The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-09-08
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
WIN
Z II z X II IN b o W.--..No. Nv.
FRENCH REVOLUTION /;
EMpERoRSHip OF BoN.4pAR7E.
AND

can France, has excited very oppotte feniati-
ons, among the political le6ts of different civil
lized nations of Joy and triumph with the ad-
vocates of deipotiim of indignation and re-
grct, among the friends of liberty, if not unplea-
FAINT fenfations ofdoubt and defpair, with refped
to the general pra6ticability of mild and econo-
mical political inftitutiops. The firlt may be
fuppofed to have felt that kind of troubled plea
fure, if pleafure it can be called, which Milton
defcribes the arch-fiend to have enjoyed, when
he feduced the mother of mankind or that
fill more horrid fentiment of malicious fatisfac-
ton, which the fame poet attributes to Death,
when fhe was made acquainted with the num-
berleis victims, which the fuccefs of her internal
father would furniih her devouring jaws: they
t'grin horrible, ghaftly fmile." They are much
better plcafed that the French revolution has
commenced, progrefled and terminated as it
APPEARS to have done, than if fuch revolution
had never taken place, and the ancient depot
i'm had remained unfhaken. They coniider the
experiment and its failure as the lalt link in the
long chain of proofs, which tend to eitabih,
unalterably and incontrovertibly, this great and
important political axiom-rHE INSECURITY
AND INSTABILITY OF REPUBLICAN INSTITU-
TIoNs. They declare, that we have now be-
fore our eyes the fareft experiment, the grand
eft effort, and the albeit conducted attempt to-
wards the eftabhihment OF representative de-
mocracy, in highly enlightened nation, that
has ever been made: And that its failure is a
confirmation of the universal teitmony of all an
tquity, and the experience of modern times,
that mankind are 70 radically and irremediably
prone to vice and corruption, as to render them
unit, and, III fact, incapable. of governing them
felves, but require the chafening hand of MAJ
ter to fecure their baebiueG. They contend,
whatever doubts may have been heretofore en-
tertained, with reipe6 to the probability of
gradual emancipation of the human race, from
civil and religious tyranny, in proportion as they
become enlightened, on the fubiect of their DO
litical and fociai rights, that nozv, fuch doubts
mutt be changed into certanties ofther mprac-
ucability what was once prophecy, is now
hlitory what was once conjecture, is now ex-
perence; what was once theory, is now prsc-
tice. The example of antiquity is no LONGER
necefiary, fay they, to produce they are will
hing to reft the force of the argument on the
French experiment: external violence had no
agency in the defrucfion of French liberty like
Rome of old, fhe oft her liberty at the period
when ihe had triumphed over all her enemies
but the French revolution was monfter, gene
rated in vice and depravity, which, for lack of
other victims, has at length devoured its own
abortlve offspring. The deitruction OF this
moniter and its offspring produces the return of
local order, tranquility and Happiness, which
can only be fecured by monarchy. Emperor
Napoleon has awakened the dreaming philofo-
pher, and rent the veil from the eyes OF the VIII
oi"u! ipeCuldlor. with better fucceiS than
Canute he has addrelfed the riGng food of Ii
berty and emancipation" "a farIbait t5ou po...
Z" and no farfber!" Such is an abfract of what
imagine to be the feelings and opinions of the
advocates of defpotic power.
Far different are oieentertained the friend
OF liberty. The freedom of another hemi{phere
ieemed 10 dawn, and CLEAN upon his foul, like
the a!.-cheering luminary of day but the vice
of man has overfhadowed the fcene; his fancies
HPefed befO
thades OF deceptive twilight the long night of
deiPotin iucceeds. He looks back with regret
to the beautiful viiions which he INDUCED, ct
the period when he could hail a French, a Batas$I
Wan, an Helvetian, a Ligurian, Cfalpine,a Ro-
man, and Parthenopean Republic, as inhabit-
ing, IKE America, "the modeit maniion" of re-
preventative democracy. In the bitterness of
his foul he CURES the Bloody tyrant who has d.
rected the matter energies OF his mind to the de-
fruchon of thoie fair fabrics. Bonaparte might
have ranked with the Scipios and Catos of an
tquIty he is now ahociated with the dsfpots
OF modern Europe his venerated name would
have gone down the ftream of time, till time
HAL be no more, and unfading laurels have en-
c1rcled his immortal brow if will now defend,
with accelerating difgrace, to the atelt pofteri-
ty, and ntamy, eternal, everlating, will be ine-
parably connected with his name. But the friend
OF liberty, indignant at the ufurpation of Bona
parte, and lanenting the event as permanent
and Immediate defruction of the freedom of
France, although he does honor to the genera
fifty and ardor of his republican feelings, vet
falls into the error Of flaves and tyrants when
ne believes that the Organic Scnatus Confultum
is the grave of French liberty Though his
feelings and actions are perfectly dl1imilar, vet
he feems TO believe, with them, that it is ate, !
which even American freedom will one dav ex
perience, when age hasripened it for the repofe
ofdefpotiim, and time for the neep of death. |
But thefe opinions and feelings, if j may Judge !
from my own experience, will, in a great nea- !
lure fubiide; and our contempt for the worn
out, commonplace, ordinary direction, which |
Bonapalte's ambition has taken. will, in fome
degree, be diminii1ed, upon cooler and more
mature reelection. We fiall be led to enquire
whether the elevation of Bonaparte is really 10
permanently inaufpicious to liberty, and di(af-
trous to France, as the honet indignation Ios -
frit imprefiions would periuade us to-
In this enquiry, two prominent pol
preient themfcTves for coniiders
Has the French revolution aStualL
eond; fit has ended, what viii
tclllar, and the general caufe
mankind, loie or gain by it
The mof ancient and gend
different kinds of governn