Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1802-11-19
FROM THE rALLAD1UM.
LESSONS FROM HISTORY.

q
def.,o,iln TO make ute Of the rabbie, ard &c
depreis the nidiing clais Of cisizens. In
old Rome, Marius, for the hftf time on
the annals Of that Republic, emitted MS
folders from the ,fxtb clais, Of thoie VII
had nothing. Whereas, until that time,
the armies Of Rome weie competed OF
thoEe!who paid taxes. The honor OF Dear
log arms weas confined 10 TIE Jfsenea, as
they would be called ID Connecticut
They alone held the political power, and
the right of voting Fer, although the
rabhle or fxth clafs was not wholly exclut-
ed from iafragc, yet ,hofe who take The
pains to read Lyy or DioniEas OF H-li-
carnaifls, will perceive that the exereiie
Of their righr was very efatsaally guarded
rom abufe.
AS ambition advanced, the rabble were
courted. Marius admitted citizens from
the cities of Italy, 10 familiar phrale, he
uaiuraLiSed every body thar would come
to Rome and vote armies and provinces
TO. him. Accordingly, the eterual city,
as Roman vanity denominatedit 1t, the con.
queror and ioyereign Of nations, was
herielfla5dued BY frsud Of frangers.-
They were naturalized in troops, and
ruihed in TO make the native Romans
ftrangers and fervants in Rome itielf =
Tbi5 gerry qvork is going on in Amerifa.-
Every lhip from ireland brings to Phila-
delphia more eifisexs than whart-rats, and
a peh as hard TO endure or 10 get rid of.
The ruin of Rome followed. Liberty
fell 6ra, for ffangers came in TO betray it.
Then Roman glory faded, for The armies
were competed Of rabble who were TOO
bafe to feel the inlpiEation Of pa!r'otifm,
and they had too much power 10 making
Emperors, for dilcipline TO havea any pow
er overlhem. Too corrupt for freedom,
a rpongrel race too democratic for arms,
at length they could neither fuaain the
weight Of their own glory, nor even of
their chains. The Goths, and other bar
barians, extirpated the defendants Of the
Scipios as too eowardly and bafe even for
navery. They peopled Europe anew
with the fwarms of hardy favages of the
north, who loved liberty becaule it was
glory, and defpifed arts and letters becaufe
they were Roman.
Much might be added to this hort
hifory TO prove that the lowe.t clals in
Rome was always made the dupes OF
the arts Of dernagogues, in order 70 be
their convenient inarument. But never
was the COOL of this sabble the Object or
the effect Of the harangues and intngues
Of taeir flat.erers. Ii would lengthen this
paragraph too much, 10 purlLe the courfe
Of thele remarks any further. Perhaps it
it may be attempted hereafter.
In Paris we have leen the rabble al
lembled, the Roman and French dema-
gogues gave OF pretended to give them
political really gave them bread,
lometimes arms, and often feaAs and fports.
For alrnoe five hundred years, the En-
perors distributed daily three pound of
bread each, to lazy crew who loitered
from morning to night i'll the circus or
amphitheatre. This kept idLereis in fate
Of dependence on the prince, bur it in
created the number Of the idle. At the
fame time, it augmented the burdens that
the in!uarious middIing clafs OF citizens
had to bear. Thefe at lengsa became 10
heavy, and the military government while
it was obliged to court the bale, needy
and vicious multitude, was 70 difcourag-
ing to the holders Of property that the
Empire fell into a confnmption. The
people dim;nihed, the lands became va
cant, and the found population perifhed.
It's place was fupplied by the Barbarians,
who lertled by tens of thoufands and at
lengeha fubver,ed the Empire 4 jate
7vbieb zoe are doisg err atmef 10 w,qtt7 on
or c94Hsyy.
In like manner the French revolution