The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-06-20

licences, did not deem thernfclves degraded, be-
caute they had become II once happy ard ufe-
tul. But the far greater number i,iil continued
to harai6 their unhappy va!ials by means of Oh.
tolete and intoierable claims, to enforce the
exclniive>right ofthe chacc by the terror OF Cruz
el puniihments, and to ffuf' up the incen!e
which the compliant prielt removed periodically
rom the altar of the divinity, 10 trike the ma
neral bondimcn with awe, and crafty the ft n
les OF their naughty lords. They had thus be
come odious to the peaiantry, vhoiS obedience
iprung o?ly from their fears, and who Gghed
III tecret for retributon and revenge!
what the poiieiors of hefs originally acQuir-
cd by their iwordS, the clergy had obtained by
the profuiicn of barbarous age. Taking adj
vantage OF the weakness of kings, and the ieuo-
rance OF mobiles, they extended over both the
chains OF iuperittion, and feized on the better
portion OF France in the mans of Heaven but
they were careful TO add terror to duplication ::
and, while they conferred the bie.Iings of ano-
Their world with laviih hand, eager to sniure TO
themirlveS the riches of the preient, they rnoua-
ced, with eternal punithments, all thoie who
oppofed either the increafc or the duration of
their power. Yet, in the early periods of an A.
iniable and bsneiicent religion, the ecclelaaica
hierarchy NUT b allowed to have exhibited fire.
quent inttances of the mott edifying piety, IN adj
thton 10 the mot icrupuous auttciity But
wealth, as uuai. had corrupted their fucceGors:
they now mingled in the intripues Of the court {;
they yielded 70 the cravings Of PATTON, and the
Fluctuations Of luxury they even caballcd to
become placement, hnanciers, and miniters-
Some afpired to and actually obtained the Ro-
| man purple, through the medium of minions &
| iniitrei,es; and others had brought contempt
| upon their order, by the irregularity OF their
| lives, and the fcandalous improperly of their
| conduct {: all the pride of the mitre remained,
| but the crofier was no lcnger coniidered as the
| psftoral ftatf of the patriarchal times.
1t is alto worthy Of remark. that the influence
| OF fuperittion, and even of the clergy, was now
wildly on the decline throughout the nation :;
and that an age devoted to the cultivation OF IL
terature and the licences, felt itfef but little in
| terefed IN thoie polemical contentious which at
once occupied and diigraced the two former
, rcigns. The frivolous and improbable difputes
about speculative points Of theology, were eli
ther wholly exploded, or confined foley to the
cioiiter The very names of the contending
ie6ts had become obfolete; and witt the holy
tervour about grace, heavenly love, and free
will, had disappeared the molinifts, the ianfe-
nits, and the quietitts.
The amazing wealth pofiei1ed by nineteen
archbiihops, and one hundred and twenty two
| blihops; the immenfe revenues belonging to
twelve hundred and lightweight abbeys, twelve
thouiand four hundred priorjes, and fourteen
, thouiand ieven Hundred and eighty converts
excited the iurprife, and perhaps alto the envy,
OF the laty. They began to enquire into the
original intention of the founders and as their
zeal was no longer kept alive by miracles, car
nal and ieifih age repined at the Multiplication
of 70 much ufeful treaiure while the oublic
creditor. vibrating between lis intereGs an<! his
Preiudices, at one time wiihed to preierve the
lnitltutions OF his forefathers, and at another
longed for a reformation iimilar to that which
had occurred In England during the early part
OF the ilxteenth century in confequence of
which, the wealth of the church might be APP
piled to the icrvice of the fate.
In the mean time the dignified clergy, leaving
the care of their flock to others, generally ref
ded at the court, or in the capital. Their nu-
merous and exteniive royalties were atiminifter-
cd by delegates, who abated nothing of the feu-
dial rigours; the executive rights of the chace
were enforced with unrelenting feverity the
peaiantry already opprciled by the mobiles,
8roaned under the cXaStons of the church ; and
tithes, ever viewed with an evil eye even in rich
countries, were peculiarly grievous to improve
rlihed cutivators retding in unproductive foils.
The parochal clergy, although poor themieves
contributed the only fay and coniolation of the
people they alto were oppreiled by their
more opulent brethren, for the prelates had
continued TO throw the burden of the z,oIia1ta-
~ eft upon the great body of the prieithood,
whole complaints had long proved unayaiiing,
but whole refeitnent, at a fubftquent period,
by inducing them to join the third-eftafc produ-
ced fchim in the church, and put an end to
the efablihed hierarchy.
While the claims and privileges Of the nobility
and clergy had become stationary, and remain
ed nearly in the fame fate as during the middle
ages, when they at once conecrated and
ihielded by the preiudices of the times, the ac-
quiitions fthe people were utterly incompati-
bic with their ituation. The fine arts had in
fpired them with taitc, commerce had DILUTED
wealth, and knowledge had taught them to detcft
the pride and the injuftice of the mobiles. Under
the degrading forms of an abfoute monarchy,
they hadimbbed a republican education. While
they beheld all the enblems OF tyranny around
them, the youth were taught to admire the in
ititutlOns of Greece and of Rome. At the mo-
ment their native country was cxpoied to the
JOINT ipoliationS of Pompadour, Dcbarre, and
Louis XIV. a Themitoces. an Ariitdes, a Ca
to, Cicero, and Cincinnatus, were the mo-
dels held up for their imitation. So frong was
the current of opinion, that Condillac became
the preceptor of princes and the defendants
of abfoiute monarchs beheld, with benignant
eye, the triumph of that celebrated Roman, /!
who had avenged the crimes of a tylant with
bis blood. Such, in ihort, was the unaccounta-
bic peiycrlity of the age, that the bands of .
king engaged during the morning in fgning de-
crees OF proicription, were employed at night