Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1807-05-21

). The following extract from g late - Ssh
publication viii not be pnaccs ptabie to-
me SQUAD aud judicious reader. = will
be found 10 csn,ain many nsetui less
soss of polssics, Wisdom and Philosos
ply
AS Ia ths morals, which ia che ab.,
sence of all positive instisul'ens ssoPply
heir place by an influence perhaps more
powerful. the people OF Francs and the,
: roy-rnn.sst Of France, are totally without
any system. They are the hrss nastop II
the weird that has rendered variable what
na,ore intrndea should be s,ereal-whieh
! has converted virtue into sop histry, and
brought under dispusalion, Z loglcaI scsp
ticistn, the 6rss elements Of truth aud most
sure securiyiss of social peace. Morals.
with them is. taste, a fashions mode
varying according TO the circumstances Ct
the day. Their obligation is gone not as
.know.tdgea in praclice.. Atshe very best
the As: prinsipiss arc regarded merely as
simple truths, as totally unimportant and
; without galEc in action. Evsn honor, the
best gift of the feudal systen, In many.
points sufficient, ia almost all a useful
Substitute 70, natural morality aud honor,
have al. psrishrd-in France. The system
OF taccobinis1l has been followed. by that
Of military despotism. The principles Of
ac.ioa having taken the same course $500. --
France as na:ions and every Frenchman
Individually has the morals OF a soldier,
slavs, sophist; one that believes nothing
with sufficient faith 10 induce him TO adopt
issas a principle Of action; one who sysss-
maiically trusts his reason, aud sureilely
obeys his fears, his passions, his immedi-
ase9interess. Who would trust such an in-s
div;doalss p Who could con6de IN such a
nation
$ As soths manners CT the present race
of Frenchsnen, the picsureis still more. 40
:. hofrsns The manners Of na!fan aEs.its
minor morals; or rasker, perhaps, ITS mo.
-rsis 10 action through the daily Intercourse.
sofssfs aaa domestic society The manners
in France therefore at the present day are
su Oh as are suited 10 lis morals. he sha {
dow IS as drformad as The substance from
which ii is projected. Their private vir-
tue IS a, least as bad as sasir public virtue.
They are as bad husbands, fathers, friends,
sne;gabors, masters, and dependents as they
ere citizens. Break sheir general charac-
ter into all possible fragments, aud every
componeo, atom will be iuund or the same
precise quality as the general mass. Nor
is this state Of things temporary. There is
an action aud re- action which tends TO con-
tinue it. The state corrupss the. indlvidu.
al; the individual supplies the stock of
Y corruption to the state. Each mutually
feeds ADD is fed. The minor channels.
corrupting as they flow, return to swell the
grand national reservoir, which overflow
in iss farm with an augmented force OF We.
nom, and assimilases 20 Itself whateyerit
touches.
..Such, sherefore, is she,eivil desposism
of,he French government. The hye means
of control, aud securities of amoderateex-
srcise of the sovereign power constitution
Ian aristocracy Of privileged classes and
acknowledged corposations-long usage
morsls--and manners. have no existence.
One supreme will governs every thing
Treaties are without sanction, and the pub.
lie faith the private virtue of one who has
effected every thing by his contempt OF
il.
6 Regarded in its second point Of view
as military sdespo.ism, shs Preach form
Of goys.nnsn: is still more worthy osa,.
teniion. Bonaparte is the Genghis Khan,
of Europe He knows no law but the
sword, no legislative assembly but the
camp. The swsrdis bis scep,re, the camp
is his cabinet. Uniting the military sim.
plicisy of the Tartar conquerors with the
military science of Eusope,he rests not a
moment from his martial habits he is
ever 10 state to take the field in ,hevery