
which interefis has uniformly been, that
mankind, should be at variance almost
perpetually, to prevent them, from look
ing into the RIGHTS OF MAN. If the
above plan of the Emprefi should fob
ftantially and universally be carried into
effeft, national quarrels will in future be
decided as it were by a single combat of
the parties immediate!) concerned & their
adherents,without involving the peacea
ble tradefman,the adventurous merchant
the industrious planter, or the enterpris
ing sailor ; all which classes, conflicting
Extraa of a letter from London, Sept, 2.
".Notwithstanding theEmprefs ofßuf
fia has been generally ranked among the
over ambitious and tyranical potentates
of the earth, there are (till some traitsin
her character, which discover an attach-
Last Wednesday eveninfrat a meeting
of the Directors of the National Bank,
it was determined that four branches
Should be ,established, one in Boston, a
second inNew-York,a third inßaltimore,
and a fourth inCharleffon—to commence
operation in January next, These bran
ches ire to have the benefit of a part of
the Specie Capital.
BRANCHES to the NATIONAL
Cobfideriog the advantages that Bri
tain,enjoys, it might appear ftiange,that
the English press Ihould daily produce
such Jame and inaccurate wanflations cf
the different continental productions.
But the case is this—when a valuable
publication appears in a foreign lan
guage,the London book fellers are eager
to engrefs the copyright, and wiffi to
have the wc,k done cheaply and expe
ditiously. If a min of abilities and in
dependence attempts to translate it on
his own account, before he has finifhed•
one quarter of the work, the whole is ah.
re^dy " done into EngUfa'?, (as they,
sometimes emphatically expreh it) by a
set of poor forlorn drudges, who are noc
perhaps paid half so much for manufac
turing the translation,as a common cleik
would aft for barely copying it cat.
Thus, men Who are capable of doing
justice to a foreign author, are afraid to
engage in a translation,which they could
never fell in oppotirion to the combined
efforts of the whole company of book
sellers : And those who undertake such
work at low wages, geneially bungle ic
—particularly in tranllating from the
French ; of which every school boy has
a fafficient (mattering to enable him to
%/underftahd and.travefty a book writ
ten in that language. In due time it is
to be hoped, America will view the Eur
opean literature through the medium of
her Own translations, and no longer de
pend for the likeness of an author; upon
any of those Britijh Caricatures.
Besides the civilities which Grangers,
on visits among us, have a right to expe&
on the principles of hofpitality,theCoun
tefs ofEfflnghamjuft arrived atNew-
York from Jamaica, for her health, has
claims to the distinguished t attention of
our citizens. Earl Effingham, in the
beginning of the Ute contest wirhGreatl
Britain, alone opposed, in the House of
Peers, an attempt to reduce these ft^cs
ci et armis. Finding his opposition of
no weight, he resigned a commission of
Lieut. General, rather chan aft against us.
grocs, who were flying, (hiking to the
right and left, follows op his man, per
ceives him enter a house filled with ne
groes, he does not deli ft,purfues, arrives.
Eight fleps at the entrance of the house
do not flop him, afeends them on horse
back, sword in hand, and in the midst
of the croud, singles out the negro he
was pursuing, kills him on the spot, rind'
returns to camp with the standard.
BANK.