The New-Jersey journal — Chatham, N.J., 1782-09-18 00:00:00, page 1

:N E W-J E RSEY JOURNAL
For the New-Jersey Journal.
^BENEVOL U S.
S I R,
ONCE more you have forced me to an affertiqn of
my writings, and a conviction of your absurdi
ties. 1 (hould not have delayed thus long to have
answered your lai! epistle, had not my attention been
en g a ged by concerns of more importance than a
correspondence with you, tam truly sensible that
the publick must, before this period, be fufficiently
difgalted with a controversy the event of which can
not be interesting; yet, from the gencrofity of mv
countrymen I dare p<efagerhat they once more will
fuffer an innocent and moffenfive man to vindicate
tfte cause of eq fry and truth.— Before 1 enter into
the principles of the contention, as you view them,
it may be necessary to apprise you of a matter you
ass fl to be ignorant of. You pretend that you do net
write under theinfl tenet of atiy evil motive. Doubt
let's you are as deficient in the knowledge of the
human heart as in the rudiments of grammar and
philosophy; I therefore advise you to read the max
ims of the celebrated Rochefoucault—Voltaire,
Chefterfield, and Swift, tell as they ate fine pictures
of the human heart : The price is trifling, the ad.
vantage may be high. Among other things he will
tell you, in Davis's tranllarion, that " Pride is more
6 ' concerned than BENEVOLENCE in our remon
-66 ftrances to persons guilty of faults ; and we re
-66 prove them, not so much with a design tocorre&
“ as to mak them believe that we ourselves are free
*' from such failings,"- Arif when we coufider
your attention to trifles, which if even as faulty as
you fop/o'°, cannot be of mo al concern ; and the
fullian fluff in which you dress your ideas, I believe
the judicious wi 1 readily acknowledge yout leifu^e
hours wou'd be better engaged in coueßing your
•0.0 hea t than quibbling on general expreflions tri
any man's writings —I cannot imagine why you
addressed the firft part of your continued letter to
the" Inquirer ?" Why you preferred the French to
the Latin pepofitionj 1 believe you can assign no
other cause, but an unwearied spirit of contradiction;
for I find in other instances, as in the word " fervor,'
you make use of the latin idiom.—Your motto;
doubtlcfs, was intended to be severe; perhaps it
fulfilled your purpose ; if it did, it has cofrefponded
with mine This paper I mean to devote to a tegu*
far refutation of your charges; arid indead of being
facetious like your merry honour, (hail endeavour to
be reafor.able.—True many authors offer me lines
very applicable in the present inflance as mottoes.
Pope, among the rest, is very pertinent, where he
fays,
Some have at firfl for quits, then avriters faf,
Turn'd ctitics next, and pros'd plain fools at !af.
But, Sir, as I told you before, I wave these petty
advantages, and proceed to the contest. However it
may be necessary to inform you that I am determined
not to be confuted by the cloud of circumlocution
you have railed to render the lineaments of truth less
difcernable, arid lead the unguarded and bewildered
reader to plausible error.
Your comments 1 (hall not attend to, unless where
it may be necessary to expose their jefuitical decepti
on. The disputed passages in ray papers 1 mean to
defend. If 1 faceted, your objections subside of
course. Isl mifearry.they are naturally established.
Your firft objection is to this passage, “ Every
«' man thinks he is better calculated for any empioy
-6 ment than the one aligned by fortune" The
words that you foppofe warrant the Ibi&ure are
« & every" and "any." In support of the firft I re
ply, that it is an assertion made on my part: you tell
me there is no method to gain the information but
by the uftimeny of all mankind. This, Sir, vou
have nothing to do with ; the means which furnished
me with the knowledge you have no right to invetii
gate Your foie business (give me leave to put you
into a regular line of reasoning) is to prove my as
sertion is fade ; and this, 1 conceive, can be perform
ed by no natural mode but producing a man who
can declare he has ever been perfectly contented. In
this state, the affertton absolutely rests in ray favour.
Vol. IV.]
WEDNESDAY, September iB, 1782.
Your next objection is to the word"any." You
must bear with me a moment while I produce incon
teftible authority for the exprefficn. We must fiift
coofider that when the (bjetis of any study are so
numerous as to exceed case in confiderihg ib< ividual
ly, they are generally divided by the learned into
diftirid claims; Thus moraiiOs p oceed in cenfider
ing the virtues; thus natmalids in the contemplati
on O' their extensive fubjeft; thus philosophers ar
range the mechanic powers; an" thus the great Sir
Francis Bacon, in confiderihg the employments of
man, divides the busy pa % t of m nkind into instruc
tors and executors. Under indruaors he classes
those who communicate the laws of God, the laws
of nature, and the laws of man. The executors he
divides into oral and manual ; and under these or
ders comprehends the diff rent vocations of busy
life. To thib I may add, that Lord Kairres, in the
appendix to his hiftbry of mn, 'adopts the made as
regular and ufeful.—lt was on thi plan 1 moved,
when I mentioned the empbvmerts of man. No
o her you must, if you have C: i^on honthy, ac
knowledge 1 could have mean; for so various a
creature as man can be reduced to no system but 2
general one. The diffied employment of the spe
cies cannot be confideied Angularly. because they Mie
not fingulariy ktown. Who can estimate the difa
gieeab e employment of the African, whom defart*,
ofthdufauds 0 f miles ex ent, secure from the research
es of the curious? Yu his employment mutt come
undera general head, and therefore can alone be ge
nerally referred 10. From ad which, it evidenly ap
pears, that I was tight when I f&id “ any employ
ment."
You nett bbjed to my assertion that *' the lawyer^
" and phyfitjans are. in general, better acquainted
" in couverfation with the police of an army and rhe
" copernicean; than the contutu,<m of their country
" and the materia medica" You said, “aethey
''biter verted in m ; li%ry z ic horomical affairs,
" than in the duties of their reflective tunCuons?"
To this I replied, '' that in conversation they general
"ly are." Yuu then demanded," f only in convert
" fation, why cenfue them for deficiency, in what
" does not relate to the a&ual exerc ieo theirduties."
To thia I now answe r , that he must be void offenfe
who finding another embarraffen rind ignorant in
conversation, by an unnatural inference, fupp^fes
him an adept in his study; And 1 verify believe the
man, whether lawyer, physician, or ecclesiastic, who
is emulous :o dabble in fludies which he has not ler
fure to finilh, and the eby neglects bis profeffional
concerns, will in he event difappnin his ill founded
ambition, and be an injury t° mny.
You next censured my assertion relating to the
farmers. To your excep ion I replied, and you
dispute the vindication You fay, " there are foore
beef and fi or in this country than the inhabitants
want." You altered my fingula veb into a plural
one, although the ve bs arc used in such an instance,
almost indiff reritly. Thus we find, in Ecc. xxii.
15." Sand, and fal(, and a mass of iron is e^fier to
66 bear than a man without underflanuing." The
singular verb being understood as applied to ach of
the preceding terms ^-However? Sir, to return to
the great obfra of censure in this paragraph, you
run into n any addufli ms, as usual, 10 prove that
more beef and flour is actually raised in .this " c on
try" than the inhabitants require for support. You
would have fared much time, I dare fay, hid the
word in the manuscript been literally printed. Such
mistakes will sometimes happen If you consult the
manufeript you will find the word is county, and
intended for rhe one in which the press in fixated,
arid in which I reside.
THE INQUIRER.
[To be ended the next paper.]
Some remarks oft the doctrine of Responsibility,
the doarine so much preached up of late by many of
our leaders.
CT' 1 HAT our law makers are under no obligation
, to regard the inftruaions of their constituents,
is a mere innovation. A flagitious piece of do&rine
of this kind, it is laid, has been advanced lately by
a person in an eminent station, in a fprech of which
I think fatan himfe f need not be ashamed to have
been the reputed author, viz. That the common
people have no right, or business, to be colliding
together to petition or remonftratte against public
grievances, or to infpe& the conduit of those at the
head of public affairs ; and that it would be infigni
licant and to no purpose so to do as long as we have
an army, meaning, as I foppofe, to enforce laws or
ordinances be they ever so tyrannical. vVith re oft
ancel have forced my pen to write it, And now I fee
it on paper, 1 know not whether, for the honour of
human nature, such a scrip of infernaiity ought noc
to be condemned to annihilation . Is that the ufa
for which that gentleman thinks we support our ar
my ? What have we not to fear from fucl iprinciples
as those from which proceeds all the despotic and ar
bitrary forms of government amongst the Turks and
elsewhere ? From whence, but from Inch principles,
proceeded the !a^s in England in Charles the lid
reign, whereby petirienii g for rediefs of grievances
was made criminal, But ih b tier times, when a
juster idea of refpemfibiiity prevailed in that land,
their receiving wages imposed an n b igation on them
to do the business of their cenftitueh's, and that in a
manner they chose it fhou!d be done; and their
constant language in the House nf Commons was,
we dare no grant any more fubficies, how Ihall we
arfwe-i, (0 the people, whole business we are doing?
Wha< will the people fay to this &c.
Bur at ihh da it is notorious that the right of
tonftiruenrs to instr. & their members, and the confe
q ent duty of members to obey inftruaions, is quef
ioiied by many, and b many given up; a right
wh ; ch, in a virtuous republic, ought at all ares to be
held lacred and intro ate ; and every violator there
of ought n be confideied an enemy to the natural
righe of mankind, and t enter as fich.
Rouse my countrymen! Relume your rights, and
fhowajutt resentment against every intruder; and
may & fame fpi,n and principle which ra h faed
you from he hand of tyranny, support to you the
rights cf humanity; LYtURGUS.
BOSTON, September 5.
Last Friday a vessel arrived a New-line, in ^6
days from France. A Gentleman tha came paflen
ger who left Paris the 14 h of Juli, anc arrived ia
town yesterday, informs i htt the M' ifters font
the feve a: belligerent powers we e me s at la is
for let ling the terms of a general peat ; Tha the
combin'd fleet of F ance and Spain c f 0 , o'4;
fai of the line, besides frigates, were then mitoeg in
the Brittfh channel ; the English fleet, comm nled
by Lord Howe, of 22 fail of the line, were obliged
to retire, and were effectual y blocked up in por.f-.
m u;n : That recounts were received in F ance of
the important capture of Admiral Hughes, vih 4
ships of the line, by the French fleet in the East-
Indies ; And that the siege of G'b a'tar was ca ing
on with the geateft vigou-:;he K ig of Spain's
own brother was a volunteer on boa:U the Spanish
fleet, before that place.
It has happened as the wiser have foremen. Th#
Court of London, wi b all it's cha ges, is not so in
tent upon a fair and speedy peace as appears .ces
would have made us believe. Our la est advices
from Europe conirm be appT»b nl o- of many,
that our enemies are co much eae rich their late
advantage in the Weft Indies, trough more owing
to good fortune than superior bravery or (kill, to al
low a pacification upon admifiible termt; they have
relied too much on the inattention of these States, of);
our divisions, and above all on our infamous trade
with them, nor t o hope for fume future advartdgm
against us. Their intel igenc # rs in the States bast
doubdefs aggravated ever/ thing among us that:
t tided to raise heir hopes; and Britain may soon re
pent her not embracing so fair an opportunity of.
giving repose to he felf and to the vorld, upon 1
reasonable and broad basis. The laß ca[ttre of
Admiral Hughes, with 4 (hips of h line, in the
East Indies, by the F ench, cot fide rd in all its cif
cumftance*, in a quarter of the world so impb ant to
the British commerce, together wi.h he ate decided
part taken by the Dutch,and their prelent awakened
[Numb. CLXXXVIIL]