Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1803-09-28

Why not more tillll TIC iiSlit - q 10 .
candle to that of meridian sun: or to
speak in the language ola Vlrglnlan ora
for. than buckle bury to Bears A-e.
Did not our great Apostle Rossau abandon
his wife and children, and send them to the
hospital for the good of the human race !?
Nav remember the fate of yours. Then
why should disciples wish to be wise, or
better than their masters All ask is that
YOU find me work, in the way Of our yoca-
ton, either in the new world or in the old.
Here, in all probability there viii be none
IN our day grant that sure, certain
and noble foundationis laid in the univer-
sal exercise of the elective Franchise Tor
q coming generation, but at present we are
in this country much in want OF large Po-
pulous cities and towns, even the countrs
ought to be pretty well populated when this
period arrives and how soon that may be,
none ofus canten. Here as in every other
country will a majority Of the sovereign
people possess nothing or next to nothing:
Then with the universal exercise of the
elective franchise, let those who have pro-
perry look well TO their threats and
not till then will Liberty, Equality and
the true. genuine Rights OF man be enjoyed
and the Tree Of Liberty flourish. grant
that things will not long continue in this
happy situation; the country will soon be-
come impoverished, aad the people miser-
able in this state of things. Some Nero or
Tanlerlane or Gengiskan, or BuonaParte,
| will mount over their heads and rule with a
rod Of iron, and whose oar they will pull
| with as blind a zeal as they lent themselves
to their demagogues to destroy their for
ner government; but what OF that? Have
! not the majority, told by the head OF the
| sovereign people, a right to do what they
please Surely they have, or they don't
| enjoy the true Rights of Man. Lhave OBJ
1 served too in this country that the mass OF
I the people are extremely ignorant, particu-
! larly what is foolishly called the better sort.
4 So much 50 that ! have heard many assert
I that Liberty, Equality, and the Rights OF
+ Man were never known nor understood, TIL
] your writings were published. Now take
| the following specimen. keep schoolin
| a poor part Of the country, called the Quas-
| quas, near Mr.. Rinaldo Johnson's mill
where breathe, but cannot De said to live.
| To this mill sometimes go, as well for the
! purpose OF getting little grain ground, as
! to hear what is passing in the world; for
Mr. Johnson takes the papers, and some
times reads to the people, and lendsthem
! to such of the poor nelghbors as can read
I By which means sometimes get one. !
/, think it was on the Saturday after your first
J letter was published, went to mill where
/ found Mr.. Johnson surrounded by half a
/ dozen people TO whom he was reading your
first letter. They appeared to listen with
I much attention, and, when he had finished,
/ asked him who he had been reading about,
| for they did not understand 1t. :" Gracious
/ powers said Mr.. johnson, did you never
hear talk Of Tom Paine?' Why yes,
they allowed they had heard something a
/ bout him, but forgot what it was" Did
1 you never hear talk Of the Rights of Man
Why yes, they had heard of UNI, but had
i never seen um." Why, said MI. John
son, he is the very person who first disco
vered the real Rights OF Man, and if there
was any such thing as justice IN the world.
he ought to have statue built for him, and
put in Congress hall. [ could keep silence
j no longer, and told Mr. Johnson and the
people that did not like to see them mis-.
led. 1t was true that you was q great mo.
dern philosopher, as great perhaps as any
in this country, but that you was not the
inventor Of the Rights Of Man; that these
rights were curious sort Of things, that they
had been known to slumber and sleep for an
hundred years and upwards at tlme in.
deed the last nap they took was not a short
one for it continued from about the year
1860, to 1899, a period OF little less than
an Llndred ar1l tlirt1- 1zeea1s tilat thez Na.re