The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1791-10-14 00:00:00, page 2

be done : but, in addition to this right,t
which they possessed by delegation, they I
set up another right by assumption, that
of binding and controling posterity
to the end of time. The case, therefore,
divides iifelf into two parts ; the right
which they possessed by delegation, and
the right which they set up by assumpti
on. The firft is admit ed ; but, with
refp'ed to the fecdnd, I reply—
There never did, there never will,
and there never exist a parliament, or
any description of men, or any genera
tion of men, in any country, possessed of
the right of the pd*er of binding and
controling posterity to the , end of
time" or of commanding forever how
the world shall be governed, or who
should govern it: And therefore all
such clauses, a&s or declarations, by
which the makers of them attempt to
do what they have neither the right nor
the power to do, nor the power to exe
cute, are in themselves null and void.
Every age and generation must be as
free to a& iifelf, in all cajes, as the ages
- and generations which proceeded it.
Th. r^^y and pferumuon or govern
ing beyond the grave, is the moll ridi
culous and infolcat of all tyrannies.
Man has no property in man ; neither
has any generation a property in the
generations which are to follow. Toe
parliament or the people of 1688, or of
any other period, had no ciore right to
dispose of the people of the prefect day,
or to bind or to control them in any
(hape whatever, than the parliament or
the people of the prefect day have to
dispose of, bind or control those who.
are to live a hundred or a thoofand years
hence. Every generation is and muff
be competent to all the purposes which
its occasions require. Ft is the living &
not the dead, that are to be accommoda
ted- When man ceases to be his pow
er and his wants cease with him ; and
having no longer any participation in
the concerns- of the world, he has no
longer any authority in direding who
shall be its governors, or how its go
vernment shall be organized, or how
administered.
hi England, it is said that money
cannot be tak,n one of the pockets of
the people without their content: But
who authorized and who could au
thorize the parliament of i6ss to con
trol and take away the freedom of pof
terity,and limit and confine their rights
cf acting in certain cases forever, who
were not in exiftince to give or with
hold their coafent ?
A greater ^brdity cannot present
Those who- have quitted the world,
and those who are not yet arrived at
it, are as remote from each other as the
utmost ftrecch of mortal imagination
can conceive: What possible obligation
then can exist between them, what rule
or principle can be laid down, that two
non-entides, the one out of exiftande
and the other not in, and who never
can meet in this world, that the one
mould control the ot her tothe end of
time ?
I am not contending for, nor agiinft,
any form of government?, nor for, nor a
gainst, any party here or elfewh^re.
That which a whole nation chooses to
do, ic has a right to do. Mr. Buike
fays no. Where then does the right
eftift ? I am contending for the right of
the living, and again! their being wil
led away, and controlled and contraded
for, by the. niacafcript assumed autho
rity of the dead ; and Mr. Burke is con
tending for the authority of the dead
over the rights and freedom of the li
ving. There was a ti±e when Kings
disposed of their crowns by will upon
their death beds, and consigned the peo
ple,like beads of the field, to whatever
focceffor they appointed- This is now
so exploded as fcarcelv to be remember
ed, and so monstrous as hardly to be
believed : But the parliamentary clauses
upon which Mr. Burke builds his politi
cal church, are of the fame nature.
The laws of every country must be
analogous to fame common principle.
In England, no parent or master, nor alt
the authority of parliament, omnipotent
as it has called itfelf, can bind or con
trol the personal freedom even of an
individual beyond the age of twenty one
years : On what ground of right then
Could the parliament of 1688, or any
other parliament, bind all posterity for
ever.
itself to the understanding of rtan, than
what Mr. Burke offers to hrs readers.
He tells them, and he tells the
world to come, that a certian body of
men, who existed a hundred years ago,
made a law, and that there docs.not
now exist in the nation, nor ever will,
nor ever can, a power to alter it. Un
der how many fubtilties, or absurdi
ties, has the divine right to govern
been imposed on the credulity of man
kind ! Mr, Burke has difeovered a new
one, and he fas Shortened his journey to
Rome, by appealing to the power of
this infallible parliament of former days ;
and he produces what it .has done, as
of divine authority : for that power cruft
certainly be mere than human, which
no human power to the end of time can
alter.
From what, or from whence, does
Mr. B%ke pro.e the right of any hu
man power to bind posterity forever ?
He has produced his clauses; but he
must produce also his proofs, that such
a right existed, and (hew how it exiffed.
If it ever existed, it must now exist;
for whatever appertains to the nature
of man, cannot be annihilated by man.
It is the nature of man to die ; and he
will continue to die as long as he con
tinues to be born. But Mr. Burke has
set up a fort of political Adam, in whom
all posterity are bound forever; he must
therefore prove that his Adam possessed
such a power, or such a right.
The weaker any eord is, the less i'
will bare to be Wretched, and the worse
is the policy to stretch it,unlefs it is in
tended to break it. Had a person con
templated the overthrow of Mr. Burke's
positions, he would have proceeded as
Mr. Burke has done. He would have
magnified the authorities, on purpose to
have called the right of them in quef
tion ; and the instant the queftioa of
right was started, the authorities mull
have been given up.
It requires but a small glance of tho't
to perceive, that although laws madein
one generation often continue in force
from the consent of the living. A law
not repealed continues in force, not be
cause it cannot be repealed, but because
it is not repealed ; and the non-repeal
ing passes for consent.
But Mr. Burke's clauses have note
ven this qualification in their fovour.
They become null, by attempting to
become immortal. The nature of them
precludes consent. They deftroy.th e
right which they might have,by ground
ing it on a right which they cannot have.
Immortal power is not a human right, &
therefore cannot be a right of parlia
ment. The parliament of 1688 might
as well have passed an aft to have au
thorifed themselves to live fefrever, as
to make their authority live forever.
All therefore that can be said of them
is, that they are a formality of words,
of as much import, as if those who us
ed them had addrerfed a (congratulati
on to themselves, and in the oriental Hile
of antiquity, had said, O parliament
live forever,_
The circumflances of the world are
continually changing, and the opinions
of men change also ; and government
is for the living, and not for the dead,
But Mr. Burke has dorie fame service,
not to his cause, but to his country, by
bringing those clauses into public view.
They feive to demonstrate bow D^effary
it is at all times to watch against the
attempted encroachment of power,
and to prevent its running to excels,
ft fc fomewhar extraordinary, that the
offence for which James 11. was expel
led,that of setting up power by assump
tion, Should be readied under another
Shape and form, by the parliament that
expelled him. It Shews, that the rights
of man were bat imperfectly understood
at the Revolution ; for certain it is,
the right which that permanent set up
by adaption (for by delegation it had
not, and could not have it, because
none could give it) over the persons and
freedom of posterity forever, was of the
fade tyrannical unfounded kind which
James attedpt^d to set up over the par
liament arid the Nation, and for which
he was expelled! .The only difference
is, (for in principle they differ not) that
the cue was an usurper over the. li
ving, and the other, over the unborn ;
and as the one has no bettef authrity to
Hand than upon the other, both of them
must be equally null and void, and of no
effc&.
NEWBURN, [N, C.] AUG. 20.
T\IED, on Friday, the 12th
inst CoLGeorgeMitchell,
of Onflow county. The par
ticulars of the tragical mari
ner in which this gentleman
came to his untimely end,
have been related to us in the
following manner :
Col. Mitchell and Robert
W. Snead, Esq ; were com
petitors for the honour of
representing the county of
Onflow in the Senate of this
State,—The exertions of the
candidates and of their freinds
had been productive of much
ill-will and animosity, before
the close of the poll, when
Mr. Snead was declared duly
elected..
After the election was
closed, Mr. Snead was obser
ved to call Col. Mitchell from
amongst the people assemb
led at the Courthouse, and
to go with him into a
thicket just by. Short af
ter, the report of a pistol
reaching the ears of those
who were at the Courthouse,
attracted them to the spot
from whence it iffued' ; where
in the presence of Mr. Snead
only, lay Col. Mitchell a
corpse. Two wounds were
difeovered on him! one from
a pistol shot, passing through
from his shoulder out below
his ribs ; the other on his
skull, apparently from a hea
vy blow with the butt of a
pistol. Mr. Snead was there
upon apprehended, but has
been since admitted to bail.
Col. Mitchell bore an un
blemished character—was ve
ry active during the war, and
had for many years the ho
nour of reprelenting his
country in the General as
sembly. He has left a widow
and eight children.
PHILADELPHIA SEPT. 2g.
E^traa of a letter from Rich
mond, September Is.
" I seldom write you any thing that
psffes here ; but a tranfadion which has.
lately come to light, is so extraordinary
for barbarity that I will inform you of
it. Upwards of thirty years ago, a man
died and left a son of about twenty and
a daughter very young. She appeared.
As a!moft one hundred pages of Mr.
Burke's book are employed upon these
clauses, it will consequently follow,
that if the clauses themselves, so far as
they set up an eftmed, formed domini
on over , posterity forever, are unauthori
tative, and in theirnature null and void,
that all his voluminous inferences and
declamation drawn therefrom, or foun
ded thereon are null and void also:
and on this ground I rest the matter.
it is the living only that has any right
in it. That which may be thought right
and found convenient in one age, may
be thought wrong and . found inconve
nient in another. In such cases, Who
is to decide ; the living or the dead ?
American Advices.
[To be Continued ]
—" ids lan a writing, 1 beg leave
to communicate a little incident, which
perhaps may give feme light in the natu-t
ral biflory of birds. A neighbour of
mine, having occasion to go to the meeting
boufe, with feme others late in autumn,
after the cold weather had commenced, cb
ferved^ne of those beautiful birds, called
humbirds, perched on a nail, in an atti
tude so natural that he at jirf imagined it
to be alive. With caution he approached,
and, laid his hand gently upon it, and
found it fliff and lifcleft. While he and
others were handling & examining the cu
rious little creature he difeovered a small
degree of motion which indufed him to put
it into his bosom duhere in a jhsrt time,
it recovered perfect animation, if al!
the agility of a bumbird in the hammer.
This infiance has in some measure con
firmed an opinion which 1 have long
entertain eq, that many of oar so birds
continue with us through the winter in a
torpid, insensible fate. If the bi^d.above
mentioned could be fan reanimated by the
warmth of the human bod,, why may not
others be capable of revivfance in the
beams ofthe vernalfun ?
"A curioft) of a different hind, relating
to the human Jpecics, I wi I take the liberty
to mention. Ayoung man in this town, feme
years since was ip corfpen-e of bathing rig
water, vifted with a peculiar kind of df
order, which operated b, parax, Ims.—
When aftfixed bem be would at firfl fall
down ; but in a moment or two ri<e pfiT
fed of an agility far fuferior tefwbat was
natural. In two hours, and Jometimes
sooner, the fit would pass of and leave
him in his u/ual ffate, if to appearance in
health. But what was most remarkable
in this case, was the date of his mind.
While he was in a fit, he remembered per
rather deficient in her interled ; how
ever foe was to receive, on her marri
age, a proportion of the eftate,'which
was considerable. Soon after the death
cf the father, the girl was said to die,
and be buried ; and has not been heard
of finee until lately, when it has been
difeovered that her inhuman brother
confined her in a final! room, where she
was fed ; but had no conversation nor
fight of any person but himfelf. In
this horrid ficuation, she remained
more than thirty years. Her mind,
like that of an infant, unimproved and
not able to make herfelf underftpod—
with a sacred and dismal visage, and
out of fhope. He has been before the
Court ; but, they knew of co punish
ment that the law had inflided on feeh
a crime, and have ordered him for trial
at the ensuing Cturt ; but it was with,
difficulty he could be preceded from the
juftice and honour of the people, among
whom were many leading men of the
county, who would, if no. prevented by
the Magistrates, h^ve inflicted on him
that punishment which the greatness of
his crime merited !ut which probably the
law has not provided- -as the 'crime is
unprecedented. It is said his eldest fen
is the only person who w^s acquainted
with her confinement.
seal, things which bad occurred in all
proceeding fits, but nothing which had hap
pened in the internals,or in the time prior
to his disorders In the intervals, all bis
fits, and ever, thing which bad fetfd in
them were totally obliterated, but be coat'd
diftinal, recoltea the occurrences of former
intervals. The time of his f:s appeared to
him in continuity as did also bis healthful
periods—when one was present, the other
wae loft. If in the time of a fit be took
up any bufenfs be would drop it when the
fit ceased ; without any recolledion of the
matter ; & when the fit returned be would
reflate the business without an) idea of bis
having dfontinxed it. The case was
the fame, if he undertook an, thing in the
intervals of this disorder. In fort be.
seemed to,have two difina minds, which
aged b, turns independently of each other.
In the fpa:e, I think,of about two years,,
is the life of a particular remedy, his fits
left him if he was reauced to a Jim,le
confeioudneG. The remedy which cured
him or deprived him of one of bis fouls,
I have not been able to learn, the fami
ly have left the receipt.
NEW-HAVEN, AUGUST 3 1.
Extract of a letter from the Rev. Joseph
Lanthrop cf Weft-Springfie d, to the
President of Yale College, dated July
18,1791. ,
'' The above account I received from .
bis father ^ from others of the fatal,."