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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FOUNDED  1836
WASHINGTON,  D.C.
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9
OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
EMIGRATION
O •£
Dr.  Jofeph  Prieftly.
AND ON THE SEVERAL ADDRESSES DELIVERED

  TO HIM, ON HIS ARRIVAL, AT NE\V-YORK»
" Du menfonge toujours le vrai demw^/foai/rc:    ,'«""!
" Pour paraitre honuete homme, en un tn^^fru\ 1'etre J/
" Et jamais, quoi qu'il faffs, un mortel ici ba>^ -.i*^**'
  .. jamais, quoi q
" Ne peut aux yeuxdu monde etre ce qu'il n'eft pas.'
Boileau.
PHILADELPHIA, minted :—NEW-YORK, re-printed.
             M,DCC,XC1V.
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far*
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         OBSERVATIONS,   &c.

I
             WHEN the arrival of Dcftor Priertly in the United States
             was firfl announced, I looked upon his  emigration  (like
*    .  the propofed retreat of Cowley, to his imaginary  Paradife, the
|      Summer Iflands) as no more than the effect, of that weaknefs, that
      delusive caprice, that too often accompanies the decline of life ; and
      which is apt by a change of place, to flatter age with a renovation
if      cf faculties, and with the return of departed genius.  Viewing
      him as a man that fought repofe, my  heart we'comed him to the
      (ho res of peace, and wifhed him, what he certainly ought to have
      wifhed himfelf, a quiet obfeurity.  But  his  Anfwers to the Ad-
      dreffes of the  Democratic and other Societies at New-Yo k, place
      him in quite a different light, and fuhjefthim to the animadvert! jns
      of a public, among whom they have been induftrioufly propogate.i.

         No Man has a right to pry into his neighbor's private concerns;
      and the opinions ofevery IVlinare his private c 'neens, while he
      keeps them fo;  that is to fay, while th'y are confined to himfe!f,
      his Family and particular Friends: But when h- makes thof' opini-
      ons public; when he once attempts to make Converts;  whether it
      be  in  Religion, Politics, or anv thing Hf;;  whn lv once comei
      forward as a Candidate for public A 'miration, EuVem  or Com-
      paflion, bis Opinions, his Principles, his Motives, every Action of
^■OCOri 
C  4  ]
his life, public or private, become the fair Subject  of public dif-
cuffion.   On this principle, which the Doctor ought to  be thelaft
among Mankind to controvert, itiseafy to perceive that thefe ob-
fervations need no apology.

  His Anfwers  to the Addreffes of the New-York Societies  are
evidently calculated to miflead and deceive the People of the United
States.  He there endeavours to impofe himfelf on them for a Suf-
ferer in  the  Caufe of Liberty; and makes a canting profeilion of
Moderation,in direft contradiction to the Conduct of his whole Life.

  He fays, he hopes to find here,  " that Protection from Violence,
which Laws and  Government promife in all  Countries, but which
he  has not found in his own."   He certainly muft  fuppofe that
no European Intelligence ever  reaches this fide of the Atlantic, or
that the inhabitants of thefe countries are too dull to comprehend
the fublime events that  mark his life and  character.   Perhaps I  *
fhall fhow  him, that it is not the people  of England alone who
know how to eftimate the merit of Dr. Prieitly,

  Let us examine his claims  to our compallion : Let us fee  whe-
ther his charge againft the laws and government of his  country be
juft,ornot.

   On the 14th of July, 1791, an unruly mob  affembled in the
town of Birmingham, fet fire to  his houfe,  and burnt it, together
with all it contained.  This  is the  fubject of his  complaint, and
 the pretended caufe of his emigration.  The  fact is not denied;
 but in the  relation  of  facls  circumftances muft  not be forgotten.
 To judge of the Doctor's charge againft his  country, we muft take
 a retrofpective view  of his conduct, and of  the circumftances that
 led to the deftruction of his property.

    It is about twelve years fince he began to be diftinguifhed among
 the diffenters from the eftablifhed church of England.   He preach-
 ed up a kind of deifm, which  nobody  underftood,  and which it
 was thought the Doctor underftood full as well  as  his neighbors.
  This doctrine afterwards affumed  the name of Unitarianifm, and
  *he reiigitux of the order were called, or rather  they' called thera- 
C  5   1
felves, Unitarians,   The feet never rofe into confequence; and the
founder had the  mortification of feeing his darling Unitarianifm
growing quite out of date with himfelf, when the French Revolu-
tion came, and gave them both a fhoit refpite from eternal oblivion.

   Thofe  who know  any thing  of the Englifh diffenters, know
that they always introduce their political claims and projects under
the mafk of religion.   The Doctor was one of thofe who entertain-
ed  hopes  of bringing about  a revolution in England upon the
French plan; and for this purpofe he found it would be very con-
venient for him to be at the head of a religious feet.  Unitarianifm
was now revived, and the fociety held regular meetings at Birming-
ham.  In the inflammatory difcourfes, called fermons,  that  were
delivered at thefe meetings, the Englifh conftitution was firft open-
ly attacked; and doctrines were there held forth fubverfive of all
civil and religious order.   The prefs foon fwarmed with publica-
tions expreflive of thefe principles.   The revolutionifts began to
form focieties all over the kingdom, between which a mode of com-
munication was eftablifhed, in perfect conformity to  that of the
Jacobin clubs in France.

   Nothing was neglected by this branch of the Parifian Propagan-
de to excite the People to a general lnfurreftion.   Inflammatory
 Hand-bills, Advertifements, Federation Dinners, Toafts, Sermons,
 Prayers ; in fhort, every Trick that religious or  political Duplicity
 could fuggeft, was played off to deftroy a Conftitution which has
 borne the Teft,  and attracted the Admiration of ages; and to  eftab-
 lifh in its place a  new fyftem fabricated by themfclves.

    The fourteenth of July, 1791, was of too much  note in the an-
 nals of modern  Regeneration  to be neglected by thefe  regenerated
 politicians.   A club of them, of which Doctor Prieftly  was a  mem-
 ber, gave public notice of a feaft,  to be held at Birmingham, in
 which they intended ro celebrate the French Revolution.  Their
 endeavors had hitherto excited no other fentiments in what may be
 called the people of England than that of contempt.   The people
 of Birmingham,  however, felt, on this occafion, a conrulfive mo-
ment.  They were fcandalifed at this public notice for  holding in 
                           f   «  I
 their town a fefti<'a! to celebrate events, which were in rfialitv a fub-
 jcctof the deepeft horror:  And feeing  in it at the fame time an
 ooen and au  acioas attempt to 'leitroy the Conftitution of  their
 Countrv, an 1 with it their hap inefs, 'h*v  thought their under-
 ftaodinus ani ovalty infulted, and prepared  to  avenge  themfelves
 bv the chatHfement of the Englifh Revolutionifts, in the midlt of
 their fcandal jus orgies.   The feaft n?verthelefs  took  p'ace ;  but
 the Doctor, k losing himfelf to be the grand projector, and conie-
 quently  the parties ar object  f his ownfmen's vengeance, prudent-
 1} kept  a v'av.  The cry of Chyrih end King was the fignal of the
 people to affemhle ; which they did to a  considerable number, op-
 pofitethe hotel  where rhe convives were met.  The clubdifperfed,
 and the  moo  proceeded to breaking the windows, and other acts of
 violence incident to fuch fcen'es;  but let it be remembered that no
 perfona' violence was offered.   Perhaps it would have been well if
 the-  ha  1 iented their anger on the perfons of the  Revolutionifts;
provided they had contented themfelves with the  ceremony  of the
 horfc-pond or blanket.   Certain it is, that it would have been ve-
 x f rtunate if the riot had ended  this way;  but when that many-
 h- d d Manlier, a mob, is once roufed and put in motion, who can
 it?p  i.s  destructive fteps!

   Ftnm the hotel cf the federation the mob proceeded to  Doctor
 Pfii-filv's Meeting.Houie, which they very nearly deftroyed in a
 little time.   Had they flopped here, all would yet have  been well.
 1 he deftiuct'on of  this temple  of fedition and  infidelity woud
 have heen cf no great confequence;  but, unhappily for  them and
 the town of Birmingham, they could not be feparated, before they,
 had tfeflroyed the houfes and property of many members of the club.
 Some of thefe houfes, among which was Doctor Prieftly's, were
-£toatedar the diftance of fome miles from town ;  the mob were in
 force to defy all the efforts of the civil power, and, unluckily none
 of the military could be brought to the place  'till fome days after
 the i4thof July.   In  the mean time many  fpacious and  elegant
 houfes were burnt, and much valuable property deftroyed ; but it
 is certainly worthy rermrk, thatduring the whole of thVun'w-
 fulprocxJi^s, not a-Angle psrfon was killed or wounded, ci'het
i .\ 
                          t  1  ]
wilfully or by nccidenf, except fome of the rioters themfelve*.   At
*!ie end of four or  five days, this riot,  which feemedto threaten  «
more ferioos confequences, was happily terminated by the arrival
ef a  detachment of dragoons; and tranquility was  reftored to the
diftreffed town of Birmingham.                          >

   The magiftrates ufed every  exertion in their power to qnetl
this riot in its eariieft ftage,  and  continued fo to do to  the lath.
The Earl of Plymouth condefceitied to attend, and act as a juftice
of the  peace; feveral clergv mm  of tho church of England  alfo at-
tended in the fame cat a ity, and they all were indefatigaWe in theic
endeavors to put a flop to the de;re lations, and to re-eftabl.fh or-
der  and tranquility.   Every one knows that infiich  cafes  it is very
difficult to difcriminate,and that it is neither neceffary nor juft, if
it be poffible, to imprifon, try, and execute the whole of a  mob.
Eleven of thefe rioters, were, however,  indifted; feven  of  thera
were acqoitted, four found guilty, and of thefe four, two fuffered
death.   Thefe unfortunate men uere, according to the law,  pro-
 fecuted on the part of the king; and it  has been  allowed by tbe
 Doctor's own partizans, that the profocution was carried  on witb
 every poffible enforcement, and even  rigour,  by  the judges and
 councilors.   The  pretended lenity was laid to the  charge of the
 jury ! What a contradiction! They acc'ufe t> government of fcreen-
 ing the  rioters from  the penalty due to  their-crimes, and  at the
 fame  tinv they accufe the jury  of their acquital!  It  is the misfor-
 tune of D. ctor Prieftly and all  his adheren.s ever to be inconfiflent
 with thsmfelves.

    After this general view of the riots, in which the DocVr was un-
 lawfully  defpoiled  of his property, let us return to the merits of his
 particular cafe, and his complaint;  and here let it be recollected,
 that it is not of the rioters alone that he complains, but of the laws
 2r>d government of hisonntry  alfo.   Upon an examination  oF
 particulars we fhall find, that fo far from his  having juft  caufe  of
 complaint, the laws have rendered him ftr-ft juftice, if not  fome-
 thing more ; and that if any party has reafon to complain of the-r
 execution, it is the town of Birmingham, and not Doctor  Pncftly. 
                            t   8  J
     Some timeafter the riots, the Doctor and the other Retolution*
•  ifts who had had property deftroyed, brought their actions for da-
   mages againft the town of Birmingham, or rather againft the Hun-
   dred of which that town makes a part.  The Doctor laid his da-
   mages at £. 4.T22. u.g.fer'iig; of  which  fum, /. 420. 15. o,
   was for works in manufcript, which he faid, had been confumed in
   the flames.  The trial of this caufe took  up nine hours : The jury
   gave a verdict in his favor; but curtailed the damages to £. 2502.
   18. o.   It was rightly confi iered that the imaginary value of the
   manufcript works ought not to have been included in the damages;
   becaufe the Doctor being the author of them, he  in fact poffeffed
   them (rill, and the lofs could be little more than a few fheets of dir-
   ty paper.  Befides, if they were  to  be eftimated by thofe he had
   publifhed for fome years before, their deftruction was a benefit in-
   ftead of a lofs, both to himfelf and hi* country.  This fum then of
   £.420.1 c. o. being deduced, the damages flood at 1.370ii 16. 9.
   and it fhouldnot be forgotten that even a  great part of this fum was
   charged for an apparatus of philofophical inftruments, which in
   fpite of the moft unpardonable gafconade  of the Philofopher, * can
   be looked upon as a thing of imaginary value only ; and ought not
   to be eftimated at its cojl any more than a collection of fhells or in-
   fects, or any other of tkefri-vola of a virtuofo.

     Now it is notorious that actions for damages are always brought
   for much higher fums  than are  ever  expected to be recovered.
   Sometimes they are brought for three times the amount of the real
   damage fuftained ;fometimesfor double, and fometimes for only a
   third more than the real damage.  If we view then the Doftor's ef-
   timate in the moft favorable light; if we fuppofe that he made but
   the addition of one third of his real damages, the fum he ought to
* *' You have deftroyed the moft truly valuable and ufeful apparatus of
  philofophical inftruments that perhaps any individual, in this or any
  other country, was ever poifefled of; in my vde of which I annual-
  ly {pent large fums, with no pecuniary view whatever, but only ia
  the advancement or fcience, for the benefit of my country and  of
  mankind.'*
                       Letter to the Inhabitants of Birmingham* 
I                            [  9   ]
|   nave received would be no more than 1. 2467 17. to; whereas he
|   actually received 1. 2502. 18. o ; which was I.3 j. o. 2 m>re than
*   he h?d a right to expect.   And yet  he complains that he has not
    found protection from the laws and government of his country ! If
 '   he had been the very bed fubject in  England in place of one of the
    •*ery worft, what could the laws have done more foi him : Nothing
    certainly can be a ftronger proof of the independence of the courts
    of juftice, and of the impartial execution of the laws in England
    than the circumftances and refidt of this  caufe.  A  man who had
    for many years been the  avowed and open enemy of the govern-
    ment and conftitution, had his property  deftroyed by a mob, who
    declared them.'elves the friends ot both, and who rofe on him becaufe
    he was not.  This mob were purfued by  the government whofe
 f   caufe they thought  they  were defending ; fome  of  them fuffered
   * death; and the inhabitants of the place where they aflembled, were
     obliged to indemnify the man, whofe property they had deftroyed.
     It would be curious to know what fort of  protection this reverend
     Doctor, this "friend of humanity" wanted.  Would nothing fa-
     tisfy him but the blood of the whole mob ? Did he wifh to fee the
     town ot Birmingham like that of  Lyons, razed, and all its  induftri-
     ous and loyal inhabitants butchered ;  becaufe fome ofthtm had
     been carried to commit unlawful exceffes from their deteftation of
     his wicked projects ? Birmingham has combated acai^st
     Priestly.   Birmingham  rs no  More."  This I  fuppofe
     would have fatisfied the charitable modern philofopher, who pro-
     tended, and who the Democratic  Society fay did, " return to his
     enemies bleffings for curfcs."  Woe to the wretch that ;• expofed
     to the benediftions of a modern philofopher.  His " dcxtre vngt-
     rep" is ten thoufand times more to be feared tha'*. the bloody pnig-
     nard of the aflaffin : The latter is  drawu «n individuals only.the o-
   *''  ther is pointed at the human race.  Happily for the people of Bi r-
      mingham thefe bleffings had no effect; there was no National Co.i-
  :  '  Vention, Revolutionary Tribunal, or Guillontine in England.

        As I have already obferved, if the Djctor had been the  beft and
      isoft peaceable fubject in the kingdom, the government  and Jawa
                                  a 
                          [   io  3
 could not have yielded him more perfect protection : h's comnlainr,  '•
 would therefore be groundlefs, if he hzd given  no provoc1.'    <   *
 the people, if he had in no  wife contributed to the tiots.   ,  then ~
 he has received ample juftice, confidered as an innocent man, and a
 good fubject, what fhall we think of his compiaint, when we find
 that he was himfelf the principal caufe  of thefe riots ; and that the
 rioters did nothing that was not perftdtly confonant to the princi-
 ples he had for many years been labouring to infufe into their minds?  |

   That he and his club were the caufe of the riots will not be dif- ]
 puted;  for had they not given an infulting notice of their inten- \
 tion to celebrate the horrors of the  14th of July, accompanied wilt
 an inflammatory hand-bill, intended to excite an infurrection againft
 the government, * no riot would ever have taken  place, and confe-
 quently its difaftrous effects would have been avoided.  But it has 1
 been faid, that there was nothing- offenfive in this inflammatory
hand-bill;  becaufe forfooth " the matter of it (however indecent ,
 and untrue) was  not more virulent than Paine's Rights of man,
Mackintofh's anfwer to Burke, Remarks on  the conftitution  of
 England, cjfr. C3V. which had been lately publifhed without incur-
 ring the cenfure of government."   So ; an inflammatory  perform-
ance, acknowledged  to be indecent and untrue, is not offenfive, be-
caufe it is not more liru.'cit than fome other performances, which
have efcaped the cenfure of government! If this is not a new man-
ner of arguing, it is at leaft an  odd one.   But this hand  bill had
fomething more malicious  in it,  if not  more virulent, than  even
the inflammatory works above mentioned.  They were more diffi-
 cult to come at; to have them they  muft be bought.  Th:y contain-
 ed fomething like reafoning, the fallacy of which the  government
was very fure  would be detected by  the good fenfe of thofe who
took th-* pains to read them,  A hand bili was a more commodious]
 inftrument of fedition : It was calculated to have immediate effect.!
Btfnles, if there had  been  nothing  offenfive in it, why did  theclubl
• This hand bill was  difowned by the club, ai-.d they offered a rewarij
 for apprehending the ruthor ; but they took.care to fend him to Franc*
 belore the adveitilemein appeared. 
[  ii   3
think proper to difown it in fo ceremonious a manner ? They dif-
owned it with the moft folemn affeverations, offered a reward for
apprehending the author, and afrerwards juftified it as an inoffenfive
thing.   Here is palpable inconfiftency.  The fact is, they perceiv-
ed that this precious morfel of eloquence, in place of raifing a mob
for them, was like to raife one againft them :  They faw  the ftorm
gathering, and in the moment of fear difowned the writing. After
the danger  was over, feeing they could not exculpate themfelves
from the charge of having publifhed it, they defended it as an inof-
fenfive performance.

   The Doctor in his juftificatory letter to the people of Birming-
ham, fays that the company were affembled on this occafion, " to
celebrate the emancipation of a neighboring nation from tyranny,
without intimating a defire of any th'ng m»-e than an improie-n<nt
of their tywn ccnilituucn."   Exceffive modefty ! Nothing but an
improvement? A la  francoise ofcourfe? However, with ref-
peft to the  Church, as it was a point of confcience.'the club do not
feem to have been altogether fo moderate  in their defigns.  " Be-
lieve me,"  lavs the Doctor, in the fjme letter,"  the Church of En-
gland which  you  now think  you are fupporting, has  received a
greater blovo by this  conduct of yours,  than /and a I my friends
have ever aim:d at it."  They  had  then it feems aimed  a blow at
the eftablifhed church, and were forming a plan for improving the
conftitution ;  and yet the Doctor in the  fame letter, t ;ice expref-
fes hisaftonifhment at their being treated as the enemies of church
and  ftate.  In a letter to  the ftudents of the college nf Hackney, he
favs, " A  Hierarchy, equally the bun  of chiiiianity and rational
liberty, now confeffs its  weakness ; and h? affured that you w i 1 fre
its complete reformation  or iti/an."  And yet he has the affurance
to tell the people of Birmingham, that their  fuperiors have deceiv-
ed them in reprefenting him  and his feft as the enemies of church
and  ftate.

   But fay  they, we certainly exercifed the right of freemen in af-
fembling together;  and even  if our meeting  had been unlawful,
 cognizance fheuld have been taken of it by the in igiftracy : There 
                           [  12  J
  can be no liberty where a ferocious mob i? rnff. -ed to fupercede the
  law.  Very true.  This is uhat the Docto, has  "t^ i.rdd a t />ui-rw
  times, but he never would believe it.   He  Itiii continued to bawl
  out: " The funfnine of reafon will affuredly chafe away and diifi-
  pate the mifts of darknefs and error;  and when the majefty of the
  peop'e is infilled, or they feel themfelves oppreffed by any fet if
  men, they have the power to redrefs the grievance."  So the peo-
  ple of Birmingham, feeling their majefty infulted by a jet of men
  (and a very impudent fet of men too) who audacioufly attempted to
  persuade them that they were " all fa-ves end idolators,"  and  to
  feduce them from their duty to God and their country,rofe to redrefs
  the grievar.ee. And yet he complains ? Ah 1 fays he, but, my good
  townfmen,
         *.'-----. _ .  you miftake the matter :
         " For  in all fcruples of  this nature
         " No man includes himfelf, nor turns
         " The point upon his own concerns."
 And therefore he fays to  the people of Birmingham : " You have
 been mifled."  But  had  they  fuffered  themfelves to be mifled by
 himfelf into an infurrection againft the government;  had they burnt
 the churches, cut the throats of the clergy, and hung the magiftrates,
 military officers and nobility to the lamp pofts, would he not have
 faid that they  exercifed a fdcred right ?  Nay, was not the very fes-
 tival, which was the immediate caufe of thefe riots, held cxprefsly
 to celebrate fcenes like thefe?  to celebrate the inglorious triumphs
 of a mob? The  14th of Jjly was a day  marked with the blood of
 the innocent, and  eventually  the deftruction of an  empire.  The
 events of that  day muft ftrike horror to  every heart  except that of
 a. deiftical philofopher, and would brand  with eternal infamy any
 other nation but France; which, thanks to the benign influence of
 the  Rights of Man, has made  fuch a progrefs in ferocioufnefs, mur-
 der, facrilege, and every fpecies of infairy, that the horrors of the
  ipurteemhof July are already forgotten.

   What we celebrate we muft approve ; and does not the man, who
 approved of the events of the 14th of July, blufb to complainof
1  \he Birmingham riots? » H.nnily," fays he to the  people cf Bit- 
                          I  *3  3
mingham..  " happily  .he minds of Englifhmen have a horror foe
y;:.? dir, ai.d therefore you did not, I hope, think of that; though by
your clamorous demanding me at the hotel, it is probable that, at
that time, fome of you intended me fonu. perfonal injury."  Yes,
Sir, happily the minds of Englifhmen  have a horror for murder;
but who win fay that the minds of Englifhmen,<>r Englifh women
either,would have a horror for murder if you had fucceeded in over-
turning their religion and conftitution, and introducing ymr French-
ified fyftem of liberty ! The French were acknowledged to be the
moft polite, gentle, compaffionate and hofpitable people in all Eu-
rope : What are they now ? "L* t La Fayette,  Br'dlof, Anacharfis,
Cioots, or Thomas Payne himfelf, anfwer  this queftion.
   Let us fee a little how mobs have acted  under the famous go*
vernments that the Doctor  fo much admires.
   I fhall not attempt a detail of the horrors committed by the cut-
throat Jourdan and his aff->ciates in Provence, Avignon, Languedoc,
and Roufliilon.  Towns and  villages facked; Gentlemen's  feats
and caftles burnt, and their inhabitants msffacred ; magiftrates in-
fulted, beat, and imprifoned, fometimes killed ; prifoners fet at li-
berty to cut the  throats of  thofe they had  already  robbed.   The
exploits of this band of Patriots would fill  whole volumes.   They
reduced a great part of the inhabitants of the fineft and moft fertile
country in the whole world to  a degree of mifery  and  ruin that
wou'd never have been forgotten, had it not  been  fo far  eclipfed
fince, by the operation of what  is in " that  devoted country" called
the law.  The amount of the damages, fuftainrd  in property, was
perhaps a hundred  thoufand times as great as that fuftainedby the
Revolutionifts at Birmingham.   When  repeated accounts of thefe'
murderous fcenes were la;d  before  the National  Affembly, what
was the confeq'ience ? what the redrefs ? "  We had our fears," faid
Monfieur Gentil, " for the prifoners of Avignon, and for the lives
and property of the inhabitants of that unhappy country ;  but thefe
fears are now changed into a certainty : The prifoners are releafed;
ih", country feats are burnt,  and".....Monfieur Gentil  was cal-
led to order, and not fuffered to proceed ; after which thefe precious
*'■ Guardians of the rights of Man" paffsd  a cenfure on  him, for 
 hay jug. flandered the patriots.  It ,is  notorious that the chief of
 thefe cut-throats, Jourdan, has fince produced his butcheries in A-
 vignon as a proof of his dvifm, and  that he is now a diftinquifhecl
 character among'the real friends of the Revolution.

   Does the Doctor remember having heard any  thing  about the
 glorious atcftievments of the  roth of Auguft, 1792 ? Has he ever
 made ap eftimate of the property deftroyed in Paris on that and on
 the following days ? Let him compare the deftruction that followed
 the fteps of that mob, with the lofs of his billed apparatus ; and
 when he has  done this, let him tell us, if he can,  where  he would
 flow be, if the government of England  had  treated  him and  his
 friends, as the National Auembly did the fufferers in the riots of
 the 10th of Auguft*.   But perhaps he looks upon the events of that
 day as a glorious victory, a new emancipation,  and of courfe will
 fay, that I degrade the Heroes in  calling them  a 'mob.  I am not
 for difputing with him about a name ; he may call them the heroes
 of the  10th of Auguft if he  will:  "The  heroes of the 14th of
July," has always .been underftood to mean,  a gang sf blood tbirfy
 cmnilals, and I would by no means wifh to withold  the title from
 thofe of ihe  10th of Auguft.

   •Will the doctor allow, that it was a mob that murdered the ftate
 prifoners from Orleans ? or does he infill upon calling that maffacre
 an &a ofci-xf-n, and the actors in  it, the heroes of the 12th of Sep-
 tember ? But whether it was an act of civifm, a  maffacre or a victo-
 ry, or whatever it was,  I cannot help  giving it a place  here, as I
 find it recorded by his countryman, Doctor Moore.   " The man-
 gled bodies," fays he, " were lying  in the  ftreet on the left hand as
 you go to the ChAeau from  Paris.  vSome of \\m lower fort of the
 inhabitants of Verfaiiles were looking on ; the reft, if ruck with ter-
 r  r, were fniit up \n their fhops and houfes.  The body of the Duke
 of Briffac wa^ pointed out, the head and one  of  the hands was cut
 off! a man flood  near fmoking  tobacco, with his  fword drawn,
 and a human hand ftuck on the point! another fellow walkedcare-
 lefsly among the bodies with an entire arm of another of the prifn-
 trs fixed  to the point of his fword I A  waggon afterwards arn-.ed, 
[  '5   ]
.nto ".vhich were thrown as many of, the  flaughtered bodies as the
 .>:n-a'    .;  s-w ! a boy about fifteen years of age was in the w;jg-
uon, attiitiiig to receive the bodies as they were put  in, and pack-
ing them in the moft convenient manner, with an air of as much in-
difference as if they had been fo many parcels of goods! One of the
wretches who threw in the bodies, and  who  probably had affifted
in the maffacre, faid to the fpectators, in praife of the boy's  activi-
ty; *« See that little JtUow there j hoiv bold he is !"

   " Theaffaflins of the prifoners were a party who came from Pa-
ris the preceding evening, moft of them in poftchaifes, for that pur-
pofe, and who attacked thofe unhappy men while they remained in
the ftreet, waiting 'till the gate of the prifon, which was prepared
for their reception, fhould be opened.—The detachment wh xh
had guarded die prifoners from Orleans, flood fhameful and paf Lve
fpectators of the mafficre.—The miferable prifoners  being all un-
armed, and fome of them fettered,  could do nothing in their own
defence; they were moft  of them ftabbed, and a few, who attempted
 refiftance, were cut down with fabres.

  " There never was a  more b-rbarous and daftardly action per-
formed in the face of the fun.—Gracious Heaven !  Were thofe bar-
barities, which would difgrace favages, committed by Frenchmen!
by that lively and ingenious people, whofe writingswere fo much
admired, whofe fociety has been fo  much courted, and whole  man-
ners have been fo much imitated by all the neighboring nations?—
This attrocious deed, executed in the ftreets of Verfailks,  and the
horrors committed in the prifons of Paris, will   fix indeliable ftain*
on  the character of the French nation.   It is faid,  thofe  barbari-
ties revolted the hearts of many of the citizens of Paris and Verfail-
les as much  as they could thofe of the inhabitants of London  or
Win.'.f;r.  It isaifo faid that thofe maffacres were not committed
by  the inhabitants of Paris or Verfailks, but by a fet of hired affaf-
fins.   But who hired thofe affaffins? Who remained  in  fh.imeful
ftuporand dastardly inactivity, while their laws were infulted. their
prifons violated, and their fellow citizens butchered in the open
 ftreets ?  I do not believe, that from  the wickedeft  gangs of  high-
 waymen, houfc-breakers, and pick-pockets, that inieft Lowlon aad 
[  16   ]
the neighborhood, men could be felected  who  could be  bribed to
murder in cold bl iod, fuch a number of their  countrymen!— and
if they could, 1 am convinced that no  degree of popular delufiotf
they are capable of, no pretext, no motive  whatever,  could make
the inhabitants of London or Windfor, or of any town of Great-
Britain fuffer fuch  dreadful  execution^ to be  performed withis
cheir walls,"

   Mo; I hope not:  Yet I do not know what might have been ef-
fected, by an introduction of the fame fyfiem  of anarchy, that has
changed the airy amiable French into a.fet  of the moft  ferocious
inhuman blood hounds that ever difgraced the human fhape.

   From fcenes like thefe, the mind turns for relief and confolation
to the riot at Birmingham.   That riot confi lered comparatively
with what Doctor Pi ieftly and his friends wifhed and attempted to
ftir up, was peace, harmony and gentlencfs.  Has this man any rea-
son to complain ? He will perhaps fay, he did not approve of the
Jrench riots and maffacres ;  to which I fruit anfwer that he didap-
jrove of them.   His public celebration of them was a convincing
proof of this; and if it were not, his fending his fon  to Paris, in
the midft of them, to requelt the h^var of becoming a  French citi-
zen, is a proof that certainly  will  not be  difpute !.   If then we
take a view of the riots of which the Doctor is an admirer, and of
thofe of which he expreffes hisdetellation, we muft fear  that he is
very far from being  that " fri<nd efbumai hap.inejS," that the
Democratic Society pretend to be.ieve  nim.   In fhort, in whatever
light we view the Birmingnam riots, we can fee no obj ct that  ex-
cites our companion except the inhabitants of the Hundred and the
unfortunate Rioters themfelves.

   The charge that the Doctor brings againft his country is, that it
has not afforded him proteSion.  It ought to be remarked here, that
there is a materia! diff-rence  between a government that does not
at all times afford fujfident protection,  and one that is  o^prcffivi.
However, in his anfwers to  the  New-York addctff's  he very  po-
litely aequiefe»s in the government and laws cf England  being op-
prefivealfo.  Would he really prefer the proceedings of a re-iulu-
iioiwy tribunal to thyfe of a court of jufuce in England? Dues he 
envythe lot of his colleagues Manuel, liacro'x, Danton and Cha«
bot? How would he look before a tribunal like that of the Princefs
d'e  Lambelle, for example ?  When this much lamented unfortu-
nate lady was dragged before the villains that fat in a kind of mock
judgment on her, they were drinking  eau de vie, to the damnation
of thofe who lay dead before them.  Their fhirt fleeves were tuck-
ed up to their elbows, and even the goblets they were drinking out
of, werebefmeared with human blood ! I  much queftion if theaf-
faffin's ftab, or even the Iaft pang of death with all its concomitant
bitternefs, was half fo terrible as  the blood-freezing fight of thefe
hell hounds.   Yet this was ?. court of juftice, under that conftitution,
which " the friend of human happinefs" wanted to impofe on hra
countrymen!  Paine, in fpeaking of the Englifh government, fays
exultingty,  and as  he fancies wittingly :  " They manage thofe
things better in France."  I fancy this boaftin?  •« reprefentativa
of twenty four millions of freemen," would now be  glad  to ex-
change his poft of deputy for that of under fhoe black to the mean-
eft Laquay at the court of London !  Would he not with joy ex-
change his cachet with the reverfion of the Guillotine into the bar-
 gain, for the  darkeft cell in that very  Baftile, the  deftructlon  of
which he has fo triumphantly and heroically fung ? His fate is a
good hint  to thofe who change countries every time they crofs the
 fea.   A man of all countries, is a man of no country :  And let  all
 thofe citizens of the world remember,  that  he who has been a bad
 fubject in his own country, though from fome latest motive he may
 be well received in another, will never be either trujled or refpeiled.

    The Doctor, and his fellow labourers who have lately emigrated
 to Botany Bay, have been continually bawling out: " A reform of
 Parliamenr."  The fame vifionary delufion feems to have prevadeJ
 all reformers in all ages.   They  do not confider what can be done,
 but what they think ought to be done.  They have no calculating
 principle  to  direct them to  difcover whether a reform will coft
 them  more than it is worth or not.   They do not  fet  down to
 count the coft ; but, the  object bein? as they thin':,  deflrablc,  the
                                 C 
                          [   '8  J

means ate totally difregarded.  If the reformers      <hic   lac A«
down to count the coft, I do not believe, they were vniains criiH^h
to have purfued their plan as they did.  To fave a  tenth part ot
their income, they have given the whole, or rather it has been ta-
ken from them.  To preferve the life of a perfon, now and  then,
perhaps unjuftly condemned, they have drenched the country with
the blood of the innocent.   Even the baftile, that terrible monu-
ment of tyranny which has been painted in fuch  frightful colours,
contained but two ftate prifoners when it was forced by the mob;
and the reformers to deliver  thefe two prifoners, and to guard others
from a like fate, have erected Baftiles in every town  and in cwety
ftreet.  Before the Revolution there were only fwo ftate prifoners,
there are now above tvuohundred thoufand.   Do thefe people cal-
culate ? Certainly not.  They will not take man as they find him,
and govern him upon principles eftablilhed by experience j they will
have him to be "a faultlefs monftcr  that  the world  ne'er faw,"
and wifh to  govern him according to a fyftem that never was, or
can be brought into  -practice.  Thefe waking dreams  would be
of no more confequence than thofe of the night,were they not gene-
rally purfued with an unjftifiable degree of  obftinacy and intrigue,
and even villainy; and did they not,being always adapted to flatter
and inflame the lower orders of the people,  often baffle every effort
of legal power.  Thus  it happened in England  in  the reign  of
Charles the full; and thus has it happened in France.   Some tri-
fling innovation always paves the way to the fubverfion of  a go-
vernment.   The axe in  the foreft humbly  befought a  little piece
of wood to make it a handle : The foreir,  confiding of ftately trees,
could not, without manifeft cruelty, refufe  the " hu.nble" reqoeft ;
but, the handle once granted, the before contemptible topi began to
lay about with fo much violsnc-, that in  a little time not a tree not
even a lhrub was ftanding.   That a parliamentary reform was the
handle by which the Englifh revolutionifts intended to effect the de-
ft ruction of the conftitution need not be infilled on; at lead if we
believe their own repeated  declarations.   Paine  and fome others
clearly expreffed themfelves on  this head :  The  Doctor was more
cautious while in England,  but, fafely arrived in his " affylum," he 
C  »9   ]
has been a little more undifguifed. He fays the troubles in Europe
arc the natural offspring of the "fo- ms ofgvernment"ihit exift there;
arid that the abufesfpringfrom the u artificial dijlinQions in fodety."
I muft (top here a moment to remark on the  imprudence of this
aflertion.   Is it not notorious that changing thofe forms of govern-
ment, anddeflrcying thofediftinctions in fociety, has introduced all
the troubles in Europe ? Had  the form of government  in France
continued what it had been for twelve or thirteen hundred years,
would thofe troubles ever have had exiftence ? To  hazard an af-
fertion like this, a man muft be an idiot, or he muft think his read-
ers fo.—It was then the form of the Englifh government, and thofe
artificial diftinctions;  that is to fay, of king, prince, bifhop, &c.
that he wanted todeftroy, in order to produce that*4  other fyftem of
liberty'' which he had been, fo long dreaming about.  In his an-
fwer to the addrefs of " the  republican  natives of Great Britain
and Ireland, refident at New-York," he fays: " The wifdom and
happinefs of republican governments, and the evils refultmg frorn
hereditarj' monarchul ones, cannot appear in a ftronger light to
you than they do to nae ;"and yet this fame man pretended an invio-
lable attachment to the hereditary monarchialgovernment of Great
Britain I Says he, by way of vindicating the principles of his club
to the people of Birmingham: " The fi.rft  toaft  that was drank,
was, " the king and confitution."  What! does he make a merit in
England of having toafled that which he abominates in  America?
Alas 1 Philofophers are but mere men.

   It is clear that a parliamentary reform was  not  the object:. An
after game was intended ; which the vigilance of government, and
the natural good fenfe of the people  happily prevented ; and the
Doctor, difappointed and chagrined, is come here  to difcharge his
heart of the venom it has been long collefting againft his country,
 He tells the Democratic Society that he cannot promife to be a bet-
 ter fubject of this government  than he has been of that of Great-
Britain.  Let  us hope that he intends us  an agreeable difappoipt-
ment, if not, the fooner he emigrates back again the better. 
  'Syftem mongers atea*n unreafonabfe ''frJecifc. oi t .or ■>.:    Tlrftfc,
place, climate  nature itfelffnuft give. way.   They m  '.  "Mb c*fr
fame government in every quarter of the globe; when pen <*ps'^ete
are not two countries which can poffibly admit of the fame forrnbf
government, at the fame time.  A thoufand hidden caufes, a \hou-
fand circumftan«es and unforefeen events cOnfpire to the forming of
a government.  It is always done'by little arid little.   When com-
plr-ated it prefents nothing'like nfyflim j "ndthing like a thing colrn-
pofed, and written  in  a book.  It  is  carious to hear peopfe"cite
the Amercian government as the fummitof human pefection while
they decry the Engliih ; when it is abfolutely nothing more than
the government which the kingsof England eftablifhed here, with
fuch little modifications as were nee ffiry  On account of the ftate Of
fociety'and local circumftances.  If  then the Doctor is come here
for a change of government and laws, he is the moft difappointed of
jnortals.   He will have the mortification to find in his "'ajfiluni
the fame laws as thofe from which he  has flJd, the  fame upright
wanner ofaaminiftering them, the fame punifhment of theoppref-
fcr,and the fame protection of the oppreffed. In the courts of juftice
he wi;l every day feeprecedents quoted from the Englifh law-books ;
and (which to him may appear w onderful)  we may venture to predict
that it will be very long before they will be fupplarited by the bloody
records of a revolutionary tribunal. Let him compare the government
of thefe ftates, and the meafures they have purfued.with what has paf-
ed u der ihe boafted  conftitution he wifhed to introduce into England
& fee if hecan findone fingle inftance.of the moft diftant refemblance.
In  the abolition of negro flavery for example, the governments of
the United States have hot rufhed headlong into the mad  plan  of
the National  Convention. With much more human  views; with
a much inore fin cere defir'e of feeing all  mankind free and happy,
they have, in'fpite  of ciubs  and f cieties, proceeded  with caution
and juftice.   In fhbrf, they  have adopted, as  nearly as pofiible,
Confidering the 'circumftances  and  fituation, the; farrte meafures as
"have been taken by the gbvrenment  which  fie: abhors.   He will
 have the further hioitincaiiun'tb find that 'the government "here is 
f  *«   !
not, my tore rbs*v ,1 igrigland, influenced by the vociferations-xi
h: - vme-, or by the toafs and iifJvtitms of popular focieties. He
will>; vvc»e(, have one confolation: Here as well as there, he will
find, that the rruly great, virtuous and incorruptible man at the
head of government, is  branded for an Artfocrat, by thofe hoify
gentry.
   Happinefs being the end of  all good government, that which
produces the moft, is confequentiy the belt : and comparifon be-
ing the only method of determining the  relative  value of thing?,
it is eafy to fee which is preferable, the tyranny which the French
formerly enjoyed, or  the liberty and equality they at  prefent labor.
 under.  If the doctor had come about a  year foonefr, he  might
 have  had  the fatisfaction of not only being an ear, but <an 'eye
witnefs alfo, of fome of the  bleffed effefts  of this celebrated rew».
lution.  He might then have been regaled  with that fight,  fo  de-
lectable to a modern philofopher ;^-oppulence reduced to mifeiy.

    The ftale pretence, that the  league againft the  French has been
 the caufe of their inhuman conduct to each other, cannot, by the
  moft  perverfe fophiftry, be applied to the ifland of St.  Domingo*
  That fine  rich  colony  was  ruined ;  its fuperb  capital and villas
  reduced to  afhes; one half of its inhabitants mAffacred, and the?
  other half reduced to beggary, before an enemy  ever appeared on
  the coaft.   No  : It  is that fyftem of anarchy and  blood that was
  celebrated at Birmingham on  the  14th July,  1791, that has been
  the caufe  of all this-murder and devaftatiun.

    Nor let the Doctor pretend that this could not be forefeen.  It
  was  forefeen and foretold too, from the very  moment a part of
  the Deputies to the States General  were permitted to call them-
  felves a national affembly.    In proof of this 1  could mention a
  dozen publications that came out under his  own eve ;  but I (hall
  content royfelf  with  giving a fbort extract from a fpeech in  the
   Britifh Parliament, which is 'the more proper on this occafion, as
   it was delivered but a  few  weeks before  the period of the riots,
   " The Americans," faid Mr. Burke, " have what was effentially 
                         [   «  ]
fleceflary for their freedom ;  they have  the  phlegm of the good
tempered Englifhmen—r-they were  fitted for Republicans by a
republican education.   Their revolution was not brought about
by bafe and  degenerate crimes ; nor did they overturn  a  govern-
ment for the purpofes of anarchy ; but they raifed a republic, as
nearly  reprefenting the Britifh government  as it was  poffible.
They did  not run into the abfurdiiy  of France,  and  by feizing
on the rights of man, declare that the  nation was  to govern  the
nation,  and prince prettyman  to govern prettyman.   There are
in Cannada many  of the ancient inhabitants;  will it be  proper to
give them the French  Conftitution ?  In my  opinion there is not
a fingle cireumflance that  recommends the adoption of any part
of it, for the whole is abominably bad—the  prodoftion  of folly,
not of wifdom—of vice, not  of virtue ; it contains nothing but
extremes,  as diftant from  each other as the  poles—the  parts are
in eternal  oppofition  to  each  other—it is founded on what  is
called the rights of man, but to ray conviction it is founded on the
wrongs of man, and I now hold in my hands  an example of its ef-
fects on the French colonies—Djmingo,  Gaudaloupe, and the
other French Iflands,  were rich, happy, and  growing in ftrength
and confequence in fpite of the three laft diftrefling wars, before
they heard of the  new doctrine of the  rights  of man;  but thefe
rights were no fooner arrived at the Iflands, than any (peclator
would have imagined that Pandora's box had been opened,  and
that  Hell had yawned out difcord, murder, and every  mifchief;
for anarchy and confufion  and bloodfhed raged every  where;  it
was a general fummons for
               "  Black fpirits, and white,
             •* Blue fpirits and grey,
               " Mingle, mingle mingle,
             *' You that mingle may."
   When the affembly heard of thefe diforders, they ordered troops;
to quell them : but it proves that the troops have joined the infur-
gents, and murdered their commander.  I look on  the Revolution
with horror and deteftation; it  is a revolution of confamrhate folly
formed and maintained by every vice,". 
C  *3   1
   But perhaps shc-DocWs intenfe ftudies; *' his continual labor!
for the good of maukind," might not leave him time to perufe the
debates^rf^Parliament ; however we may fairly  prefume that  ht
read  the letters addreffed to himfelf;  and if  fo  he has read the
following  paflage : " You  think that a  neighboring  nation  is
emancipated from tyranny, and that a company of Englifhmcn may
laudably exprefs their joy on the occafion.  Were your premifes
true, I would allow your conclufion.  But  let us wait  the event.
Philofophers fbould not be too credulous, or form their determina-
tion too rafhly.  It is  very poffible that all the magnificentfchemea
of your auguft diet in France may be fucceeded by a ridiculous, a
villainous, or a bloody cataftrophe."

   Either he forcfew the confequences of the  French revolution ot
 he did oot forefce them :  If he did not, he mud confefs  that  his
 penetration was fat inferior to that of his antagonifts, and even  to
 that of  the  multitude of  his countrymen ; for they  all forefaw
• them.   If he did forefee  them, he ought  to blufhat being  cal-
 led the " friend of human bappinefs  $" for, to  forfee fuch dread-
 ful calamities and to form a deliberate plan  for bringing them up-
 on  his country he muft have a difpofltion truely diabolical.  If he
 did not forefee them, he muft have an underftanding little fiiperior
 to that of an idiot: If he did he muft have a heart of a Marat.
 Let him choofe.

    But, it is pretty clear that he forefaw the  confequences, or at
  leaft, that he approves of them ; for as I obferved above, he  fent
  his fon into  France, in the very midft of the maflacres,  to requeft
  the honor of becoming a French citizen; and in his anfwer to the
  addreffers at New-York, he takes good  care to exprefs  hisdifap-
   probation of the war purfuedby his country (which he calls an in-
  fatuation) becaufe its manifeft tendency is  to deftroy  that  hydra,
   that fyftcm of anarchy which is the primary caufe.  Befides, is
   not his emigration itfelf a convincing proof, that his opinion  (UU
   remains the  fame ? If he found hiinf-lf miftaken, he would confefs
   bis error; at leaft tacitly, by a change of conduct.  Has he deos
   this? No:  The French Revolution is  his fyftcm, and fooner 
                           f  H   1
 than not fee it eftabh'fhed,  I much qoeftion if fee- would not with
 pleafure fee the maffacre of all the human race.

   Even fuppofe his intended plan of  improvement had been  the
 heft in the world inftead of the worft: The people of England had
 certainly a right to reject it.  He claims as an undubitable  right,
 the right of thinking for others, and yet he will notpermit the, peo-
 ple of England to think for thernftlyfis... Paine fays : what a whole
 nation wills, it has a right  to do."  Confequently, what  a whole
 nation does not will, it has a right net to do*   Rouffeau fays:
 " The majority  of a people has a right to force the reft to  be
fret ;" but even the" infane Socrates of the National  Affembly"
 has never in all his absurd reveries, had the folly to pretend, that a
 dubof diffenting Malcontents has a right  to force a  whole nation
 to be/ree.  If the Englifh chofe to remain flaves, Bigots and Idol-
 aters, as the Doctor calls them, that was no bufinefs of his : He  had
 nothing to do with them.  He fhould  have let  them alone ;  and
 perhaps in due time, the  abufes of the government would have
 come to that" natural termination," which  he trufts " will guard
 againft all future abufes."  But, no. faid the Doctor, I will reform
 you—I will enlighten you—I will make you free.  You fhall not!
 fay the people.  But I will! favs the D »cV»r.  By —.—, fay  the
 people.you fhall not! "And when Ahithopeiy^w that his council
 was not followed, hefaddledhis afs,  and arofe, and gat him home to
 his houfe, to his city and put his hau/ehold in order, and hanged him-
 felf, and died, and was buried in thefepukhre of his father.,*'

   I now beg the  reader's company in a flight review of the addref-
 fes delivered to the Doctor by the  feveral patriotic focieties at
 New-York.*
 * I.   An addrefs from the «« Democratic Society"
   II.  From the " Tammany Society."
   III. From the " Allbciated Teachers."
   IV.  From the ** Republican Natives of Great Britain and Ireland."
Thefe addreffes with the anlwers to  ihem having all  appeared in tb:
  Gazettes, it will be afelefs to give them « length here. 
   It is no more than juftice to fay of ohefe addreffes, that they are
 in the lump diftinguifhed for a certain barrennefs of thought,  and
 vulgarity of ftyle, which.were we not in poffeffion of, the Doctor's
 anfwers might be thought inimitable.   If the  parties were  lefs
 known, one might be  tempted to  think  that the addreffers were
 dull by concert;  and that, by way of retaliation,  the Doctor  was
 refolved to be as dull  as they.   At  leaft, if this was their defign,
 nobody will deny but they have fucceeded to admiration.

   " The governments of the old world," fay the Democratic,
 •' are moft of them now bafely combined to prevent the eftablifh-
 ment of liberty in France, and toeffeft the total dcftruction of the
 rights of man."

   What! The Rights of Man yet ? I thought that Liberty  and E^
 quality, the Rights of Man, and all that kind of political  cant, had
 long been difcovered for  the gTeateft Bore in nature.   Are there
 people in this country,  and people who pretend to poffefs a fuperior
 degree of fagacity too, who are dolts enough to talk about  French
 Liberty, after what they fee under their eyes this very day ? Is not
 every Frenchman in the United States, obliged to go to a juftice
 of the peace, every two or three months, to have a certificate of re-
 ftdence ? And muft he not have his certificate fworn to, and figned
 by four of the inhabitants befides the Magiftrate ? And muft he not
 pay for this too ? And if he fails in any part of this flavifh ceremo-
 ny, or goes into Canada or Florida, is he not marked out for the
 Guillontine? An Englifhman may come when he will, ftay as long
 as he pleafes, go where he will, and return when he will to his own
 country, without  finding any Jaw of profecution, or confifcation,
 iffued againft him or his property.  Which has moft liberty  ?

  I thought no one would dun our ears with French Liberty, after
the decree which obliges every merchant,  under pain of the guil-
lontine, to make a declaration of all his property in foreign coun-
tries, and to give up his right and title of fuch property to the con-
 vention ; and not  only to make a declaration of his own, but of his
                              D
• 
f  *   J
neighbors property alfo, under the fame penalty! It  has long been
cuftomary to exprefs a deteftation of the tyranny and cruelty of the
inquifition : But the inquifition, in the height of its feverity, was
never half fo tyrannical as this decree.   This is the boafted " gallic
liberty."  Let us hear their own definition of this liberty.   "  Li-
berty," fays Barrere,  in his report to the National Convention, on
the 3d of January laft, "Liberty, my  dear fellow  citizens,  is a
privileged and general creditor; not only has fhe a right to  our
property and perfons,  but to our talents and  courage,  and even to
our thoughts."   Oh Liberty ! What a metamorphofis haft thou un-
dergone in the hands of thefe political juglers!

   If this be liberty, may God in his  mercy continue me the moft.
abject flave.  If this be liberty, who will fay that the Englifh did
not do well in rejecting the Doctor's plan for making them free ?
The Democrats of Nsw-York, accufe the allies of being combi-
ned to prevent theeftablifhment of liberty  in France, and to deftroy
the rights of  man ; when it is notorious that the French themfelves
have banifhed the very idea of the thing from among them ; that is
to fay, if they ever had an idea of it.   Nay,  the  author of the
rights of man and the authorefs of the rights of women, are at  this
moment ftarving in a dirty dungeon, not a hundred paces from the
fanSlumfanttoruTn of Hbcuy and equality ; and  the poor unfortu-
nate Goddefs * herfelf is guillontined ! So much for liberty and the
 rights of man.

   The Tammany Society comes forward in boafting of their ** ve-
 nerable  ancejiors," and, fays the Doctor in his anfwer :  "  Happy
 would our venerable  anceftors have  been to have found, &c."
 What I  Were they  the Doctor's anceftors too ? I fuppofe he means
 in a figurative  fenfe  ! But certainly,  gentlemen, you made a  faux
* Madame Hebert, who had the honor  of reprefenting this Deity, and
 who  received tor a  conuderable time,  the adorations and incenfe of
 the devout Parisians,  was guillontined not  long ago.  It is impoffrble
 to fay tor what she was executed, as the court oy which she was tried
 de> not waftc their precious time in commuting their  proceedings to
 writing.
* 
[  *7   ]
pas in talking about your anceftors at all.   It is always a tender
fubject, and ought to be particularly avoided by a  body  of  men
" who difdain the fhackles of tradition "

   You  fay, that in the United States, "  there exifts a fentiment of
free and candid enquiry, which difdains  the fhackles of tradition,
preparing a rich harveft of improvement  and  the glorious triumph
of truth."   Knowing the religious, or rather the irreligious, prin-
ciples of the perfon to whom  this fentence was addreffed, it iseafy
to divine its meaning.   But, without flattery,  your zeal  furpaffes
that of the D ct t himfelf: He difdains revelation only ; the autho-
rity of Mofes, David, and a parcel  of folks that nobody knows;
but you difdain what your fathers have  told you ;  which is the
 more furprifing, as, at the fame time, you boaft of your  venerable
anceftors."   People fhould  always  endeavor  to be  confident, at
leaft when interefl does not interfere.   However, fuppofe the fhack-.
les of revelation and tradition both completely fhaken off, and the
infidel unitarian fyftem eftablifhed in  their ftead; what good would
 the country derive from it ? This is certainly worth  enquiry; be-
 caufe a thing that will do no good, can be  good for nothing.
 The people of thefe ftates are, in general, induftrious, fober, honeft,
 humane, charitable, and  fincere; dutiful children  and tender pa-
 rents.  This is the charattet of the people, and who will pretend
 to fay that the  gofpel, the belief of which has chiefly contributed
 to their acquiring of this amiable character, ought to be exchanged
 for the atheiflical ordeiftical doctrines of a Monvel or a Prieftly ?
 For my part I can fee nothing to induce us to try the experiment;
 no, not even " the  rich harveft of improvement and the glorious
 triumph of truth," that you  fay it promifes.   We know the  truth
 already ;  we want no improvement in religious knowledge; all we
 want is to practice better what we know;  and it is not likely that
 our practice would be improved by difdaining the theory.

    You allow that  a  public  and fincere fpirit of toleration exifts
 among us: What more is wanted ? If you were to  effect a general
 difdain of the fhackles of tradition, perhaps  the "rich harveft"
 be a corruption  of the manners, difcord, perfecotion and blood.
 The fame caufes generally produces  the  fame effects:  To fee and 
[  28   ]
be terrified at thofe effects, we have only to turn our eyes to that
diffracted country, where it  muft be allowed  even by yourfelves,
the fhackles of tradition are fufficiently difdained.

  .Doctor Prieflly profeffes to wifh for nothing but toleration ;  li-
berty of confeience.  But let us contrail  thefe moderate and difin-
tereffed profeffions with what he has advanced  in fome of his lateft
publications.   I have already taken notice of the affertion, in  his
letters  to the ftudents of Hackney;  "that the eflablifhed church
mtjlfall."  In his addrefs to the Jews (whom by the bye, he feeros
to wifh to form a coalition with) he fays;  " all the perfections of
the jews have arifen  from trinitarian ; that  is to  fay, idolatrous
chrijiians." Idolatrous Chriftians! It is  the firft time 1 believe
thefe two words  were ever joined together.   Is this the language
of a man who wants only  toleration, in a country where  the eflab-
lifhed church, and the moft part of the diffenters alfo, are  profeffed-
}y finitarians ? He will undoubtedly fay that the people of this
country are idolators too, for  there is not one out of an hundred at
moft, who  does not firmly believe in the doctrine of the Trinity.

  Such a man complains of perfecution with a very ill grace.  But
Jiippofe he had been persecuted for  a  mere matter  of  opinion ; it
would be only receiving the meafure he has meted to others.  Has
he not approved of the unmerciful perfecutionof the unfortunate and
worthy part of the French clergy ; men as far furpaffing him in pi-
ety and utility as in fuffering.  They  did  not want to coin a new
religion ; they wanted  only to be permitted to enjoy,  without in-
terruption, the one they had  been educated in, and that they had
fworn in the moft folemn manner, to continue  in to the end of their
lives.   The Doctor  fays in his addrefs to the Methodifts; " You
will judge whether 1 have  not reafon and fcripture on my fide.
You will at leaft be  convinced that Ihavefo perfuadid myfelf'; and
you cannot but. refpect a  real lover of truth, and a dtfire to bring
others into it, even in  the man who is unfortunately in an error."
 Does  not this man blufh at approving of the bafe, cowardly and 
[  *9   3
bloody perfecutions that have been carried on againft a let of men;
who erred, if they did err at all  from an excefs of confcientiouf-
nefs.  He talks of perfection, and puts on the mockery of woe:
Theirs has been perfecution indeed.  Robbed, dragged from their
homes, or obliged to hide from  the fight of man, in continual ex-
pectation of the affaffin's ftab: Some tranfported like common fel-
lows, for ever ; and a much greater  number  butchered, by thofe
to whofe happinefs their lives had been devoted, and in that coun-
try that they loved too well to difgrace by their apoftacy ! How
gladly would one of thefe unfortunate confcientious men have ef-
caped to America, leaving fortune, friends and all behind him!
and how diflerent has been the fate of Doctor Prieflly! Ah, Gen-
tlemen ! do  not  let us  be deceived by falfe pretenders; The man-
ner of his emigration is, of itfelf, a fufficient proof that  the ftep
was not neceffary,to the enjoyment of " protection from violence.'

   You fay, he has " loag dfmteref.edly labored for his country."
JTis true he fays (o; but we muft notbelieve him more difinterefted
than other reformers.  If toleration had been all he wanted;  if he
had contented himfelf  with the permiffion  offpreading his  doc-
trines, he would have found this in England, or in almoft any other
Country, as well as here.  The man that wants only to avoid per-
fecution, does not make a nuify au<l faftidious difplay of his princi-
ples, or attack with unbridled indecency, the religion of the country
in which he lives.  He who avoids perfecution is feldom perfecuted.
    " The lifted axe, the agonizing wheel,
    '' Luke's iron crown and Daraein's bed of fteel,
    " To men remote from pow'r but rarely known,
    " Leave reafon, faith and confcience  all  our own."
But the Doctor did not want to  be remote from  power or profit ei-
ther ; for in his  fermon on the  teft laws,  he  propofes " to  fet apart
one church for the diffenters in  every confiderable town, and a cer-
tain allotment of tithes for their minifter, proportioned to the num-
ber of diffenters in the diflrift."  A  very modeft and difinterefted
 requeft truly ! W2S this man feeking  peace and toleration only ?
 He thinks thefe facts are unknown in America,  After all his cla- 
                          [   5°  1
 rnour agaUft tithes, and his rejoicing on account of their abolition
 in France, he had no objection to their continuing in England,
 provided he came in for a fhare.   Aftonifhing difintereftednefs.

  In this country there is nothing to fear from the Doctor's difin-
 tereftednefs; becaufe there being no public revenue annexed to any
 worfhip whatever, there is nothing to wrangle  for; but from the
 diffeminating of his deiftical doctrine there is much to fear.   A ce-
 lebrated deiftin England fays that there can be no fuch thing as an
 athieft; that it is impoffible: For fays he, " every one muft necef-
 farily believe that fome caufe or other produced  the Univerfe; he
 may call that caufe what he pleafes ;  god,  nature, or even chance;
ftill he believes in the efficacy of that caufe, and therefore is no a-
thieft."  And indeed, we fhall find that deifm is but another name
for atbeifm, whether we confider it in the theory or in the practice.
 That we fhould not be bettered by the introduction of deifm or athe-
ifm, I think is a clear cafe.  "  The fear of the Lord is the begin-
ning of wifdom."   While  this fear exifted  in France there  was
 fome kind of manners,  fome kind of juftice left; but ever fince the
 deluded people have  been taught that Jefus Chrift was an infamous
 impoftor; and the worfhip of him has been  forbidden as  " idola-
 trous," the whole infernal  legion feems to be let loofe amongft
 them; and the nation appears  marked out for a dreadful example
 to ajl mankind.   Indeed fome fuch example was neceffary to cure
 the world of the ipfidel philofophy of Voltaire,  Rouffeau, Gib-
 bon, Prieflly, and the reft of that enlightened tribe.   We are con-
 tinually exclaiming  againft  prejudice,  without attending to its ef-
 fect on ourfelves.  I am afraid prejudice in favor of  the  French
 Revolution  has led Americans  to approve  many things, which a
 few years ago they would have viewed with the utmoft abhorrence;
 and that they would even now  view  with abhorrence in any other
 nation.  And here I cannot help  taking  notice of an article that
 appeared not many days ago in one of our public  papers.  The
 writer is giving a lift of eminent perfons who have " arifen on the
 democratic floor," which he concludes with Marat, St. Paul, and
 jfeJusChrifi. h it not a moft horrid blafphemy to put the  fon of
 god, the prince of peace, on a footing with the  bloody author of 
[  3*   1
the maffacres at Paris and Verfailles ?  I hop'* mi believe'; that fuch
Blafphemers are rare in the United States, arid the only way to keep
them fo, is for the people to reject unanimoufty every  attempt to
debafe  chriftianity, in  whatever fhape, ami under whatever dif*
gaife it may appear.

   In the addrefs of " the republican natives of Great  Britftia and
 Ireland, refident at New-York," we find a very extraordinary paf-
 fage indeed.   But before we fay any thing about this addrefs, it
 will not be amifs to fay a word or two about the addreflers.  I be*
 lieve one  might venture to  fay that there are but very few  natives
 of Ireland among them; becaufe, the emigrants from that country,
 being generally engaged in agricultural purfuits from  their  firft ar*
 rival here, have not the time to form themfelves into political focie-
 ties; and the words " Great  Britain"  might probably  have been
 fupplied by one word. However, as the gentlemen have not thought
 this word worthy a place in their addrefs, I can by no means think
 of introducing it here.  But let us fee what they think of themfelves :
 " After zfruitlefs oppfttion to a corrupt and  tyrannical govern*
 ment, many of us, like you, fought freedom and  protection in  the
 United States of America.  We look back on  our native country
 with pity and indignation, at the outrages that humanity  has fuftain*
 ed in the perfons of the virtuous Muir and his patriotic  affociates.'*
  We may then fairly fuppofe. that thefe " republican  natives of
  Great-Britain and Ireland" can be no other than the members of
  that renowned convention of which the " virtuous Muir," who ia
  now fortunately on his paffage to Botany Bay, was prefidenr.

     The  paffage of their addrefs, alkided to above, is as follows:
   *•' Participating in the many bleffings, which the government is cal-
   culated to infure, we are happy  in giving it this proof of our res-
   pectful attachment: We are only grieved, thata fyftem of fucb beau-
   ty and excellence fhould be at all tamijhedhy the exigence ofJkiverj^
   in any form; but, as friends to the equal rights of man, we muft be
   permitted to fay, that we wifh thefe rights extended to every hu-
   man being, be his complexion  what it may.  We however look for-
   ward with pleafing anticipation to ayet more perfect  flate effoticty j 
W   3»  3
   «nd from that love of liberty which forms fo diftinguifhed  a trait
   in the American character, are taught to hope that this lafl, the
   worji'dif grace to afree government, will finally and forever be done
   away."  So! Thefe gentlemen are hardly landed  in the United
   States before  they begin to cavil  againft the  government, and to
   pant after a more perfetiftate of Society ! If they have already difco-
  vered that the fyftem is tamifhed by the very lafl and worft di[grace
  of a free government, what may we not reafonably expect from their
  future refearches ? If they, with their virtuous Prefident had been
  landed  in the  fouthern ftates, they might have lent a hand to finifh
  the great work,  fo happily begun  by citizens Santhonax and Pol-
  verel.  They  have caught the itch of addreffing, petitioning and
  remonftrating  in their own country; let them fcratch themfelves
  into a cure; but do not let them attempt fpreading their diforder.
  They ought to remember, that they are come  here " to leek  free-
  dom  and protection"ybr themfelves, and not far others.  When the
  people of thefe ftates arc ready for a total abolition of negro  flave-
  ry, they will make a fhift to fee the propriety of adopting the mea-
  fure without the  affiftance of thefe northern  lights.   In the mean
  time, as the convention cannot here enter on their legiflative func-
  tions, they may amufe themfelves with  a fable that I  have transla-
  ted from the French for their particular ufe.

               The Pot-Shop—a Fable.

    In a pot-fhop that was well flocked with ware of all forts, a dif-
 contented ill formed pitcher unluckily bore the fway.  One day after
 the mortifying neglect of feveral cuftomers, u gentlemen" faid he,
 addreffing himfelf to his brown brethren in general, " gentlemen,
 with your permiffion, we are a fet of tame fools, without ambition,
 without courage: Condemned to the vileft ufes, we fuffer all with-
 out murmuring.   Let us dare  to  declare ourfelves, and we fhall
nfoonfeethe difference.  That fuperb ewer, which, like us, is but
 earth; thofe gilded jars, vafes, china,  and in fhort  all thofe ele-
 gant nonfenfes,  whofe colours and beauty have neither  weight nor
 folidity,rnuft yield to our ftrength & give wa y to our fuperior merit.'I 
                           [   33  ]
   This civic  harrangue was received with peals of applaufe, and
 the  pitcher (chofen prefident) became the organ of the affembly.
 Some however more moderate than the  reft, attempted to calm the
 minds of the multitude.   But all thofe which are called jordansor
chamber pots, were become intractable : Eager to vie with the
bowls and cups, they were impatient almoft tomadnefs to quit their
obfcure abodes, and to fhine upon the table, kifs the lip  and orna-
 ment the cup-board.
   In vain  did a  wife  water-jug  (fome fay  it was  a platter,)
n*ake them  a long and ferious difcourfe upon tha  peacefulnefs of
their vocation : " Thofe," fays he, " who are deftined  to great
employments are rarely the  moft happy.   We are all of the fame
clay, 'tis true; but he who made us, formed us for different func-
tions.   One is for ornament, another for ufe.  The pofts the leaft
important are often the moft  neceffary.  Our employments are ex-
tremely different, and fo are our talents."

   This had  a wonderful  effect; the  moft ilupid began to open their
ears : Perhaps it would have fucceeded, if a gieafe pot had not cried
 out with a decifive tone  : "  You reafon like anafs;  to the devil
with you and your filly leffjns."

   Now the fcale was turned again : All the hoard of Jordans; pans
and pitchers applauded the  fuperior eloquence  and reafon of the
greafe pot.  In fh irt, they  determined on  the cnterprize ; but a
difpute  arofe who fhould be chief:  All would command and none
obey.   It was then you  might have heard a clutter : Pots, pans and
pitchers, mugs, jugs and JTrrlaus, all put themfelves in motion at
once ; and fo quick and fo well wifely were their operations conduct-
ed, that the whole was foon changed—not into china,  bu't rubbfi.

   Let us leave the application of this fable  to thofe for whom it is
intended, and coins to the addrefa of " the affjeiated t:aJiers in the
city of New-York."

   From the profeffion of thefe gentlemen, one would have wifhed
not to find them among the doctor's addreffjrs;  and it will be io'r
                             E 
                         I  34   ]
thofe who employ the " affociated teachers" to judge how far their
approbation and praife of the writings of fuch a man is a proof of
their being calculated for " the arduous and important tafk of culti-
vating the human mind."  They very civilly invite the Doctor to
affift them to "form the man;" and, in his anfwer, he feems to hint
that he may poflibly accept the invitation.  All I can fay  on  this
matter, is, if he  fhould embrace this profeffioa, I hope he will be
exadtly as  fuccefsful in  forming the man, as he has been in re-
forming him.

  In the-anfwer to the " affociated Teachers," the  Doctor obferves,
that elaffesoi men, as well as individuals, are apt to form too high
ideas of their  own  importance."  Never was a  jufter obfervation
than this, and never was this obfervation more fully verified  than in
the parties themfelves.  The Doctor's felf importance is fufficiently
depicted in the quotation that I have given from his letter to the
people of Birmingham ; and as for the " affociated teachers," how
familiarly foever they may talk  of" the intriguing politics and vi-
tiating refinements of the European World," I muft fay,  I  think,
they know but  little of what paffes in that world;  or they never
would have larded with fuch extravagant  eulogiums, productions
which, in general have been long exploded.

   With refpect  to the Doctor's metaphyfical  reveries, or, in other
words, his  fyftem of infidelity, I fhall leave to himfelf the  tafk of
expofing that to the deteftation  of Americans, as it  has long been
to  that of the Englifh.   Of his fcientific productions, I propofe, in
a little time, to give the public  a fhort review; mean while I refer
the curious reader to the publications of the royal fociety, of i"]gi,
and 1792,  and to Doctor  Bewley's treatife on air.  He will there
fee his fyftem of chimiftry and natural philofophy detected, expo-
fed and defeated ; and the " celebrated philofopher" himfelf accu-
fed and convicted of plagiarifm.  He will there find  the key to the
following  fentence : " The patronage to be met with in monarchial
governments, is ever capricious, and as often imployed to bear down
 merit as to promote it, having for its object, not feience, or any
 thing ufeful to mankind,but the mere reputation of the patron, who 
                          I  is  1
isfeldom sny judge of'fcienee."  This is the language of evrey four-
ed neglected author, from a forry ballad monger to a doctor  with
half a dozen initials at the end of his name.

   As to his talents  as a writer we have only to open our eyes to be
convinced that they are far below mediocrity.   His ftile is uncouth
and fuperlatively diffufe.  Always involved in minutia, every fen-
tence is  a firing of parenthefifes,  in finding the end of which, the
reader is lucky if he  does not lofe the prepofition they were meant
to illuftrate.  In fhort,  the whole of his phrafeology is extremely
difgufting ; to which may be added, that even in point of gram-
 mar he  is very often incorrect.

    As a procfof what I have here afferted, I could give a thoufand
 fentences from his  writings;  but I choofe one or two from his an-
 fwers to the addreffers, as thefe pieces are in every  body's hands:
 And not to  criticife unfairly, I fhall take the firft fentence I eome
 at.  It runs thus :
    " Viewing with  the deepeft concern, as  you do, the  profpecl
 that is now exhibited in Europe, thofe troubles which are the na-
 tural offspring of their forms of government, originating indeed in
 the fpirit of liberty, but gradually degenerating into tyrannies, e-
 qually degrading to the rulers and the ruled,  I rejoice in finding an
 affylum from perfecution in a country in which thofe abufes have
 come to a  natural termination, and produced another fyftem of li-
 berty, founded on fuch wife principles, as I truft, will guard  againft
 ail future abufes; thofe artificial diftinctions in fociety, from which
  they fprung, being completely eradicated, that protection from vio-
  lence, which laws and  government  promife in all countries, but
  which I have not  found in my  own, I doubt not I fhall find with
  you, though I  cannot promife to be a better fubject of this govern-
  ment, than my  whole conduct will evince that I have been  to that
  of Great-Britain.

    This is  neither  thcfiyleperiodifue, nor the ftyle coupe ; it is I pre-
  furoe the Jlyletntortille: For one would certainly   think that the
  author had racked his imagination to render what he had to fay un-
  intelligible.  This, fentence of raonftrous length is cut afunder in 
[  3«   ]
 ihe middle by a femicolon, which, except  that it fcrres the weary
 reader by way of half way hotifc, might be placed in any other part
 of the fentence, to at leaft, equal advantnge.  In fact, this is not a
 fentence ; it a rigmarole ramble, that has neither beginning nor
 ending, and conveys to us no idea of any thing but the author* in-
 capacity.

   " Viewing with the deepefl concern, as you do, theprofpect that
 is now exhibited in Europe, thofe troubles which are  the natural
 offspring of their forms of government,  &c."  What, in the
 name of  goodnefs does this  mean?  Troubles is the only antece-
 dent  that can be found to their,  and the neceffary  conclusion is,
 troubles have their forms of government.

  The elector fays in his anfwer to the Tammany fociety : " Hap-
 py would our venerable anceftors, as  you juftly  call  them, have
 been tohavef.und America fuch a retreat to them."  It may  per-
 haps be ufeful to the learned Doctor to know that he ought to have
 faid :  " Happily would our venerable  anceftors, as you juftly call
 them, have been, to find America, &c."

  I grant that there is »reat reafon to believe, that the Doctor was
refolved to be as dull as  his addreffers; but I aflirt that it is impof-
fible for a perfon accuftomed to commit his thoughts to paper with
 thefmallqft degree of correctnefs,  to fall into fuch grofs folecims,
 or to  tack phrafes together in fuch an aukwardhome-fpun manner.
In fhort, he cannot be fit for even the poft of cajiigator •. and there-
 fore it is to be hoped that the " affociated teachers"  will not leffon
 their " importance" by admitting him amongft them;  that is to
 fay, except it be as a fcholar.

   There are many things that aftonifh us in the addreffes, amongft
 which the tompaffion that the addreffers exprefs for that " infatuated'
 and" devotedcountry," Great Britain,certainly is not the leaft.

   The Democratic fociety,  with  a hatred againft tyranny,  that
 would have become the worthy nephew of Damien, or the great
 Marat himfelf, fay: '* The multiplied oppreffions which character- 
                          C  37  1
ife thnt government, excite in ns  the moft painful fenfations,  and
exhibit a fpectacle asdifgufting in itfelf as difhonorable to the  Bti-
tifh name."  And what a tender affectionate concern do the fons of
Tammanvex-refs for the poor diftreffed unfortunate country of
their " venerable anceftors."   ♦< A country," fay they, " although
now prefenting a project frightful  to the  eye of humanity, yet
once the nurfe of fcicnoes, of arts, uf heroes, and of freemen, a coun-
try which although at prefent apparently devoted to deftrutlicn, we
findiy  hope may yet trt d back thejleps of infamy and rkin, and onc'-
 tnore rip ccnfricuous among the free nations of the earth."

   But of all the addreffers none feem fo zealous on this fubject as-
" the republican natives of Great Britain and Ireland." "While,"
fay they, " we look back on our native country with  emotions of
pity and indignation, at the outrages human nature has fullained,
in theperfons of the virtuous Muir and his patriotic affxiates; and
deeply lament the fatal apathy into which our counir)men have fal-
len : We defire to be thankful to the great author of our being,
 that we are in America, and that  it  has p.'eafed  him, in his  wife
 providence, to make thefe United States an afylum, not only from
 the immediate tyranny of the Britifh  government, but alfo from
 thofe impending calamities,  which its increafing defpotifm, and
multiplied  iniquities, muft infallibly bring down on a deluded and
oppreffed people."  What an enthufiaftic warmth is here ! No fo-
 lemn  league  and covenant,  prayer,  embellifhed with the nafal
 fweetnefs of the  conventicle, was ever more affecting.

   To  ah* this the Doctor very pitioufly echoes  back " figh  for
 figh, and groan for groan ; and when the fountain of their eyes is
 dry, his fupplies the place and weeps for both."

   There is fomething fo  pathetic, fo irrefiftab'y moving in all this
 that a  man muft have a hard heart indeed to read it,  and not butft
into laughter.

   In fpeaking of Monarchies, it has often been lamented  that the
 fovereign, feldom, or never hears the truth ;  and much affraid  I am
 that this is equally applicable to democracies.  What court Syco-
* 
i  3*  1
p&ants are to a prince, demagogues are to a people ; and the latter
kind of parafites is by no means lefs dangerous than the  former ;
perhaps more fo, as being more ambitious  and  more numerous.
God knows, there were too many  of this defcription in America,
before the arrival  of Doctor Prieflly :  I can therefore fee no rea-
fon for boaftingsand addreflings on account of the acquifition.

   Every one muft obferve, how the Doctor has fallen at once into
|hc track of thofe, who were already in poffeffion  of the honorable
poll.   Fiqdipg a  popular prejudice prevailing againft his country,
and not poffeffing that patriae caritas which is the characleriftic of
his countrymen, he has not  been  afhamed to attempt making his
court by flattering that prejudice.   I grant that a prejudice againft
this nation is not only excufable but almoft commendable in  Ame-
ricans: but the misfortune is, this prejudice expofes them to de-
ception, and makes them the fport of every intriguing  adventurer.
Suppofe it be the intereft of Americans that great  Britain fhould
be ruined and even annihilated, in the prefent conteft ;  it  can never
be their intereft to believe that this defirable object  is already or
nearly quite accomplifhed,  at a time when fhe is become  more for-
midable than ever, in every quarter of the globe.  And  with ref-
pect  to the internal fituation of that country, we ought not to fuf-
ferourfelves to be deceived by "gleanings from morning chroni-
cles, or Dublin gazettes :"  For,  if we infill that newfpaper report
is the criterion by which we ought to judge of the  governments
 and ftate of other countries, we muft allow the fame meafnre to fo-
 reigners with refpeft to their own country; and then what muft the
 people of England think of the government of the United States,
 upon reading a page or two from the flovenly pen of Agricola.

    " It is charitable," fays  this democrat, " It is charitable to be-
 lieve many who figned the conftitution, never dreamed of the mea-
 sures taken place, which alas ! we now experience.  By  this dou-
 ble government,  we are involved in unneceffary  burdens  which
 ^either toe nor  $ur fathers ever knew.  Such a menfter of a govern-
 ment has feldom  ever been known on earth.  We are obliged  to
 ^maintain, two governments, with  their fill number of officers from
4 
r  39  3
head to foot. Some of them receive fuch wages as never were heard
of before in any government upon earth ; and all this bellowed on
Arifiocrats for doing next to  nothing.  A  bleffed  revolution ! a
bleffed revolution indeed !  but farmers, mechanics,  and labourers
have no fbare in it, we are the affes who muft have the honor of
paying them without any adequate fervice.   Now let the imparti-
al, judge whether our government taken collectively, anfwers  the
"great end of protecling our perfons and property !  Or whether it is
not calculated to drain us of our money, and give it  to  men  whb
have not rendered adequate fervice for it.  Had an infpiredpron
phet told us that the things which our eyes fee, in the beginning of
the Revolution,he  might have met Jeremiah's fate ; or if we had
believed him, not one in a thoujand would have refilled Great Bri-
tain.  Indeed, my countrymen, we are fo loaded by our new  go-
vernments,  that we have little heart to  attempt to move under
all our burdens ; we have this confolation, when things come to the
word, there muft be a change, and we may reHfatisfitd, that either
the federal or date gcvit-nments muft fall."

   If" gleanings" like thefe were publifhed in England, wbuld hot
the people naturally exclaim : What!  the boafted government 61
America, come to this already ? The poor Americans arc dreadful-
ly tyrannized by the Arifiocrats!  There will certainly be a revolt*
 tion in America foon !  They would bejuft as much miftaken as
 the people in this country are, who talk of a revolution inEngfattd.

   Neither  ought we to  look upon the emigration of perfons from
 England to this country as a  proof of their being perfecuted, and
 of the tyranny of the Englifh government.  It is paying America
 a very poor compliment, to fuppofe that nothing fhort of perfecu-
 tion, could bring fettlers to its fhores.   This is befides the moft un-
fortunate proof that could poflibly be produced  by the advocates
of the French Revolution : For if the emigration of a perfon to
 this country be a proof of a tyranny exifting in that from which
 he comes, how fuperlatively tyrannical muft  the  government  in
 France be ?  But they fay,  thofe  who emigrate from  France
arc Arifiocrats: They arc not perfecuted; they  emigrate be caufe 
[  ¥>   ]
 they hale a free country.   What! do they really come to America
 becaufe they hate a free country ? Did the governors of Martinico,
 &c. make a capitulation  to be  fent here,  to avoid going to a free
 <cuntry ? The Democratic Society will certainly oblige the world
 very much in explaining this enigma*

   I am one of thofe who wifh to believe that foreigners come to
 this country from choice, and not from ncceffity.   America opens
 a wide field for enterprize; wages for all mechanics are better, and
 the means  of fubfiftence  proportionably  cheaper than in  Europe.
 This is what brings foreigners amongft us :  They become citizens
 of America for the  honeft purpofes of commerce, of turning their
 induftry and talents to the beft account, and of bettering their for-
 tunes.  Bytheir exertions  to enrich themfelves, they enrich the
 ftate, lower the  wages, and render the country lefs dependent upon
 others.  The moft numerous as well as the moft ufeful are mechan-
 ics ; perhaps a cobler with his hamrnar and awls, is a more  valuable
 acquifition than a dozen philofophi-theologi-po.iti-cal empiries with
 all their boafted apparatus.   Of all the Englifh.arri ved in thefe States
{fince the war) no one was ever calculated to render them lefs fet vice
 than Doctor Prieflly ;  and what is more, perhaps no one (before or
 fince, or even in the war) ever intended to  render them.lefs.  His
 preference to the American government  is all affectation :  His
emigration was not voluntarily :  He flaid in England  'till he faw
 no hopes of recovering a loft  reputation ; and then burfting with
 envy and refentment, he fled into what the Tammany fociety very
juftly call " banifhmem," covered  with the univsrfal deteftation
 of his countrymen. 
 
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