The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-29

l IGhu lO you lAllS GNNAAAiAt58 eNAN u ASAANAANN5
 quoted with delight by people who know
 not their authorship.
 The writings of Rousseau and the
 philosophers of the eighteenth century,
 the doctrines of Franklin, Jefferson and
 Paine, had made many men in Scotland :, champions of the New Lights" in re- 7 llglon, and defenders of democratic
 forms of human government. It is well
 known that during the latter years of
 his life Burns, who had heard the shot
 fired at Concord bridge, who had rejoic-
 ed with the lovers of French liberty at
 the fall of the Bastile, who had sympa-
 thized with the movements in Scotland
 by the friends of the people," and who
 had been under the ban of official sus-
 picion during the trials at Endinburgh
 of Watt, Downie and Citizen Margaret,
 for high treason or sedition, was os-
 tracked by many of his social and po-
 litical friends.
 The independent, free thinking spirit of Burns would not permit him to hold
 or proclaim opinions contrary to his convictions of right, and the let ters he wrote to his friend, Robert Graham, and others, upon these sub jects, would do credit to many alstates-
 man. On the fifth of January, 1793, he wrote to Robert Ciraham-"Now, to the charges malice and misrepresentation have brought against me. It has been said, 1t seems, that not only belong to-, but head 8 disaffected party in this place. know of no party in this place.
 either republican or reform, except an old party of Burgh reform, with which I never had anything to do, Individ- uals, both republican and reform, we have, though not of either, but if they have associated, it Is more than have the least knowledge of, and if there exists such an association, 1t must consist of such obscure nameless beings as precludes any possibility of my being known to them, or they to me, I never uttered any invectives against the king. His private worth 1t is al- | together impossible that such man as can appreciate; but in his public ca- | pacity l always revered, and always will with the soundest loyalty--revere the monarch of Great Britain, as to | speak in Masonic, the sacred key stone of our royal arch constitution. As to reform principles I look upon the Brit | ish constitution as settled at the revo- | lution, to be the most glorious consti- | tuition on earth, or that perhaps the wit | of man can frame; at the same time l hink-and you know what high and dis l tinguished characters have for some | time thought so-that we have good | deal deviated from the original prin- | clples of that constitution, particularly l that an alarming system Of corruption has pervaded the connection between the executive power and the house of commons. This is the truth, and the whole truth of my reform opinions" A few weeks later he wrote to Alex ander Cunningham a remarkable let ter which shows the keen dfscernment and wonderful power of satire pos- sessed by Burns The political cate chism of Burns, as 1t might be called, is suited to other times and places than Scotland at the close of the last cen- | tury. These are his words:
 Dumfries, 2Oth Feb, ,1793. What are you doing? What hurry have you on your head, my dear Cum bingham, that have not heard from you? Are you daily engaged in the mazes of the law the mysteries of love- or in the profound wisdom of nOueFH pOHllGSG curse OH LH6 WOTQ which ended the period.
 Question. What is politics? Answer. Politics Is a science wherewith, by means of nefarious cunning and hy- pocritical pretense we govern civil poli- tics for the emolument of ourselves and adherents.
 Question What Is minister? Answer. A minister Is an unprinclpled fellow, who by the influence of hered- | ity or acquired wealth-by superior abilities, or by a lucky eon1uncture of circumstances, obtains principal place in the administration of the affairs of government.
 Question. What is patriot2 | Answer A patriot Is an individual of | the same description as a minister--only | out of place."
 At a later period, just after war had | been declared between England and | France, Burns expressed his true po- litical feelings in strong language, in l a letter addressed to MT. John Francis | Ersltine of Mar. After stating that he I had rather unguardedly declared his | favor in sentiments of parliamentary | reform and had been accused by the | board of excise of being 9 republican, | he says that 1T am a poor man from | birth, and an excise man, by necessity, | by I will say 1t, the sterling of my l worth nb poverty can debase, and | the independence of my British mind | oppression might bend, but cannot sub | due. Have not to me a more precious stake in my country's welfare than the richest dukedom in it? I have large family of children, and the probability | of more. I have three sons who I see | already, have brought into the world | souls i'll qualified to inhabit the bodies of slaves. Can I look tamely on and | see any machinations to wrest from them the birth right of my boys, the | little independent Britons in whose veins runs my own blood? No, I will | not should my hearts blood stream around my attempt to defend it. Does any man tell me that my feeble ef- forts can be of no service, and that it does not belong to my humble sta tion to meddle with the concerns of a people? I tell him that 1t is on such l individuals as I that for the hand of support and the eye of intelli- gence, nation has to rest. The unin- formed mob may swell a nations bulk,