£^A*AA ^ **C*/ LETTERS to THE INHABITANTS O I NORTHUMBERLAND- AND ITS /' '$$_$ Stj* '' • { / J i\;'U I . NEIGHBOURHOOD, V V vjk/ *h. 0» Subjects interejling to the author^ ; //Tr^ 7 and to them. * ;4ju--'' ^ PART L£^ By JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, l. l. d. r. r. s. &c. -Nunquamne reponam ? Juvenal. NORTHUMBERLAND: Printed for the author *y ANDREW KENNEDY. MDCCXCIX. V / The CONTENTS. LETTER I. Of my Situation as an Alien. - - Page j LETTER II. Of my Trench Citizen/hip, and French Principles. 5 LETTER III, Of my Right to treat oj Subjects of civil Policy, and the Advantages I have had for acquiring Know- ledge of this Kind. - - 11 LETTER IV. Of what I have done with RefpeEl to the Politics of this Country. - - - 16 LETTER V. Of the intercepted Letters, and of the French Revo- lution. - - - - 22 LETTER VI. Of the Style of Abufe in the Writings of Mr. Cob- bet, alias Peter Porcupine. - go LETTER VII. Of my Religion. - - _ 03 A Defence of Mr. Cooper and myfelf, in anfwer to a grofs mifreprefentation of an Application to the Prefldent. - - _ .. TO THE INHABITANTS O I NORTHUMBERLAND AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. LETTER I. Of my Situation as an Alien. My Friends and Neighbours, WHEN any perfon becomes an object of more fufpicion than he wifhes to lie under, he na- turally appeals to thofe who have had the beft oppor- tunity of knowing him ; and if they be latisfied with relpeft to his conduct, it is the beft means of fatisfying others. This unpleafant charader of zfufpeBcd perfon, hoftile to the country in which I live, a-gravated by the confideraticn of its having afforded me prote&ion when I could not live with comfort, or even with Cafe- ty, in my native country, you well know I have borne for fome time. 3 I think 2 To the Inhabitants I think it barely poflible for a man who has, in the five years that I have been among you, done fo little of an offenfive nature, to have become the obje£fc of more fufpicion and rancour than I have incurred. I he moft popular writer in this country, and who receives the greateft countenance from the perfons in power, - fays, " I hope I ftiail fee the malignant old Tartuff '■' of Northumberland begging his bread thro' the ftreets " of Philadelphia, and ending his days in the poor £: houfe, without a friend to clofe his eyes." The curie of-ErnuIphus in Triftram Shandy does not exceed this. In order to keep as clear as poflible, and as free from fufpicion, with refpeft to the politics of this coun- try, I did not chufe even to be naturalized, and the Prefident, to whom I mentioned my objection to it, much approved of my refolution. But I find that this precaution has not availed me any thing. Being an alien, the Prefident has been again and a- gain called upon to carry into execution againft me the late a6fc of congreis refpe6ling aliens. It has heen faid, that ': if what I have done paftes unnoticed by govern- " rnent, it will cpei ale as the greateft encouragement that " its enemies have ever received. The)' will fay, and " juftly too, that tho' the Prefident is armed with ocw- " er, he is afr.dd to make ufe of it, 'and that the alien law t: is am^e bug bear." I hope, however, to convince you that fuch an order would be cruel and unjuft; for that I am not fo very dangerous a pericn as this writer and hism-v fuppofe. Tnat I may conduct this addrefs to you with fo:n^ regard to method. I fhall fiift cordid*r what is object- ed to ms from what / am, and then from what I'han: djne. After this I fhall tell you what I think, bo-h with refpeel to vour government in general, and the late adminiftration of it, with the r.-aLii on which mv oniui-jas Of Northumberland, &e. 3 opinions are founded; and thus you will know bet- ter than you can do at prefent what to think of me, and of my accufcrs too. In doing this I fhall, with Pope, ---------pour out all myfelf as plain, As honeft Shippen, or as old Montagne. In the firft place, then, I am to confider what is obje&ed to me from what / am. In fome refpe&s neither praife nor blame will attach to what a man is., becaufe it was not in his power to have been any other. It will not, for inftance, be objected me, at leaft as an unfavourable circumftance, that I am a native of Eng- land, even by thofc whofe greateft boaft it is that they are native Americans. Nor fhall 1 be cenfured for faying, what I always have done, and what with great truth I repeat, that I am proud of my native country, and am as fincere a well wifher to it as any American can be to this country. It does not depend on ourfelves, but upon our parents, and upon God, who affigns to every man his proper ftation and duty, where we fhall be born. But of what importance is it where I was born, or whence I came ; whether I dropped among you from the clouds, or rofe out of the earth. Here lam. Here is my family. Here is my property, and every thing elfe that can attach a man to any place. Let any perfon only view my houfe, my garden, my library, mv laboratory, and the other conveniences with which I am furrounded, and let him withal confider my age, and the little difpofition that I have fhewn to ramble any whither, and fay whether any perfon among your- felves, or in the United States, could remove with more difficulty, or with more lofs, than I fhould do. And yet there are great numbers who would think no more of an order to fend m« out of the country (which it is in the power of the Prefident to give, and even without deigning to giy* me a hearing) than it I was a pauper, without 4 To the Inhabitants without houfe or home; and they would rejoice a» much in it as if I had been a burden to the diftrift. It is furely, alfo, as probable that I mall have a real attachment to a country, and the government of it, to which I came voluntarily, and from a preference of them to any other, as if I had been a native, and confe- quently had had no choice in the cafe. Is itfuppofed by my adverfaries that I have any predilection for England, or the government of it, merely becaufe I was bora there ? If I am an alien myfelf, my fons are naturalized ; and muft not a father feel for them ? Can he be an enemy to the country to which they belong ? You will fmile to hear my accufer fay that I live in " difhed, which I dignify with the name a houfe " when you know that, with refpeel: both to convenience and elegance, it is fuperior to any houfe in the county, and excepting Philadelphia, and its neighbourhood there are perhaps few that are equal to it in the whole State. It would be a better founded objection to fay, that jtsap- arance is too Ariftocratical for the habita- tion of a Democrat. My library and philofophical apparatus are, without boafting, fuperior to any thing of the kind in this country, and of much more value than my houfe. He alfo fays that, " like Mr. Vaughan, I fhall " leave this country in dudgeon the moment I can " do it with a profpeel; of living elfewhere with fafetv " and in eafe." You who know the provifion I have made for fpending, my days with comfort here, are bet- ter judges of the probability of this than any perfon at a diftance can be. Mr. Gobbet's account of myfelf, and my conduct, in his pamphlet on the fubjecl of my emigration, has juft as much of truth in it as his account of my houfe and my intentions. It is, however, moft ferioufly objected to me that I i.m a French citizev., and have adopted French prin- ciples ; Of Northumberland, &e, 5 Hples; a id in the opinion of many perfons thofe prin- ciples a? e truly diabolical, fo that I might as well have come to you from the infernal regions. This I feel to be dangerous ground ; but having undertaken to give you the beft account that I can of what I am, I fhall, if you will have the courage to follow me, venture upon it in my next Letter. In the mean time, I am, My Friends and Neighbours, Your fincerely, J. PRIESTLEY. LETTER II. Of French Citizen/hip, and French Principles. My Friends and Neighbours, IN my laft I promifed to confider what is obje&ed to me as a Citizen of France. This I find to be an accufation of a very ferious nature. For on this account alone it is taken for granted that I muft be an enemy to this country, which for fome time paft has been in a ftate nearly bordering on open hoftility with France. Mr. H----- confiders it as a fufficient proof of Mr. Cooper's being inimical to this country, that, on a late occafion, he was fuppofed to have a&ed in concert with me ; as if I was not only avowedly hof- tilc to this country myfclf, but muft ncceffarily com- municate 6 To the Inhabitants municate the fame hofliie difpofition to all perfons who have any communication with me, But, my friends, hear a little reafon on this fub- iecl:. You have heard a great deal that is not reafon, but mere paflionate declamation upon it; and efpeci- ally attend to the circumfiance of the time in which I wax made a citizen of France, and the occafion of it. It was (imply as a well known friend of general liber- ty, in confequence of my having written in defence of the liberties of America, as well as thofe of France, and as one who had fuffered in the caufe. Confider alfo that at that time there wasnofufpici- of a war between England and France. The French king was then living, the conftitution of France was then reduced to a limited monarchy refembling that of England, and other Englishmen, and among them Mr. Wilberforce, a faft friend of Mr. Pitt, were made citizens of France. He was diftirrguifhed in this man- ner on account of his taking the lead in the meafures that were adopted for the abolition of the flave trade. It was alfo, I believe, at the fame time that your Gene- ral Wafhington received the fame compliment; and furely you do not for this fufpeci him of being your enemy. In thefe circumftances it is very poflible that any native American might not have thought it at all dif- reputable to have been made a citizen of France, ob- noxious as the character happens to be at prefent. I certainly confider it as an honour to me, and think that I have more reafon to be proud of it than of being a native of any country whatever. I wifh I had done more to deferve it. But it is alleged by thofe who wifh to make the moft of every circumftance that can be conftrued to my prejudice, that, befides being a citizen of France, I was eieded a member of the Conventional Affembly, *ppoii:tcd for the purpofe of framing a new conftitu- tion Of Northumberland, (3c. 7 tion for that detefted country and this implies a nearer relation to it. To this, alfo, I plead guilty. I was elected in a great number of the departments of France, and w as informed that I fhould have been elected in ly.cPy more, but that it was well underftood that I cer- tainly fhould be in others. I fhould have been elect- ed for the department of Paris, if it had not been for the oppofition of Robefpierre, who very properly ob- jected to it, as not fit for any foreigner. I faw the ho- nourable propofal in the fame light. I was pleafed with the compliment, but declined the office j and what could the proudeft native American have dont more ? Thefe circumftances, I am willing to think, will be deemed to operate as fome extenuation of my offence. Confider. alfo, the change that has taken place with refpect to opinions, as well as other things, in the laft five years among yourfelves. When I came to this country,' in the year 1794, I found the people in ge- neral in unifon with :r.e on this fubjeft. On all public occafions, Succefs to the arms of Trance was never o- mittcd among the toafls that were drank. Complaints were at that time univcrfally made againft the irdolcnce and injufticc of the En-Idh, and even an open rupture with England was generally expected. There was no complaint of French principles then, tho'they wcuthe fame that they are r..cw. They were univerfally con- fidered as the principles of general liberty, and tlia fame with American principles, that is republican, in oppofnion to monarchical. The change, therefore, that has taken place is not in me, but in the people here; and confidcrhig that old men do not eafily change their fentimcut-, or attachments, if I muft change, you muft allow me more time, and this I cannot pretend to fix ; but I fhall be as expeditious as I can. If by French principles be meant dnc principles of the French government. I do not fee wherj they dndcr in s To the Inhabitants in any thing that is effential from thofe of your own. In neither of the two conftitutions are there any here- ditary honours or powers. All offices are elective, and for a moderate time. In both there are three diftinct powers, an executive, a fenate, and a houfe of repre- fentatives; tho' not called by the fame names, or con- nected in quite the fame manner ; and in neither of the countries is there any form of religion eftablifhed by law. The great outline of the two conftitutions is there- fore the very fame. In fome other things they differ, as in their executive there are five perfons, and in yours only one. But which of them is beft adapted to anfwer its end experience only can decide. Tho' each has its peculiar advantages, as in a future letter I may fhew. and I am difpofed to give the preference to that of this country ; yet as far as I can fee, either of them may do very well, and whatever is found to be inconvenient in either of them may be changed at a proper time. So great an agreement as this might be expected to lay a foundation for friendfhip , efpecially as the French na- tion, with whatever view (which it does not behove any ftate to fcrutinize very narrowly) gave you material af- fiftance in afferting your liberties, and then followed your example in afferting their own; changing their monarchical government for a republican one. The maft opprobious appellation with which thofc who call themfelves Federalifts reproach us, as a confe- quence of our adopting French principles, is that of democrats. Democracy, they feem to think, the greateft of all crimes, and the perfons chargeable with it not fit to be tolerated in any regular government. But my friends, pray confider what democracy really means. It fignifies nothing more than the government of the peoplt, or a conftitution in which the people chufe all their magiftrates, and in which the magiftiates are accounta- ble to the people, or their representatives, for their con- dud Of Northumberland, (3c. 9 duct in office, which is exactly the conftitution of this country. Every man, therefore, who is not a de- mocrat is an enemy to this conftitution. What ilrange and arbitrary meanings our enemies may annex to this word I cannot tell, nor do I believe they know them- felves; but I have not yet met with any democrat who ufed the word in any other fenfe than that which I have now given to it. Our enemies will tell you that by democracy we mean a ftate of anarchy and confufion, a government by mobs, and an equalization of all property. But can any of you really believe that a perfon of my fmall property would wifh for fuch a ftate as this, or that a perfon of my age would like to fcramble among the ftrongeft of you for what I could get. If that was to be the cafe, I fhould expect to be very foon turned Out of my houfe, and left to ftarve among you. If you can be made to believe this of us, you are eafily impof- ed upon indeed, and might be made to fear left the Iky fhould fall, that fire might be fet to your river, or that an army of French canibals may crofs the Atlantic in a fleet of balloons, land on the blue mountain, and eat up all your children for their firft breakfaft. For thefe arc not more improbable than the other. As by democracy we mean a government of the people, and not of the mob, fo by equality we mean an equality of rights, and of power both to acquire pro- perty, and to keep it; the equality that actually ex- ifts in this country. This has been explained fo often that our enemies muft know it to be our whole mean- ing. .You are angry at the French for their captures of your fhips, as you were before at the Englifh on the fame account, and I believe you had reafon in both cafes. But do not lay the blame on French or Englifti principles, but on the adminiftration of the countries. The French themfelves are far from approving of the G conduct 10 To the Inhabitants conduct of all their rulers, and ftill lefs of all that are employed by them. Why then muft I be fuppofed to approve of all the attrocities of Robefpierre, with which I am continually charged, merely becaufe I am an adopted citizen of France. I condemn them as much as you can do, and hope they will not occur a- gain. I find, however, that, in the opinion of fome, I muft bear the blame of all that has been done in France, even fince I have had no communication with that country, or knowledge of what pafles in it, and perhaps of all the crimes that may be committed there after I am dead. But they who are the loudeft in their exclamati<- on againft French principles, appear to me to know nothing of any principles of government. For it is impoflibie to reprobate the general principles of the French government, and not include thofe of the A- merican government in the fame cenfure. It may, therefore, be fairly prefumed that they are difTatisfied with this government, and wifh to overturn it. Thig would give me the greateft concern. I came hither from the preference I gave to it; and any material change in it would certainly, old as I am, drive me away again. With your immortal Franklin, I fay Where liberty is, there is my country. Of the American conftitution, I therefore fay, Eflo ptrpctua. I am, &c. LETTER OJ Northumberland, &t, 11 LETTER III. Of'fliy Right to treat of SubjeBs of civil Policy, and the Advantages I have had; for acquiring Knowledge of this Kind. My Friends ethd Neighbours, HAVING confidered what is objected to me on account of what I am, I proceed to what I have done; and indeed this is of much more impor- tance than the other. For what does it fignify what any man is, or what character he fuftains, if he do nothing in confequence of it. But it is urged againft me that I have not been an idle fpectator of what is •palling; for that I actually bufy myfelf in the poli- tics of the country, and with thefe it is faid I have nothing to do. Before I inform you what I have done, or what I have not done, give me leave to obferve that, tho' I am an alien, I cannot allow that I have no right to have an opinion with refpect to the government of the coun- try in which I live, or to exprefs my opinion, in words or in writing, if I be fo difpofed. Can any man, whofe perfon and property are in any country, be wholly unconcerned about the con- duct of its affairs. Tho'a man may be a mere paffen- ger in a Chip, muft he be content to fee it fuffer, or fink, and not give his opinion how it might be faved, becaufe he is not the owner, the captain, or any officer on board acting under him. I have heard, indeed, of a man who when he was alarmed with the cry of fire in the houfe in which he was fleeping, faid " what is that to me, I am only a lodger. But his conduct is not gene- rally thought worthy of imitation. When 12 To the Inhabitants When Dean Swift, who was an Englishman re- nding in Ireland, wrote about the politics of that coun- try, and by his Drapiefs Letters prevented the circu- lation of Wood's halfpence, was there any complaint of his interference on account of his being a foreigner ? And had I done any thing pleafing to thofe who now complain of my conduct, their complaints would not have been heard. Do the fame perfons complain of the writings of Peter Porcupine, who, as an alien, ftands in the fame predicament with myfelf ? Had I, like him written any thing in praife of the meafures of ad- miniftration, I might have done it without any cenfure, as well as he. On the principles of my accufers, had I difco- vered a certain method of preventing or curing the yellow fever, or of deftroying the Heffian fly, I muft not ( a e divulged it becaufe I am an alien. But if I be at liberty to do good, it muft be what I myfelf deem to be good, and in my own way alfo, and with refpect to all fubjects indiscriminately, that of politics not ex- cepted. Another muft not think, judge, or act, for me. If I had nothing at flake in the country (and I have much more than thoufands of native Ameri- cans) is it poflible for a man to fee any company, in vrhich, from the prefent interefting ftate of public af- fairs, there is hardly any other topic of converfation than politics, or read your newfpapers, in which topics of this kind are continually difcuffcd, and form no o- pinion about them; and if he have an opinion, can he forbear to let his acquaintance know wdiat that opini- on is. when perhaps they are inquifitive, and wifh to know it. I have another apology to make for the conduct that is objected to me. Having never had much ca- pacity for the more active purfuits of life, I had from very early years a turn for j'peculation on every fubjecl: that Of Northumberland, &e. 13 that has become before me; and they have been very various, as my writings will fhew. Among them po- litics, in fuch a country as England, could not be ex- cluded, any more than religion, or philofophy. And being now old, and of courfe lefs active, I am more difpofed to think, and, having more experience, I prefume I am rather better qualified for it than e- ver. Have the candour, therefore, to bear with my thinking, and with my talking and writing too, as you do with refpect to other old men, tho' you fhould be of opinion that what I think, fpeak, or write, is not fo much to the purpofe as you could wifh it to be. As I own I am fometimes difpofed to think, and to fpeak on the fubject of politics, as well as on other topics, you muft excufe my vanity, if I imagine that I am in fome meafure not unqualified for it. At leaft I have, in the courfe of a very various life, had the means of acquiring fome political knowledge. I was feven years in the family of the Marquis of Lanfdown, which was altogether a political houfe, where I daily faw, and converfed with, the firft poli- ticians not only of England, but from all parts of Eu- rope. And, independent of that connexion, I have had more or lefs intercourfe with moft of the political living characters whofe names you have heard menti- oned, and with many that you have not heard of. Betides the principal politicians of England, both in and out of the mmiftry, I was perfonally acquainted with fome of the moft eminent in France, both be- fore and lince the revolution; as Mr. Turgot, Mr. Neckar, Mr. Briifot, Mr. Pethion, and the Due de Rochfocault, who was my conftant correfpondent from the time that I was in Fiance to that of his un- fortunate death. I am feniible that what I am now faying will have t':e air of boailing. But if, as Solomon fays, there be d time u : mftitution, could not take better fteps to gain his end than thofe that are pointed out by Mr. Cooper. At the fame time, it is not denied, nor does Mr. Coo;x:r deny it, that the fame things might be done from oiher moUves. But, as he obferves, we have nothing to do with men's motives, but only with the ten- dency oj their irjcfures ; and of this we muft form our judgment from confidering their nature, and the cir- cumftances of the cafe. For what I did in this bufinefs Maffachuten- fis, who confiders it as a crime of a peculiarly hei- nous nature, fays " I Hand charged before the great " tribunal of the American people !" I do not, howe- ver, confider an anonymous writer in a newfpaper as the American people. But whenever this people, whom 1 refpect, fhall arraign any part of my conduct by their authorized officers, in due form, I fhall be ready to meet the accufation. In the mean time, thefe letters may be fufficient. That I may leave nothing on my confcience rela- ting to this fubjeaof what I have done, I will farther confcfs that, averfe as I generally am to public meet- ings, Of Northumberland, &c, 21 ings, which are often attended with much noife, to which from the habits of a ftudious life I am iiuch avevfe, I was prevailed upon to join in two celebrations of the 4th of July, one of them two years ago, in a grove near thistown, and this year in another near Sunbury> at both of which republican or democratia.1 toafts were drank, and where the late meafures of adminiftiation were not praifed. If I could think that it would avail me any thing, I might perhaps plead that, if I have done mifchief in fome refpects, I have done good in others. But with thofe who have no knowledge beyond that of the po- litics of the day, and a very fuperficial knowledge even of them, pounds of merit of any other kind would be outweighed by grains of political, or rather of party demerit. Let a man who is fufpectcd ut what any party terms J'edition defcrvc ever fo well of his country, or of mankind at large, in other refpects, no more mercy would be fhewn him on that account, than was fhewn by Robefpierre in France. Had I made dif- coveries in fciencc equal to thofe of Newton, or had had the philanthropy of Howard, they would not have exempted me from the coarfeft abufe that the Englifh language can furnifh. A deteaed thief, or a fraudu- lent forger of bank bills, would have met with more favour than has been fhewn to me. I do not recollect any thing more that I have done with refped to the politics of this country fincc I have come into it, except writing a reply to a viru- lent cenfure of me for holding a correfpondence with a friend in France on occafion of a letter to me in- tercepted and publifhed with notes in Eng-and, and republished with additional and more virulent remarks in this country. This reply I publifhed in feveral of your new fpapers, and I believe it gave general fatis- iaaion. I fhall, therefore, foon proceed to inform you what I really think of the political ftate of this 7 country, 22 To the Inhabitants - o nirv and I fh.ill do it with perfea freedom, but with 'i]?< coolnefs winch I hope is habitual to me. I cv\\y w..u that what I write may be read with the frm-i temper. But before I do this I fhall in my next make fome farther obfervations concerning the inter- cepted Letters, and abufive turnings in general, and thofe which refpea myfelf in particular, I am, &c. V LETTER V. Of the intercepted Letters, and, of the French Revolution. My Friends and Neighbours, A GREAT clamour was made fome time ago about the intercepted letters mentioned in my laft. It was on that occafion that I wrote the fub- ftance of thefe Letters ; but being unwilling, without more urgent caufe, to appear as a political writer, I withheld them from the prefs, and contented myfelf with writing a fhort advertifement, merely in anfwer to a charge of being a fpy in the intereft of France. To decline all particular difcuffions, I then obferv- ed, that I was not anfwerable for what any perfon might think proper to write to me. But this bufinefs being again brought before the public, I will freely acknowledge that my friend's letter gave me great plea- fure ; and the like I have received from others before and fince that time, written by the fame hand, and in the fame fpirit, tho' no two men think exactly alike, or Of Northumberland, (3e. 23 or would exprefs themfelves in exactly the fame man- ner. Mr. Si ne, being a younger man, will naturally be more fan^uint. ai-rl wvit* with more warmth than I fhould be diip ofed to do. But. my friends, .cad the intercepted letters without regarding the notes that ac- companied the publication, and then fay what there is in them tha* can givejuft offeree to any American. Mr. Stone is a perion who, together with myfelf, earneftly wifhed for a rciormatton el a!:-ufes in the En- glifh government, in order to prevent an entire revo- lution, which we did not think was wanted there. He now fees, or thinks he fees, that no fuch reformation is to be expt£ted; and therefore wifhes a revolution to take place, thinking it to be abiclutely neceifary for the good of the people. I own that I am now in- clined to his opinion. I fincerely wifh (if the genuine fpirit of the original conftitution cannot be revived, which would no doubt be the beft for that country) for fome more radical charge than I have hitherto thought neceifary, tho' I wifh it may be effeaed pea- ceably, and without the interference of any foreign power. , Tho' during the American war it was voted, in the houfe of Commons, that " the power of the crown ,; had increafed, was mcreafing, and ought to be dimi- t: nifhed;" it is evident that, fo far from being dimin- ifhed, it has kept increafing fince that time ; and how far it may go it is impoffible to fay. The forms of the Britifh conftitution are fo far from being any real check on the power of the crown, as in theory they ought to be, that they are the moft convenient inftruments of it; the court, as is well known, always commanding a ma- jority in the houfe of Commons, and being equally fure of the fupport of the Lords in all their mea- fures. Seeing that, for want, as I conceive, of a due reorefentation of the people, a refpeaable clafs of En- glifh 24 To the Inhabitants glifl: citizens are frowned upon, and their fituation un- comio.-t^Mc, and hardly fa.fe, I fmcerely wifh them relieved. My cone pond-::t does the fame, and more- over -xi;r fi\s his Mttsfaaion in the progrefs that the revclui-oru-'V fp;rit is making in other parts of Europe, where it is ".ill more wanted. Now, pray, what of- fer ce c?n this j.;ftly give in America, where a fimilar re-'-'jvo" has .ctually taken place, and where the great benefits of it are cv-ry day experienced ? Why fhould you £-.ike umbrage at other countries following the ex- ample that you have let them ? Shocked at the enormities which have been com- mitted in France, and which no perfons lament fo much as the friends of liberty in every country, it has be- come fafnior.able with many lo exclaim againft all re- volutions indifcriminately, and all the principles that lead to them ; and in the Englifh parliament a wifh has been openly expreffed for the reftoration of the an- cient government, and the ancient religion, of France. But, furely, they who hold this language muft either be avowed advocates of arbitrary power, or have for- gotten the ftate of France before the laft revolution. No writer whatever expreffes a greater dread of e- very thing ten ling to revolution than Mr. Robifon, profeifor of Natural Philofophy in the univerfity of Edinburgh, in his book entitled Proofs of a confpiracy a- gainft all the religions and governments of Europe, in which he makes me one of thofe confpirators. But e- ven this writer could not help acknowledging the exift- ence of fuch abufes in the government of France as were abfolutely infupportable, and fuch as would abun- dantly juftify the fubjeas of it in attempting its fub- verfion. It may not be amifs to bring before you a part of wrhat this writer favs on the fubject. After enumerating all the caufes of corruption in government he fays p. 48 {i Perhaps there never was " a nation where all thefe co-operating caufes had " acquired y Of Northumberland, (3c. 25 " acquired greater ftrength than in France. Oppreffi- " ons of all kinds were at their height. The luxuries " of life were enjoyed exclufively by the upper clafles, " and this in the higheft degree of refinement; fo that " the defires of the reft were whetted to the utmoft. " Religion appeared in its worft form, and feemed cal- " culated foleiy for procuring eftablifhments for the " younger fons of an infolent and ufelefs nobleffe. " The morals of the higher orders of the clergy and of " the laity were equally corrupt.—The whole nation " became infidel—The mifcondua of adminiftration, " and the abufes of the public treafure, were every " day growing more impudent and glaring, Sec. &c. "In faa the king of France was an abfolute monarch, " and the fubjedts were flaves." p. 264. " There is no denying the infolence and opprefli- " on of the crown, and of the nobles, nor the mifery " and flavery of the people ; nor that there was fuffi- " cient provocation for a total change of meafures and " of principles," p. 301. And is not this the very thing that the French nation, now fo much execrated, have done ? For what, then, are they to be fo much condemned ? You will obferve, however, that this writer af- cribes the revolution in France, in a great meafure, to the example fet by this country, to which it is fuffi- ciently evident from his manner of exprefling himfelf, that he is no friend. " Their officers and foldiers, who " returned from America," he fays " imported American fi principles, and in every company found hearers who " liftened with delight and regret to the fafcinating tale " of American independance," p. 263. Be affured that the enemies of the French revo- lution are in reality no lefs the enemies of the Ame- rican, as they both arofe from the fame principles. The immediate ftimulus was oppreffion, which was unfpeakably greater in France than it was in this coun- E try. 26 To the Inhabitants try. And if ever monarchy be firmly eftablifhed in France, the liberty and independence of A ncrica will be in imminent danger. But I have *io 'ear on the fubjea, I rejoice in both revolutions alike. If you Vad any authentic account of the ftate of the other European kingdoms (I except, however, Denmark and Sweden) you will be fatisfied that the abufes of government ancl the oppteffion of the peo- ple, are got to an extreme. Germany has long groan- ed under the oppreffion of a haughty nobility, and there have been frequent rifings of the peafants to bet- ter their condition. In the time of Luther more than a hundred thoufand had recourfe to arms in Swabia; but wanting good leaders, and ill provided with ftores and ammunition, they were foon fupprefied. Both Spain * From the commencement of the American war I wifhed for the independence of this country, being firmly perfuaded that it would be for the real advantage of England, as well as of thefe States, and this is now, I believe, almoft univerfally acknowledged to be the cafe. I am equally well perfuaded that it would be for the benefit of the people of England (I do not fay for the glory of the Monarch) to have nothing to do with the dominion of the Eaft or the Weft Indies. I once mentioned this opinion to Sir George Savile, adding, that it would have been much better for England never to have had the poffeflion of Gibraltar, and that it would be good policy to give it up. He faid that he had often thought fo too, but that the opinion was fo uapopular that he had not dared to avow it. The late Lord Chatham was fond of foreign pofTeflions. |Je was much againft granting abfolute independence to America, which he faid was the faireft jewtl in the crown of the Bri- tish monarch, and his opinion had for fome time great weight with the marquis of Lanfdown, then Lord Shelburne. On this Dr. Price, who thought as I did on the fubjeft, agreed with me to write our thoughts feparately on the fubjea, and prefent them to his Lordfhip. We did fo, and fome time after he told me that he had fhewn my paper to Lord Chatham, but that he was much offended at it. At the eouclnfion of Of Northumberland, (3c, 27 Spain and Naples, which are held by the fame family, have not one half of their ancient inhabitants; and there cannot be a more certain proof of bad govern- ment than this. Tt cir condition is little, it at all, better than that of the T.ukiih dominions. Portugal, is in much the fame ftate. Can, then, any perfon, any friend of liberty and humanity, himfeif cnj eying the buffings of a republi- can government, wifh that any part of his fpecies fhould continue in this ftate of degradation and bon- dage ? If not, he muft partake in the generous feel- ings of my correfpondent, and eameftiy wifh for their emancipation. And we may hope tnat, with the ex- amples of America and France before them, other re- volutions may be attended with lefs bloodihed than thoiehave been. The revolution of France would, it cannot be doubted, the war, however, the Marquis made no difficulty of granting what he thought not only necefTary, but advantageous to his c untry, of which he was then prime minifter. Had he con- ttnu*-d fo to this day, his liberal and enlightened policy would h.we faved England, and all Europe, the horrors of the pre- fent, moft ruinous and impolitic war. Tho' I did not accept of a feat in the conventional aficm- bly of France, I had at that time a correfpondence with fome of the lead n% men of that country; and believing that my o- pinion would have fome weight, I advifed the abandoning the Wett Indies, and all their foreign pofleflions. The an- fsver 1 received was that they thought as I did on the fubjea, but that theintereft of thofe who were pofleffed of property in the iflande, would prevent their doing it for the prefent. This correfpondence wis continued till the death of the king, againft which I gave my advice j but a concurrence of circum- ftances, the principal of which was th^nfluence of the queen, was fatal to that well meaning mm. Of what pafled in France after that event I had no information but from newfpapers. But ic feems I muft, notwuhflandiiig this, be anfwerable for it all. 28 To the Inhabitants doubted, have continued to be as peaceable throughout;, as it was at its onfet, * if the king had been content with the limited power of which the firft conftitution left him pofleffed ; and had not this unfortunate prince been ftimulated by others, more ambitious than him- felf, to recover the power that he had loft, the war, and the confequent enormities, had not taken place. To thofe princes, therefore, and their wicked confederacy, are all the enormities to be afcribed. But it appears to have been the intention of pro- vidence to do more for the French nation, and ulti- mately for all Europe, than they ever thought of do- ing for themfelves, tho' by means which men would not be juftified in having recourfe to. The national affembly, and the people of France, meant to do no- thing more than to limit the power of the crown; but God has given them a government purely republican, and reprefentative, like that of America, without any hereditary powers or honours ; and the fame benefit, I doubt not, with my correfpondent, is intended for all thofe countries whofe kings are at prefent confede- rated againft P\ance and univerfal liberty. If every thing that is true and right will finally prevent, againft whatever is error and wring, the caufe of monarchy, always tending to defpotifm, cannot be fupported much longer. Independently of wars, which muft accelerate the great cataftrophe, they all con- tain within themfelves the feeds of their own deftruc- tion. The people acquiring knowledge every day, will not much longer bear what they have done. Nor is it * At the time of the firft conftitution, when France was a limited monarchy, *%AjLhofe who took the lead in that country would to my own knowledge, have given almoft any thine for the fnendfh.p and concurrence of England, as, in their opini- on, that would have enfured the peace of France, and of all Europe. Of Northumberland,:. (3*. tg it difficult to forefee that the infatuation of the prefent race of kings, which is remarkably fimilar to the.c of Pharaoh, will bring on their deflrutlior. n the marker predicted in the fcnptures^ viz- with violence, and much confequent general calamity. I fhall on this occafion obferve. that it is alfo a manifeft error with refpecl to true policy in thofe who wifh to difarm feditious publications of their fting, to publifh themfelves as they fometimes do, what appears to them moft obnoxious in them ; thinking to expofe them, and to render the authors odious; not confider- ing to whom they will appear in that light. For while they are read with diflike, and even horror, by fome, they maybe read with admiration F>y others. The inter- cepted Letters, and the paragraphs feleCledfro.r Mr. Cooper's Addrefs are cafes in point, as welL as fev-ral other articles which have been inferted in the Federal Newfpapers of this country. The friends of liberty rejoice to fee fuch publications thro' any channel, and efpecially whea it is done at no rifk to themfelves; and without regarding the comments, they attend to the text. The fame wretched politicians alfo do not confi- der the natural tendency and effect of the abufe that thev throw out againft the friends of liberty and the rights of man. If it have any effecl;, which is very queftionable, it only makes us ftand fomething worfe with thofe with whom it is no object, to us to ftand well at all, while it recommends us to all thofe whofe good opinion and attachment we really value. What is it to me to be thought ill of by the friends of Church and king (with the cry of which my houfe was burned) in England, or by Mr. Cobbet and his readers in this country. My account with them has been long fet- tled. I am already a bankrupt in their efteem, and no new article in the account can alter the balance for or againft me. My part is taken, and my reputation, 30 To the Inhabitants as far as it is an object with me, is with men of oppo- fite principles, thofe who are opprobroufly called de- mocrats, jacobins, .md every thing tife of the kind ; and to thefe, and cfpecially thofe of that clafs in France, this abufe tends to recommend me. I am, &c. LETTER VI. Of the Style of AHfe in the Writings of Mr. Cobbet, alias Peter Porcupine. My Friends, and Neighbours, IT is commonly faid that when much dirt is thrown, fome will flick; and on this principle I fuppofe it is that I have been diftinguifhed fo often by my principal antagonift Mr. Cobbet, under the figna- ture of Peter Porcupine. But he appears to me to have fpoiled his part by overacting it. For men may be fo covered with dirt that it mall not be known who they are, nor will they be diftinguifhed from one another, like Virgil's complimentary epithets, fortifque Gyasfortifque Cloanthus. Befides fuch coarfe abufe as is implied in the words vilctin, rafcal, fcoundrel, &c. &c. wiia which his writings abound, only marks the low- education, and the low charafter and manners of the man that ufes them. Such language is never ufed by gentlemen, or fcholars, nor can they return it, tho' it were ever fo well merited, not to fay that a chriftian muft not return railing for railing, (i Pet. 3, 9) With refpeft Of Northumberland, (3e. 31 refpect. to them, therefore it is an unfair weapon. It is like throwing ftreet dirt, which they cannot han- dle. It was a thing of courfe that I fhould be the ob- ject of calumny ever fince I wrote in defence of unpo- pular truths, and unpopular maxims. Indeed, I queftion whether any perfon in England (the prime minifter for the time being excepted) ever had fo much of what is generally termed abufe, as my- felf. It has been pouring out with very little intermif- fion for more than twenty years, and is continued. I find, in my abfence. My friends, however, fay that it certainly agrees with me. For tho'I was originally of a weak conftitution. my health has been improving ever fince, and I never was fo well as I have been fince my arrival in this place, except about three months af- ter my landing, which was before Mr. Cobbet took no- tice of me. They now fay that, old as I am, I bid fair to outlive fome of my younger oponents. That farcaftic writings fhould have this falutaiy effect., will not be thought fo extraordinary, when it is confidered that pepper, muftard, fait, and vinegar, have their ufe in a good dinner, as well as the beef and the pudding. They certainly contribute to a good digeftion. But there muft be fome peculiar charm in Mr. Cobbct's wri- ting, operating unfeen and unknown, for I do not think I have feen more than a tenth part of his voluminous publications, and in all of them, I doubt not, he con- trives to find a nich for me. I am almoft as neceflary to him, and as good afubjec~l for him, as the king of En- gland is to Peter Pindar. In England, however, where decency and good manners are rarely violated, my anta- gonifts were never of this low clafs. But the laft of the a- nimals that had a kick at the old lion in the fable was the afs. The profufion and variety of Mr. Cobbet's abufe argues a peculiar genious of the kind unequalled by any thing 32 To the Inhabitants thing that I have met with before. In the compafs of o u>°three news-papers, and chiefly in one of then,, I am ailed " a hoary hypocrite, a malignant old Tartuff, "'a lurking old illuminatus, a poor old wretch, a :m- "•fer-.hie perverfe old man, a perverfe old hypocrite, " and a vi diclu-e, unnatural, hypocritical wretch." I a^.i " of ^factious difpofition, anapoftleof fedition, < political viper, with a black rancorous heart, and '* ;;ncotr eommed whining cart; a cunning fe&ary, an " '.T/'-ii.ioos fecrary, a baffled focinian, and a Jefuit." lam accufed of " falfehood and poifonous malignity, " acluaLec by cool and premeditated malice." I have " the cryft of a fectary, joined to the hatred and malice " of a fiend. My condua," he fays " has been wick- " ed and deteftable, that I wifh Great Britain revoluti- " onized, and ruined, and indulge a wicked tho' delu- " five hope of feeing this wifh accomplifhed ; that I " never mifs an opportunity of endeavouring to render " my countrymen the hate and fcorn of the univerfe ; " that for twenty years paft I have, from hatred to my " native country, facrificed my intereft, my peace, and " my reputation, to the pleafure of injuring, infult- " ing, and ruining it." In conjunction with others, he calls me " a vilain and a fcoundrel, * and both " fool and knave. My bufinefs in this country," he fays, " is of a nature moft hoftile to its happinefs and " independence." It is no wonder, therefore, that he treats me, as he fays, " with his unqualified con- " tempt." His pamphlet on the fubjecr of my emigration, publifhed foon after my arrival, contains the following, among * I rather wonder that the term ra/calh not applied to me, as it is to others, in this particular paper, as well as vilain and Jtmndrel. It is, I doubt not, frequently enough applied to me in other parts of his writings. But fuch near relation* and companions ought not to have been fofar fcparated. Of Northumberland, -&c, S3 among other falfehoods, ; I had been," he fays, " for " many years an avowed and open enemy to the go- "'vcviment and co'iilitution of rm country; that in " my inflammatory difcou'fes. cai^d frrmons, the Ev- " glifh conftitution was openly attarktd ;' and th-t rbe " doctrines there held forth were fubve;five of all -ci^il "and religious order;" and in his n.v\?p,-;er he fays, " my conventicle at Hackney vv?,j a :, 'r ■ _>\\- " venient and fuccefsful fchool of ti-ia'on. r c.Vf- " tained," he fays. " the hope of bringing a'; it a re- "■ volution in England on the French plan, iid that I " had no objection to the continuance of tyihr-s in " England, provided I came in for a ftiare." He fays-that " my public celebration of the " French riots and maffacres ;z a convincing proof " of my approving them, and that my fending my Ion to " Paris in the mid ft of them, to requeft the honour " of becoming a French citizen, is another proof of " the fame that cannot be difputcd; that I approved " of the unmerciful persecution of the unfortunate and " worthy part of the French clergy, men as far far- " palling me in piety and ability, as in fuffering; that " the French conftitution is my fyftem, and that " fooner than not fee it eftablifhed, he much queftions "'if I would not with pleafure fee the maffacre of all " the human race." But if all mankind were deftroy- ed where is this conftitution of mine to be eftablifhed ? As he has not told us where, I muft fuppofe that he meant among bears, wolves, or wild beafts of fome kind or other. With refpecl to the riots in Bermingham, he fays, " that " I was the principii caufe of them ; that the fef- " tival of the commemorationof the French revolution " was to celebrate events which were in reality the " fubje£f, of the deepeft horror; that this r-it. confi- " dered comparatively with what I and rry fresids " wifiied to ftir up, was peace harmony, and ge^'e- F " nefs ; 34 To the Inhabitants " nefs; that the magiftrates ufed every exertion ia " their power to quell the riot in its very earheft ftage; " that had the rioters flopped at the deftruaion of my " meeting houfe, all had been well. In whatever " light," he fays, " we view the Birmingham riots, we " can fee no obje£l to excite our compaffion, except the " inhabitants of the hundred, and the unfortunate ri- " oters themfelves; that the lofs of my manufcnpts " was little more than a few dirty fheets of paper, and " their deftruct-ion a benefit, rather than a lofs, both to " myfeif and - he country; that my philofophical appa- " ratus was a thing of imaginary value only, and ought " not to be eftimated at its coft, any more than a col- " lettion of (hells, or infefts, or any other frivola of a " virtuofo." " In this country," he fays, " there is nothing to " fear from me except my diffeminating my deiftical " principles." In another place, however, he calls my doctrines atheijlical, tho' it is impoffible that they can be both; and he fpeaks of " the infidel philofophy of " Voltaire, Rouffeau, Gibbon, Prieftley, and the reft " of that enlightened tribe." To make the group com- plete (for the conjiftency of it is no object, with him) he fhould have added fome diftinguifhed heathens, and mahometans as holding the fame opinions. " When I " preached in Philadelphia," he fays, " I gave up a " fhare of the pence which I was able to draw out of " the pockets of my hearers for the liberty of preach- " ing in the church of the Univerfalifts," of which he fpeaks with the greateft contempt. All this, you will obferve, is mere ajjertion, with- out any evidence whatever ; and therefore my fimplc denial (tho' I could bring abundant proof of every thing that I fhall fay) may be a lufficient anfwer. Now I can fay with truth that, in the courfe Of more than forty years, I never preached one fermon that any of you would have faid was political; nor did I ever Of Northumberland, (3c. 35 I ever, in any place, or in any form, exprefs a wifh for any material change in the Englifh conftitution ; and I am confident I have a more fincere refpecT: for my native country, and for this too, than Mr. Cobbet has for a- ny country. My writings fhew that I was always an e- nemy of all civil eftablifhments of religion, but thought that if there was to be one, it fhould be of chrifiianity in general, fuch as exifts in the New-England flutes ; and then that the church revenues, whatever they were, fhould be given to all the feels alike. When I preached at the church of the Univerfal- ifts, I wifhed to have no collection made after fervice, all that was colle&ed was given to the minifter of the place; and when I preached in the hall of the u- x niverfity, only one collection was made to defray the expences that had been incurred. I was glad of the opportunity of doing what I thought to be good without any pecuniary benefit. Whether the difcouvfes "hat I delivered were calculated to do any good thofe who read them may judge. My fon went to France before the revolution took place, and before any fuch thing was expected ; nor was any requeft ever made by myfelf, or my friends, to be made a French citizen. The fecond time that he went was in order to be received into the houfe of a merchant at Nantes, from which place, on account of the troubles in that neighbourhood, he removed to this country. When the anniverfary of the French revolution was celebrated at Birmingham, the conftitution of France was a limited monarchy, very much like that of England, and had been folemnly accepted by the king himfelf. Tho' I approved of that celebration, I neither projected, nor attended it. The magiftrates made no ferious attempts to quell the riot, but rather promoted 36 To the Inhubitrnt- promoted it. * Of the amount of my loftes on that occafion I have nothing to add to what will be found in my Appeal to the people of England on the fubjea. In a pecuniary computation u was more than two thou- fand pounds lefs than the real value. This grofs abufe comes from a man with whom I never had anv intercourfe, whom I never offended, or irritated by an) rcrdy to his invectives, which have ne- ver chafed fince I have been in the country; nor fhould I have noticed them now, hut that I find his puhl'cations have increafing acceptance and celebrity with the friends of thofe who have the chief power in this country; fo that fince the riot in Birmingham is openly approved and praifed by him and h?s fup- porfers, a fimilar one may b apprehended here, ef- pecially if what Mr. Cobbet fays be true (and I fee no reafon to queftion it) that " he has lived to fee the " truth of his ftatements, and the juftice of his opini- " ons, refpeeting me fully and univerfally acknow- ledged ;" an:' ii nee a fpirit of party runs as high in this country as I ever knew it to do in England. If you beij.ve one half of what Mr. Cobbet fays of me, you would be juftified, and applauded, for deftroying me, as yon wo^ud for killing a ierpent or a wild beaft. Having advanced thus much in my vindication, I fhall probably bear in filence (as I have hitherto done with refpect. to what is paftj whatever farther a- b'Te I may be t tpofed to. What other terms of re- prcvich the Engiidi language can furniih I am ignorant of, but I fhall expect very foon to find ; if not, that' more cuuous cha .ys will be rung on thofe that have been fo o.hen u'ed already, and especially his three fa- vourite * 1 have been very credibly informed that Lady Aylesford, wife of the Ljrd Lieutenant of th~ -mi.ty, co »•., rfing on tli- Object of the riots, faid « They went farther than we intended." Of Northumberland, (3c. 37 vourite words, rafcal vilain and fcoundrel. Thefe have been fo much ufed by him, that I imagine his printer muft provide frefh types for the letters of which they con fill. If any frefh accufation be advanced, it muft be that I was fpx\i hither as a convict, for theft or robbery on the hi-a way ; but that, being favoured, 1 was permitted to export myfelf to America, rather than be fear to my friends and old companions at Botany bay ; it being thought that there were already dangerous per- fons enow in that one phce. And there will be juft as much truth in this, as in any thing that has yet been advanced againft me by Mr. Co': r. t. Asa part of the general plan of that providence which overrules all thir,.s. I am far from comphm- ing of the treatment I ha^e- m-.t with ir E:>gland,or in this country; efpecially a& ii. has almoft always at- tended the greateft meru, and we cannot expect to have anv commodity without the tax that is *;.id upon it by the laws of nature. In a fyftem in which infii ?te wif- dom and infinite goodnefs'are equally apparent, no- thing can eventua'ly be wrong: and :c»ds and vipers are as necelfa-/ in the fyftem as horfes and fheep; and noxious plants as much as wholefome herbs. I fhall conclude this letter with obferving that what- ever I may think of the Englifti government; I have fuch an opinion of the liberality, the good fenfe, and the good tafte, of my countrymen, that I, do not be- lieve that any fuch a new (paper as that of Peter Por- cupine would met with any encouragement among the warmed friends of Church and king in England, I am, Sec. LETTER 38 To the Inhabitants LETTER VII. Of my Religion. My Friends and Neighbours, Mr. COBBET calls me fometimes an unitarian fometimes a deifl, fometimes an atheifi, and always a hypocrite. And a great hypocrite I muft, in- deed, be, if, in reality, I do not believe in the being of a God, or in the truth of chriftianity, when I have written more in defence of thofe articles of faith than any other man now living, or almoft that ever did live,* and have officiated as a chriftian minifter more than forty years. I muft alfo have a greater want of common fenfe than he afcribes to me, to maintain opinions fo incon- fiftent with one another as thofe above mentioned. An atheift acknowledges no God, and no future ftate; deifts acknowledge the former but few of them the latter, and they believe in no revelation; whereas uni- tarians deny, indeed, a trinity in God, but they be- lieve in one God, the Father, and in the divine million of Chrift. They believe that he worked miracles by the power of God, that God raifed him from the dead,. and that he will come again to raife all the dead, and judge the world. The fame man cannot, therefore, be at the fame time an atheifi, a deijl, and, an unitarian. If * I can only recollea one perfon who has written more in defence of chrift;?ri7 thin myfelf, and that was an unita- rian. I mean Dr Lardncr, with whom I had the happinefs to be acquaints, and who, in conjunction with Dr. Flem- ing, was the publifher of the firft of my theological writ- ings. Of Northumberland, (3e. If I be a hypocrite, in pretending only to be no atheift, or deift, while, in reality, I am either the one or the other, what have I got by my hypocrify; when, tho' I have been a preacher, as I have obferved, more than forty years, my profeflion has never yielded me haif a maintenance ; and here I get nothing at all by it. Men are not at the trouble of acting the hypocrite, and efpecially for fo long a time, for nothing, It is true that I do not join in the public worfhip of this place ; but it is becaufe I cannot join in your de- votions, which are altogether trinitarian. as they ought to be while you are nimtarians. Fo. it would be ab- furd to acknowledge Chnft to be God, and not to ren- der him the honours of divinity, by praying to him as an omniprefent and omnipotent Being. But tho' I do not worfhip with you, I have divine fervice every Lord's day in my own houfe, which is then open to every bo- dy, and where federal of you occafionally attend. Now did any of you ever hear me preach any thing like a- theifm, or deifm, or indeed any thing contrary to your own opinions ? And when you have heard me pray, could not you join me in every word I faid ? If you be chriftians at all, I am confident you always might. It never was my cuftom to preach on the controverted fubjects of religion, or only on particular occafions. Thefe I difcufs in my publications, in which you may fee what my opinions on thofe fubjects are, and the ar- guments I have to advance in fupport of them. Had I been permitted to officiate in either of your meeting houfes (which I fhould have done gratis, thank- ful for luchan opportunity of being ufeful among you) you would never have heard from me any thing but the principles of our common chriftianity. And this will furnifh topics of difcourfe in great abundance, and fuch as are of far greater importance than all the things ab- out which we differ. The fubftantial duties of the chriftian life, to inculcate which is, or ought to be, the great 40 To the Inhabitants g"sat end of all our preaching, are the fame on-all our principle? ; and do I in my preaching (and I hop? I may add in my practice) contradict am of thefe ? We all agree in acknowledging the fame books of fcnpture, and Ve profefs to derive our faith from them, tho' we interpret them differently. This, furely, is not atheifm, or deifm. If I do not believe the divini- ty of Chrift, it is becaufe I do not think it to be the doctrine of the fcripturcs, and becaufe I cannot help thinking that if Chrift, and alfo the Holy Spirit, be pofTefled of all the attributes of divinity, equally with God the Father, there muft be three Gods, and not one only, which the fcriptures affert, and on which they lay the greateft ftrefs. In this you will not agree with me; being of opinion that, in fome fenfe or other, three may begone, and one three. But you will not fay that be- caufe I am not a trinitarian, I am an atheifi, or a de- ift. You do not call the Jews atheifts or deifts, be- caufe they do not believe the divinity of Mofes, or of the Meffiah whom they expect. They believe that Mofes delivered to them the laws and commands of God; and therefore they refpect them as much as if they had all come from the mouth of God himfelf. I do the fame with refpe6t to all that Chrift, fpeaking in name of God, has delivered to us. He has repeated- ly faid (John -di 16, xiv, 24) that the words which he fpake were not, his own but the Father's who fent him ; that ■the Fcther who xii* in him, or with him, worked the miracles which proved his divine miffion (John xiv, 10) for rhafo/ himfelf he could do nothing (John v. 00 The apoftle Peter calls Chrift a man approved of God by figns and winders which God did by him, Acts ii, 21 and tbeapoilie Paul fays(i. Cor. viii. 6, 1. Tim.ii. v.) To us triere is one God, the Father, and one mediator be- tween God and men, the man Chrifl 7efus. Bnt tho' I think the clear fenie'of fcnpture, fuch - as Of Northumberland, (3c, 41 as is intelligible to the meaneft capacity is on my fide, I can eafily fuppofe that you fee things in a very dif- ferent light, and that you are as confcientious in differ- ing from me, as I am in differing from you. I. no doubt, wifh that you could come to think as I do on thefe lubjecls, as you do with refpect to me. This is unavoidable in us both, if we lay any ftrefs on our opi- nions, and have any good will for one another. But I do not obtrude my opinions upon you. or offend you with difputation. Few of you have ever hearJ me mention the fubject of our differences with refpect to religion, and then the occafion has never been fought by me. I do not condemn thofe who act otherwife, but my habits are different ; and tho' I have no lefs zeal, I take a different>'method of propagating my principles. I have feMom feen any good produced by difputing in converfation. It too often tends to irritate, and tho' men are often filenced in this way they are feldom con- vinced. But becaufe I am not always talking about re- ligion, do you fuppofe, with Mr. Cobbet, that I have none ? Mr. Adams, your Prefident, is unqueftionably a religious man, and on this account, as well as on ma- ny others, I greatly refpect him. He knows me well; and do you think he would have attended me conftant- ly, as he did, when I delivered my firft fet of Difcour- fes in Philadelphia, and have confented that I fhould dedicate them to him, if he had known, or fufpeaed, me to be an atheifi or a deift, and confequently a hypo- crite. He entertains no doubt of my being a fincere chriftian, tho' our opinions may not be exactly the fame. I wifh we had all more religion than we have. We fhould then think more of another world, and make lefs account of this, and of all things in.it, than.we now do. It would give us an habitual regard to God, and his providence, refpeamg both individuals andfo- G cieties ■i* To the Inhabitant's cieties of mankind, and efpecially the great and inter* efting events which are now taking place in the ol4 world. Firmly believing that a wife and good provi- dence fuperintends all events, and will brmg good out of all evil, fo that the final iffue of the moft calamitous events will be glorious and happy, we fhall view them as they pafs before us not without intereft, but with more tranquility, and without ill will towards any part of the human race, even our perfonal or national enemies. Whatever you mav think in the prime of life, while your (pints are high, and your profpects good, the va- lue of religion at my time of life is beyond all eftima- tion. Without fuch profpects as religion fets before us the evening of life would be cheerlefs and gloomy, I but with them it is moft ferene and happy ; far more fo than any preceding period. I am far. I affure you, from wifhing to be young again, tho' I enjoyed that part of life as much as any of you can do. On this account I regard unbelievers at the clofe of life with much compaflion. „ And late converts, and nominal chriftians, who give little attention to the fub- ject, are not much better. It requires time before the principles of chriftianity can be of much ufe in this refpect. An habitual attention muft be given to them, fo that in every intermiflion of neceflary bufinefs they fhall, even without any effort, be uppermoft in a man's thoughts, affording relief under all his troubles and cares. This ftate of mind cannot, in the natural courfe of things, be acquired in a fhort time. In this refpect faith is a different thing from mere conviction, and ad- mits of degrees, giving conization and joy in proport- on to its ftrength. Atheifi or deift as I may be confidered, and at- tached as I am to philofophical purfuits, my chief fatif- factions are derived from the daily ftudy of the fcriptures and reflections on the momentous fubjects that are there propoled to us.. Religion is the only effectual fupport under Of Northumberland, (3e. 43 under all the troubles of life (and in faying this you know iha; I may fpeak from experience) as well as in the hour of death. It alfo tends fo make men lefs am- bitious, and to allay the heat of party fpirit, which is too often the bane of good neighbourhood, and fe- parates thofc who would otherwife be happy in a pleas- ling and beneficial intercourfe. If nations, or their governors, were really chriftians, all mankind would live in peace and friendfhip with one another. Call this a fermon, if you pleafe, and let Mr. Cob- bet call it cant and hypocrify. Only believe me to be, notwithftanding every difference of opinion, religious or political, My Friends and Neighbours, your fincere well-wifher, JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. Northumberland, Nov. 1. 1799- P. S. Id my next Letters I fhall, according to my promife, proceed to inform you what I think with ref- pect to the conducl of your admmiftration ard even the conftitutu.': itlelf. But as thtde are IVnous and deep fubjeas, thev require so b<= treated with much caution. An! thefe being'nckhfh times, it may be prudent to have a confultation of my lawyers on the bufinefs. Poor as is the find which Mi. Cobbet fays I dignify with the name of' a houfe, I fhould be forty to exchange it tor fuch lodgings as the liberality of this country afligned to Mr. Lyon, 'tho' this might gratify Mr. Cobbet as much as my having a place in the poor houfe in Philadel- phia. c 1 Since 44 To the Inhabitants Since this Poftfcript was fent to the prefs the fol- lowing article, reflecting on Mr. Cooper and myfelf, has appeared in the Reading Newfpaper of October 26, 1799. " Thomas Cooper's addrefs to the readers of the Sun- 1 bury and Northumberland Gazette, of which he was ' Editor, having been re-publifhed in this State, with an ' introduction approbatory of the piece, a correfpondent ' wifhes to know if it be the fame Thomas Cooper, an En- ' glifhman, of whom the following anecdote is related ? ' If it is, every paper devoted to truth, honor and decen- ' cy, ou ht to ^ive it a thorough circulation." " Not many months ago, it is faid, a .Mr. Cooper, an ' Engiifhman, applied to the President of the Uni- f ted States to be appointed " agent for fettling the ref- ' pective claims of the citizens and fubjects of this coun- * try and Great Britain/' In his letter he informs the ' President that although he (Thomas Cooper,) had ' been called a Democrat, yet his real political fentiment* c were fiich as would be agreeable to the President ' and government of the United States, or expreffions to ' that effect. This letter was accompanied with another 'from Dr.-Jofeph Prieflky, who did not fail to affure ' the PRDSiDENT,of the pliability of his friend Coopers ' democratic principles. The President it is faid, re*- ? je6ted Cooper's application with difdain, and Prieftley's ' with flill ftronger marks offurprife, faying, it is faid, as ' he thrc" the letter on the table, does he think that I ' would appoint any Engiifhman to that important office ' in preference to an American !—What was the confe- ' quence ?—When Thomas Cooper found his application ' for a lucrative office under our Pr EsiDENTrejectedhe ' writes in revenge the addrefs which has appeared in ' print, and Dr. Prieftley exerted his influence in difper- ' fing this very addrefs, which he muft know was the ofF- 1 fpringof difappointment and revenge ! ! !" " The addrefs is as cunningand infiduous a produc- {tion Of Northumberland, (3c. 45 ' tion as ever appeared in the Aurora, or the old Chro- ' nicle, and as for impudence it exceeds, or at leaft equals ' Porcupine himfelf.—Prieflley and Cooper are both cal- ' led upon to deny the above narrative. A rccourfe to the ' letters themfelves would eftablifh the accuracy of this, ' anecdote,even to a fyllable." Of the candour and juftice of this reprefentation my reader will judge from the tenor of the letters refer- red to, of which the following are copies. Augujl 12, 1797. Dear Sir, IT was far from being my intention, or my v fh, :o trouble you with the requeft of any favours, tho' it is now in your power to grant them; and it is not at all probable that I fhall ever take a fecond liberty of the kind. But circumftances have arifen which, I think, call upon me to do it once, tho' not for myfelf hut a friend. The office of Agent for American claims, was offered, I underftand,to Mr. Hall of Sunbury,andhehasdeciinedit. If this be the cafe, andnoofherperfonbe yet fixed upon, I fhould be very happy if I could ferve Mr. Cooper (a man, I doubt not, of at leaft equal ability, and poifeffed of every other qualification for the office) by recom- mending him. It is true that both he and myfelf fall, in the language of our calumniators, under the defcrip- tion of Democrats, who are ftudioufly reprefented as e- nemies to what is called government both in England and here. What / have done to deferve that charader you well know, and Mr. Cooper has done very little more. In faft, we have both been perfecuted for being friends to American liberty, and our preference of the government of this country has brought us both hither- However, were the accufation true, I think the appoint- ment 40 To ih: InhdbitaMs ment of a man of wn^ieftionable ability and fidelity to his truft, for which I ivouldmake myfelf aftfwerable, would b luch a mark of f.jpenonfy to popular prejtn d^cc as I mould expe6t from vou. I therefore think it no unfavourable indUmJlanee in the recommendation: Tha^ you will aft according to your beft judgment I have no doubt, w ih refpect to t.:is and other affairs of ir finitely more moment, thro'which I am perlu^ded you > ill brin;4 the coimirv with reputation 'o yourfelf, tho', in e"re(imilances of fuch uncommon diflicuitv, per- haps^with lefs eafe and fatisfactiOn than I could wifh; With my earneft wilhes for the honour and tranquility of your Prefidency, I am, Dear Sir, yours fincerelyj JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. SIR, ON my exprefiing an inclination for the office which Mr. Hall has declined, Dr. Prieftley was fo good as to offer his fervices with you on my behalf. Probably the office will be filled 'ere this letter call reach you : probably there may be objections to nomi- nating a perfon riot a native of the router*- : probably the objection mentioned by Dr. Prieftley may reafonably be deemed of weight in my inftance. Be all this as it mav, I fee no impropriety in the prefent application to be appointed Agent of American claims, for it .is flill p dhole I may fuppofe more weight in the objections tiian they will be found to deferve. If it fhould fo hap- pen that I am nominated to that office I fhall endeavour to merit the character the Doctor has given of me, and your efteem. I am, Sec. THOMAS COOPER.* From Of Northumberland, (3c From my letter it will c Jearly appear that I was far from propofing any derilection of principles on the part of Mr. Cooper. I fhould as k>oa have expe&e^ it on the part of Mr. Adams himfelf. I was alio far from intending any affront to Mr. Adams, for* whom I always had a very high efteem. I honoured laim for his integrity, and refpe6ted even what I thought to be his prejudices. Befides, he was then jufl entered on his office of Prefid. nt, and had not done any thing to offend perfons of Mr Cooper's political principles. I thought Mr Cooper Angularly well quabfied for difcharging the'duties of the office in queftion, on account of his knowledge of En^iifh law and Englifti commerce, as well as for his acknowledged ability and activity. I alfo thought that I was giving Mr. Adams an opportunity of ferving himfelf, by fhewing his libe- rality, in favouring a perfon whofe political principles differed from his own, but in a cafe in which they could not interfere with them. At the fame time he would have obliged a perfon for whom he always profeffed much efteem, and whom he had honoured with his correfpondence and intercourfe. The following obfervations on the general fubject of appoint?nent to offices, which I wrote fome time ago, will, not, I flatter myfelf, be thought improperly fub- joined here, and may recommend themfelves as of fome importance to impartial perfons of all parties. Let the Prefident in queftion be either Mr. Adams or Mr. Jef- ferfon. To have the higher officers of the ftate, thofe with whom it may be proper to confult in the general con- duct of affairs, as the heads of the feveral departments, men of the fame political principles of the Prefident, could not be complained of. But when all offices, e- ven fuch as are merely lucrative, are confined to one party, it naturally exafperates thofe of oppofite princi- ples, and greatly promotes a fpirit of party in the coun- try, 48 Tl the Inhabitants of Northumberland, (3c. try, and this may proceed fo far as to ha^rd a vil war. It is, therefore, the part of good policy, as wed as of magnanimity, to diftnbute all offices with as eqv al a hand as poflible. Otherwife, inftead of bemc ■.-« chief of the nation, a Prefident makes himfelftr-e he d of a particular party. Should all the partifans of fuch a Prefident folio* his example, and employ no phyfician, no car >rntc- no mafon, no fhoemaker, &c. but men of their c^n poli- tical fentiments ; and fhould thofe of oppofite princi- ples, in felf defence, do the fame, it would be a i>a'c of mutual perfecution on account of opinion, an endea- vour to exterminate one another by flarving, winch ap- proaches very nearly to an attempt to effect the fame by violence. The only difference is that of taking a town by blockade, or by ftorm. They are alike operations of open war. A Prefident, therefore, who wifhes to promote the peace of the country will carefully avoid letting fuch an example. Errata et Corrigenda. ft) fgnif.es from the bottom. p. 14. 1. 11 (b) for am, read was. lb. 1. 9 (b)—from that time—occafionally. p. 14. 1. 5----public—political. 28. 1. 2----onfet—outfet. lb. 1. 7 (b)—prevent—prevail. LETTERS TO THE INHABITANTS O S NORTHUMBERLAND AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD, On Subjects inter efling to the author, and to them. {{/*" PART II. ({£f/i:7fca4l~ By JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, l. l. d. i. k. s. Sec. ■Nunquamne reponam ? Juvenal. NORTHUMBERLAND: Printed for the author by ANDREW KENNEDY. MDCCXCI X, * TO THE INHABITANTS of NORTHUMBERLAND AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. LETTER VIII. Of the^ Innocence and Advantage of the free Difcuffion of all political Subjects My Friends and Neighbours, HAVING promifed you a full con- feffion of all my political crimes and mifdemeanors, and having in the preceding Letters made a faithful decla- ration concerning what / am, and what I have done a- mong you, I proceed to give you fome of my thoughts; and tho' you might, in fome meafure, have gueffed at them thro' the medium of my actions, I will fave you that trouble, and tell you more of my thoughts than any knowledge you have of my actions could pbffibly have enabled the moft fagacious of you to difcover. But in order to do this fairly and honeftly, you muft excufe me if, after fpeaking of my own faults, I touch a little upon yours, tho' I fhall do this with as gentle a hand as poflible. You muft, however, confider, that tho 1 may nomt out what appears to me to be a fault, you will, of courfe, be the judges in your own caufe and ac- knowledge 4 To the Inhabitants knowledge it or not as you may fee reafon ; and alfo that it is not in my power, but altogether in yours, to find the proper remedy. As a fenfible Pope faid to fome Englifhmen who were introduced to him, when he un- expectedly gave them his benediction in the ufual form at parting, " The bleflmg of an old man can do you " no harm;" fo the advice of an old man, as I am, how- ever improper, or impertinent, cannot hurt you. My trouble in writing is not much, and yours in reading is flill lefs. Prefuming, as I hope I may, that, after the apo- logy I have made for writing thefe Letters, you will not think it impertinent in me, tho' an alien, to give you my thoughts on any fubject relating to the conduct of public affairs (in which I am as much interefted as a- ny of you can be) I fhall take the liberty to requeft more of your attention to fome particular articles, than you feem to me to have given to them. I may alfo plead that this is the only way in which I can contri- bute to the redrefs of any grievance of which I may think I fee caufe to complain. For, being an alien, I am neither eligible to any office of truft myfelf, nor have I a vote for any candidate. But the loweft fervant in a family, if he thinks that any thing is going wrong, may fpeak of it to any of his fellow fervants, even to the fteward, or to the mafter himfelf, whether they will at- tend to him or not. Nothing, however, is more common with the friends of the adminiftration in all countries than to confider e- very cenfure of public meafures as an attack upon the^ro- vernment of the country, and every cenfure of the go- vernment as a thing hoftile to the people. But it is with- out any good reafon in either of the cafes. Will it be pretended that all magiftrates, and all minifters of ftate, are infallible, or impeccable? If not, they may mif- take the intereft of the country, or confult their own in- fereft at its expence. May not, then, a perfon who thinks Of Northumberland, (3c. 0 thinks them to be either miftaken, or difhoneft, and that the people at large are in danger of being injured by their conduct, point it out to his countrymen. Nay, is it not the abfolute duty of every honeft man to give to others the information that he has acquired himielf. According to the principles of your conftitution, all perfons entrufled with the conduct of public affairs, how high foever you have placed them, are but your fervants, and accountable to you for their conduct in office. Farther, if any perfon fhould conceive that any thing in the very conftitution of the government itfelf might be changed for the better, is he an enemy to the people for proposing it ? It is only giving his opinion con- cerning what he imagines will be for their good, Tho' fie be miftaken, his intention may be the beft in the world, and therefore he will be entitled to their thanks. If I were to advife you to change the whole form of your government, from a republic to an abfolute mo- narchy, I fhould do you no harm, fince you would be at liberty to receive or reject the propofal as you thought proper. I might fay that a Prefident like yours would make a poor appearance in the prefence of a king, that kingly government has both more dignity and more e- nergy than yours ; that fuch a man as the late king of Pruflia, or Peter the Great of Ruffia, would prefently rid you of all traitorous and feditious perfons, without troubling your courts ofjuftice with them, which would be a great faving of expence ; that fuch a government would keep all the country perfectly quiet; that then the lower orders of the people, having nothing to do with politics, would attend to their proper bufinefs, of agriculture, manufactures, or commerce, without dif- fraction, and their affairs would profper in proportion ; and that thofe of the higher orders, the more opulent, not being obliged to give any part of their time to the 0udy of the theory of government, would have more lei- 6 To the Inhabitants fure to attend to the improvement of the polite arts and fcience, to the glory of the monarch in the firft place, and their own reputation in the fecond. B.it if, notwithstanding all that I could urge in fa- vour of fuch a government, you fhould prefer what you call tihcrty, in which perfons of all ranks, qualified or unqualified, give the greateft part of theii time to a fub- ject which they will never underfland, and flill chufe to clamour, and ahnoft fi^ht, about endlefs elections of rnngiftrates, no harm would be done. You might pro- ceed juft as \ou had done Kfore. If, in order to prevent the mifchief that often ari- fes from competition, I fhould advife that, inftead of ma- king a king of any native American, who wouid not foon acquire the proper difpofition and habits of one, you fhould return to your former allegiance to the king of Great Britainj a king ready formed to your hands, who would, no doubt, forgive all that was paft, and promife you the beft treatment for the future, and thus become a wing of that great empire which now commands the world, and (hare in the honour of exter- minating all jacobinifm, democracy, anarchy, and ivre- ligion (all vvnich are now only coivfidered as ddieient names of the fame thing) and you fhould not quite like the propel;;!, I mould Kill hope to be excufed for ma- Ling it, from my loyalty to my natural foveieirn, and my zeal for the honour of my native county, even if I did not coufult yourintereftinit ; and as you would not be hurt, you could not be much offended. Mr. Cobbet, a greater admirer of England than I am, would, no doubt, go farther than I could in its com- mendation. He might fay that, could you but fee the king of Great Britain in his f:.ne coach, drawn by eight cream coloiued holies, with all his horfe guards, 'fur- rounded by perhaps a hundred thoufand admiring fpec- tators, in his progrefs thro' St. J ames's park; and after that ■ feehuiifeatedia his robes on the throiiC in the houfe of Lords, Of Northumberland, (3e. 7 Lords, with all the Lords and Bifhops in their robes; could you fee him ferved on the knee, and perfons killing his hand, you would be afhamed of your Prefident, and every thing belonging to him. He might fay that an American would be ftruck dumb at the fight of an En- glifh judge feated in his fcarlet robe on the bench, with all the lawyers in their gowns, and flowing wigs. He would fay that the beft man among you was hardly fit to be made a juftice of the peace in England. And then what is your navy ? It is not fo much as the frog compared to the ox in the fable; and might bid you take care left the ox fhould fet his foot upon it. But fhould you confider all this as mere prejudice in favour of our native country, and think there was more fhew than fubftance in kingly governments, that armies and navies coft more than they are worth, and that you could employ your funds to more advantage, you would only fmile at our reprefentations, and not be angry. To be perfectly ferious: in all countries, and under every form of government, apmimns of every kind, and thofe of all perfons, natives or aliens, in office or out of office, fhould be perfectly free; becaufe they can do no harm ; tho' overt acts, tending to the forcible fubverfion of any government, fhould be watched with the greateft care. A perfon may even be (afely trailed with the admi- niftration of the affairs of a country the conftitution of whofe government he does not approve. Admitting, for inftance, what is commonly fuppofed, and is not al- together improbable, that Mr. Adams, the Prefident. fhould think an hereditary monarchy preferable to an e- lected Executive, like that of this country ; being of o- pinion that fuch a form of government is more favoura- ble to the peace and happinefs of the people; yet, yield- ing, as every man muft do, to the opinion of the ma- jority of his fellow citizens, and dreading, as ail wife men 8 To the Inhabitants men will, the hazard of any great change, or revoluti- on, in the government, he may faithfully adminifter that which he has fworn to maintain ; and I have no doubt but that, whatever may be his private opinion on the fubject, he will do it to the beft of his ability. All that we have to apprehend in fuch a cafe is from the opinions of perfons in high offices becoming general; and it is, doubtlefs, much in their power to recommend their opinions to general acceptance. But even thenj if the people at large really approve of the ch:mge propofed, he will be entitled to their gratitude for bringing it about. 'Nothing is to be dreaded but violence, which we need not fear will ever be attempt- ed in this country. Let every thing, efpecially things of importance, be propofed to free difcuffion, and let truth and error have equal advantage. The former can- not fail to recommend itfelf to univerfal acceptance in due time, and the latter will be univerfally exploded. I am, &c. LETTER IX. Of Improvements in the Conftitution of the United States, My Friends and Neighbours, MY object in this Letter is not (o cri- ticife the whole of your conftitution, or to dwell on the general excellence of it. I think it the beft that has ever been devifed by man, and reduced to praftice, in any age, or in any part, of the world. It has every thing that is valuable in the Englifh conftitution, which was Of Northumberland, (3c. w-as confefTedly fuperior to any other in Europe, with- out its defects. Without this perfuafion I fhould not have come among you. But no work of man can be expected to be perfect; and therefore you will not, I hope, be offended if I mention two or three particulars, with refpect to which I think it might be improved, Of this, however, you will judge for yourfelves. The mere opinion of any perfon, and efpecially that of an alien, cannot do you any harm. 1. If, then. I may take the liberty to Cenfure any article in your conftitution. the firft that I fhould no- tice would be that which allows of the eligibility of any man to the office of Prefident for life. Hiftory abundantly fhews that the love of power is as great as that of money. The more men have of either, the more they generally wifh to have: It being poflible, then, by your conftitution, for a man to keep this high fituation for life, by being elected into it every four years, he has an intereft in enlarging the power attached to it; and if ambition be his object (and pure patriotifm, I fear, exifts only in Utopia) he will ufe every means that his fituation gives him, which will neceffarily be great, to gain friends ; efpecially by giving offices of truft and emolument under him, not to thofe who are the beft qualified to difcharge the duties of them, but to thofe who will fecond his views of continuing in power. And they who are thus favoured by him will naturally con- cur in promoting his intereft, becaufe it will lay him under an additional obligation to promote theirs. On the contrary, if the conftitution was fuch as that no perfon could enjoy an office of fuch power as that of the Prefident longer than three or four years, and he was not eligible to it again, or not till after a confiderable diftance of time, it would not be his inter- eft to make friends at the expence of his country, and he would not wifh to enlarge a power to which he muft hunfelf foon be, and remain, fubject. B Whatever *p To the Inhabitants Whatever may be objected to the conftitution of France in other refpects, in this it »s preferable to th.it of this country. Since each of the five directors, befides having only one fifth part of the power of your Prefi- dent, muft be reduced to the rank of a common citi- zen in five years, the temptation he is under to extend his power is much lefs. This advantage, however, is probably more than balanced by the want of union, and confequently of energy, in fuch a divided executive. It will be faid that the longer any perfon in the executive offices of government continues in power, the more liable and uniform the meafures of goverument will be; whereas frequent changes will be attended with endlefs fluctuations, fo that foreign powers will never know what to look to. But this inconvenience, for fuch it is acknowledg- ed to be, only takes place when the perfon pofleffed of this power has no will but his own to follow, as in go- vernments that are arbitrary, like that of Ruffia. This empire has feldom changed its head without a total change of its politics. Peter III found his country at War with the king of Pruflia. and inftantly became his ally. This alliance the emprefs, who foon fucceeded him. changed into a ftate of neutrality, and if fhe had pleafed, it might have been hoftility again. What can be more changeable than the meafures of the fame arbitrary court, directed by the caprices of different courtiers and favourites. Dumouriez fays that thofe of the court of Verfailles, in his time, varied with every change of mimfters, of factions, of miftreffes, or of favourites. See his Life, vol. 2, p. 85. But the leaders of a government truly republican, like that of the United States, will, and muft, take theirmeafures from the wifhes of the people, whicharc not fo apt to change, becaufe they flow from the gene- ral intereft. The annual change of the Roman con- fuls never occasioned any change in the meafures of go- vernment, Of Northumberland, &c, vernment, nor did the annual election of Doges at Ve- nice or Genoa. It will alfo be faid that if the people really prefer any particular Prefident to any other, they ought to be gratified, and not be under a neceflity of changing him. But in a country of fuch an extent as that of the Uni- ted States of America, there muft, furely, be more than one perfon whom the people will think fufficiently qua- lified to ferve them, and in whom they can fafely place Confidence : and this fmall reftriction of their choice Will be abundantly compenfated by putting it out of the power, or inclination, of any Prefident to confult his own intereft at the expence of theirs. If you read any hiftory, you will find that an at- tachment to particular perfons has been the occafion of unfpeakable mifchief in all countries. Tho' fome in- convenience arofe from the Romans having annual con- fuls, and annual generals, it was found to be trifling compared with thofe which were the confequence of the attachment the foldieis acquired for fuch men as Mari- us and Sylla, Caefar and Pompev, who were fuffered to continue many years in the command of the fame ar- mies. It was the true caufe of that fucceffion of dread- ful civil wars, which did not end but with the total fub- verfion of the republican form of government, and the eftablifhment of one that was purely military and def- p«.tic. 2. So excellent a conftitution as is that of thiscoun- try deferves to be guarded with the greateft care; and yet in this refpect it appears to me to be defective, as it contains nofufficient provifion for guarding againft vi- olations of it by perfons entrufted with its adminiftra- tion. To decide in queftions of this high and ferious nature, there fhould, I think, be difpecial court, con- fifting of deputies from all the flates ofr the union. The greateft danger of any encroachment on the conftitution is from the congrcfs miftakingor exceeding their 12 To the Inhabitants their power ; and by proceeding without any check of this kmd, they might gradually affume all the power of the Enyiifh parliament, which is uncontrouled by any definid conftitution. And certainly no body of men fhould be judges in their own caufe. The ordinary judges, tho' continuing in office du- ring their good behaviour, and not removeable at any perfon's pleafure, are fo connected with perfons in pow- er, and efpecially thofe from whom they received their appointments, that they have been found, with very few exceptions, to favour the exifting adminiftration in all countries, and in all times. I would alfo take the liberty to propofe that it fhould be in the power of the legiflature of any of the feparate flates to call this fpecial court, and lay before j it whatever they fhould apprehend to have been a vio- lation of the couftitution, by the Congrefs, the Prefi- dent, or any man, or body of men, whatever. 3. If I might take the liberty to cenfure not only your government, but that of every other in the world, it would be your requiring oaths of allegiance, and in- deed any declaration of a man's principles or fentiments, in words or writing. Befides being an abufe of reli- gion, and a temptation to prevaricate, I do not believe that this meafure has ever been found to anfwer the end propofed by it. On one pretence or other, and efpe- cially that of perfons being compelled to take them, thro' the impoffibility of avoiding them, it will be main- tained by many, that they are of no force or obligation; and in many countries oaths of allegiance have been changed toothers inconfiftent with them, and yet not ob- jected to on that account. Witnefs thofe that have been taken in France to the different conftitutions of that country fince the abolition of monarchy. A few conicientious perfons, who wifh to be quiet, , and who might be fafely trufted in any government, will fcruple to take fuch oaths; and by this means good fubjects Of Northumberland, (3e. 13 fubjects are excluded, while men of no principle, fuch as alone are dangerous, will make no difficulty of ta- king any oath that you chufe to impofe. It might, furely, be fufficient to punifh perfons refiding in any country when they are found to act con- trary to the laws of it. For my own part, I prefer the fituation of an alien, inconvenient as it is in feveral ref- pects, rather than make the harfh declaration which your laws require refpecting the country of which I am a native ; but while my perfon and my property are in your power, have you not fufficient hold upon me, without requiring any verbal declaration about renoun- cing England, and of my attachment to America ? It may be prudent not to admit ftrangers to offices of truft and power till after a competent time of refi- dence ; fo that it may be prefumed that they have ac- quired a fufficient knowledge of your laws and confti- tution, and a proper attachment to them. But the de- claration of this by an oath appears to me to be fu- perfluous, to be a caufe of diftrcfs to the confcienti- ous. and no bar whatever to thofe whom you would wifh to keep out of the country, I am, 8cc. LETTER »4 To the Inhabitants LETTER X. Of Infringments of the Conftitution by the Acts of Con* gref refpetting the Regulation of Commerce, the Power of making Peace and War, and Reflections of the Freedom of Speech and of the Prefs. My Friends and Neighbours, WHEN I left England, I was in- duced to come hither chiefly on account of my high admiration of the conftitution of your government. It was at that time the only one that had been drawn up with deliberation by perfons appointed for that exprefs purpofe, and folemnly accepted by the nation. It was wholly founded on the rights of man, and the fovcreign? ty of the people. In other words it was purely republi- can, every officer being ehofen by the people, to iervc them for a limited time, and afterwards accountable to them for their conduct. There were no hereditary ho- nours, or powers of any kind, and no form of religion eftablifhed by law. The power of making peace or war, and alfo that of regulating commerce with foreign nations, as well as among yourfelves, was wifely placed in the Congrefs, of which your immediate representa- tives (who are the moft interefted in every thing of this kind) arc the moft effential part. Your country was then open to all new comers without any reftriction; and that great and neceffary guard of liberty the free- dom of fpeech and of the prefs, was uncontrolled. Your conftitution exprefsly fays that " the migration of fuch " perfons as any ftate then exifting fhould think pro- " per to admit fhould not be prohibited by Congrefs -" till the year 1808; and that the Congrefs fhould make " no Of Northumberland, (3c. tr ■' no law abridging the freedom of fpeech or of the " prefs." To my great furprize and mortification, however, I now find that feveral of thefe articles, effential to a truly free government, have been, in my opinion, on one pretence or other, infringed. Or, if the prefent ftate of things be really agreeable to the Conftitution, it was not drawn up for the ufe of plain men, but of veiy acute lawyers only. Certainly the comment does not naturally flow from the text ; or there was in the letter of the conftitution a latent ambiguity, which defeats the profeffed object of it. Thus becaufe your Conftitution gives to the Prefident, and two thirds of the Senate, the power of making treaties with foreign powers, and treaties may relate to any fubject in which different ftates may be concerned, they may make trea- ties of alliance, ojfenfivc and defenfive, and alfo treaties of commerce ; and by this means all interference of the proper reprefentatives of the people either in the blifi- nefs of commerce, or of peace and war, in which they are moft concerned, and in which they therefore ought in reafon to have the moft control, is effectually pre- cluded. The treaty, fhackling their commerce, or in- volving them in a war, is a&ually made independently of them, and all their objections to it have no effect. Since treaties become parts of the law, by which the courts of juftice are bound, I do not feebutthatit is in the power of the Prefident and two thirds of the fenate, that is I believe of twenty one men, to bind the country in all cafes whatever. For what is there that may not be introduced into fome treaty ? In this way this country might have become a party in the trea- ty of Pilnitz or of Pavia, and thus have been engaged, tho' ever fo reluctantly, in the coalition againft the li- berties of France, and of Europe in general. It is, moreover, contended by the friends, as they are called, of government, that when, in confequence of i6 To the Inhabitants of ?n« '-crty, money is to be raifed to carrv. it info ef- fect, the reprefentatives of the nation, who ....■ v<* ><-. ••' ■ ney, muft abfolutely raife the fum required, or ;<- ;:ic phrafe is, wafo the appropriations; having no other choice than that of railing it in what they may think the beft manner. This is a power which even the parliament of Great Britain has not yet been brought to furrender. There the king has, indeed, the nominal power of making peace and war, and alfo treaties of every kind. But if money be neceflary to carry them into execution, the treaties come under difcuffion in the Houfe of Com- mons, and the people give or with-hold their money as they think proper; fo that they have a virtual ne- gative on all the meafures of the court; and certainly it is highly reafonable that they fhould have it. And was not this intended by the framers of your conftitu- tion too ? Could they give the Congrefs the power erf making peace and war, and alfo that of regulating com- merce in one part of that inftrument, and take it out of their hands in another. Such manifeft inconfiftency and deceit is not to be fuppofed. It, therefore, appears moft clearly to me, who am a ftranger among you, that the real meaning and intent of the conftitution in thefe two effential articles has been perverted, that a moft important power has been taken from the many, and transferred to the few, and that the moft valuable interefts of the former have been furrendered to the latter. If in this I. reafon wrong, I wifh to be fet right. But I pre fume that your con- Jlitution was drawn up for the ufe of the citizens at large, and in fuch language as it was thought they might un- derftand; and this language being Englifh, I may be fuppofed to underftand it as well as yourfelves. Your conftitution is not like that of the Englifh government, to be looked for in remote hiftory, or collected from the actual exercife of it, like the principles of the com- mon Of Northumberland, (3c. l7 mon law. It is committed to writing, and was made in the memory of perfons now living; fo that the real meaning of every article of it, and the reafons on which 'they were founded, are well known. So evident is it, in my opinion, that the alien and (edition atts are unconftitutional, that I fhall not en- large on the proof of this. It is fufficient, I think, to obferve with refpect to them, that the Congrefs have made laws (if unconftitutional acts can be called laws) on Subjects with refpect to which they were expr.lslv forbid- den by the conftitution to make any. I fhall, ihere- fore, content myfelf with making fome obfervations on the nature and tendency of them. Laws calculated to reftrain the freedom of fpeech and of the prefs, which have always been made on the pretenfe of the abufe of them, are of fo fufpicious a na- ture in themfelves, and have been fo conftantly the refort of arbitrary governments, that I was beyond meafure aftonifhed to find them introduced here; and yet in fome refpects the laws that have lately been made by Congrefs are more fevere than thofe in Eng- land. While the prefs is open to the friends, as well as the enemies, of thofe in power, I fee no good reafon why they fhould not be content to defend themfelves with the fame weapons with which they are attacked. Why fhould any man fhelter himfelf behind penal laws when he is attacked by argument, if it was in his pow- er to defend himfelf in the fame way. Argument an- fwers the purpofe fo much more effectually than force, that it is reafonable to conclude, that recourfe will ne- ver be had to the latter, but when there is a failure of the former. Why do we ufe a rod to children, but becaufe they are incapable of hearing reafon ? In no country will there ever be wanting men fufficiently able, and willing, to defend the conduct of the govern- ing powers. To this ftandard men of genius are rea- i8 To the Inhabitants dy enough to run, from motives that do not need to b« pointed out. Ail mere opinions concerning the conduct of per- fons in pablic offices ought to be as free ds any other opinions concern.n^ fubjects that are interefting to the community. In fact, it is no more than matters cenfunug the cond ictof their fervants. For e^en- in- dividual is a part of the great mafs, for the ufe of whom all governments were initituted. But perfons in»ff,ce% which ncceffarily implies fervitude, being ufually called ~ governors, are apt to arrogate to themfelves the prero- gatives of mafters; and their friends *n\ flatterers call almoft every cenfure on their conduct, every thing that has in it more of freedom than they like, in fpeaking or writing,/edition or treafm : whereas, in reafon, no- thing ought to be fo termed, that does not immediately a'ffect the peace of the country. The characters, or the lives, of perfons in office, by whatever names they may be called, ought not to be confidered in any other light than thofe of other individuals, una*er the protection of the fame laws. An attempt to take the life of a king would ne- ver have been confidered as high treafon in Europe, if kings had not been confidered in a different light \ from that of the fervants of the Public. Not but that \ the lives of all public officers, civil or military, even that of a conftable, being of great importance to the fociety, the crime of taking them away is greater than that of the murder of private perfons > but flill it is a different thing from that of high treafon. But tho* it may be proper to guard the lives of public officers by fevere penal laws, there is no neceffity for fuch a defence of their characters, or public conduct; becaufe they may be defended by the fame means by which they are at- tacked. When a life is taken the mifchicf is without remedy, but any injury done to a character may be re- paired. i Governors Of Northumberland, (3c. !q Governors vainly endeavour to ward off impend- ing evils by impofing filence on their adverfaries. Hif- tory fhews that no government ever derived any per- manent advantage from meafures of this kind. The lels men have the liberty to fpeak, the more they will think; and they naturally fufpect that what they ar« forbidden to •xamine will not bear examination. In nocoi-'j'Ty was there ever lefs liberty of print- » ing and oublifhing than in France before the revoluti- on. When I was at Pans, in 1774. the tranliator of tha firft volume of my Experiments on Air could not obtain leave to publifh th. whole of my Preface, which contained lome free fentiments concerning the general extenfion of knowledge. The infpector of the prefs defired a friend to inform me, that he had not himfelf any objection to the publication; but that the nature of his office was fuch, that it would be too hazardous for him to admit of it. But did this ftrictnefs prevent the revolution ? The freeft publications were at the fame time circulated with the greateft induftry, and they were read with a- vidity, and with tenfold effect, in confequence of it. The fame will be the cafe in every other country in which the fame meafures fhall be adopted ; fo that with- out pretending to any extraordinary means of prying into futurity, we may predict, that thecaufe of monar- chy in England, and that of federalifm in this coun- try, will be no gainers eventually by what their advo- kcates are doing in this way. I am, &c. LETTER 2Q To the Inhabitants LETTER XL Of the Laws relating to Aliens, and the Naturalization of Foreigners. My Friends and Neighbours, ALL the laws refpecting Aliens, and thofe thafc are calculated to throw difficulties in the way of naturalization, have been made fince my arrival in the country, and I am far from feeing the wifdom of them. Little did I then expect that, tho' I continued an alien, I fhould not have the right of a trial by jury, which your conftitution exprefsly gives to all perfons without exception, if I fhould be acculed of any crime ; whereas I now find that, not only without the benefit of a jury, but that even without a trial, or indeed any formal accufation, your Prefident may, of his own fuf- picion only, fend me out of the country. And in this cafe perfect innocence is no fecurity ; fince the beft of men are liable to prejudice, and open to falfe informal tion. It is not denied that thofe laws were intended to exclude from this country the friends of liberty, opprov brioufly called Jacobins, Democrats, (3c. emigrating from Europe, a defcription of men in which I am proud to rank myfelf. But confider the matter calmly, and fay whether you can think the Object worth fecuringby this means. What does this country, I do not fay the governors of it, but what does the country, what do your- felves, gain by it. You certainly do not now want peo- ple from Europe. Your population increafes fall e- Hough without this additional fource; but you want the money of Europeans, to clear your country, and culti- vate Of Northumberland, (3c. vate your lands, and you cannot expect the money without the men. Had thofe laws been made fix years ago, thera would not have been an Engiifhman in this place; but tho' the makers and friends of the laws would not have been forry for this, can you fay the fame ? Have the pro- prietors of lands and houfes, have your artizans, and your labouring poor, derived no advantage from our re-< fidence among you ? Have you not been benefited by the purchafes we have made, and the punctuality of our payments ; and what is perhaps more than this, by the example of our activity and induftry, which are ha- bitual to Englifhmen ? You fee, befides, that the dread of our politics, which has been the caufe of all thefe harfh laws, is al- together chimerical. For the Englifh of this place are not more agreed on this fubject than you are your- felves. Several of us are as good federalifts as any of you, and none of us more violently democratical than others of you. And the generality are men who qui- etly mind their bufinefs, without giving themfelves, or you, any trouble on the fubject. Very far fhould I have been from writing thefe expoftulatory letters en the fubject of Politics, if I could have been fuffered as quietly to follow the bufinefs of my library and my laboratory, as they do that of their feveral profeffi- ons. But to be held out as I have been for feveral years as a dangerous perfon, on whom it behoves the gover- nors of the country to keep a watchful eye, and per^ haps to have been in a great meafure the caufe of the prevailing jealoufy of foreigners, and of the laws that are calculated to exclude them, has at length, tho' with much reluctance, led me to endeavour to unde- ceive you. If I fucceed it will be to your advantage as well as mine. If not, things will only remain as they were before. „ . . J Admitting 21 To the Inhabitants Admitting the object of our adverfaries to be a proper one, I do not fee that they gain any advantage by rendering naturalization difficult. It is not a man's being kept by force in the ftate of an alien that will difpofe him to think better of any country; nor, if his difpofition be hoftile to it, and he be chagrined by this fufpicion of him, will it be at all the lefs in his power to do the mifchief that is apprehended from him. His being an alien does not prevent his fpeaking or writing; and by the ufe of his tongue, and his pen, he has all the lnfluenc that his talents and activity can give him. AH that you take from him is his capacity for enjoyr in.; any civil office, which a ftranger, tho' naturalized, would not foon expect; and his fingle vote for any other perfon to gain it is of trifling confequence among ma ay thoufands. If ihe grofs abufe from which I have never been .exempted ever fince my arrival in this country could have m ide m? an enemy to it (which it by no means has done) was it not in my power to have written in your newfpapers, or to have publifhed political pam- phlets, either anonymoufly, or other wife, as 1 fhould have thought moft prudent, and by that means have done as much mifchief as if I had been naturalized ? Where, then, is the wifdom of thefe meafures, which prevent the coming of valuable emigrants, fuch as you wifh to receive, and do not take from thofe that you difhke their power of injuring you ? To make thefe meafures of any real ufe to thofe who are advo- cates for them, they ought to have been carried farther. Aliens fhould not have been allowed the ufe of pen, ink and paper; or whatever they wrote, fhould have been fubject to the infpection of the officers of go- vernment. They fhould alfo have feen no company but in the prefence of the fame officers. This being un- dcrftood, the end would be effectually gained, by the yoluntary retreat of all the aliens in the country, and the effectual Of Nor thumb erldnd, (3c, *$ effectual prevention of the arrival of any more. The half meafures you now take aie calculated to do you more harm than good. What you fee of Englifhmen in this place, you may take for granted is equally true of thole that arc fettled in other parts of the continent. The general?*/ of them only wdh to be quiet; and if they were other- wife difpofed, they aie in no degree formidable, and the country derives advantage from their capital and their example, efpecially that of the Englifh farm is ; and fuch men are of the greateft importance in this agricultural country. But to find in America the fame maxims of go- vernment, and the fame proceedings, from which many of us fled from Europe, and to be reproached as difturbers of govenment there, and chiefly becaufe we did what the court of England will never forgive in favour of liberty here, is, we own, a great difappointment to us, efpecially as we cannot now return. Had Dr. Price himfelf, the great friend of American liberty in Eng- land, or Dr. Wren, with both of whom I zealoufly acted in behalf of your prifoners, who muft otherwife have ftarved, and in every Other way in which we* could fafely ferve your caufe, becaufe we thought it the caufe of liberty and juftice, againft tyranny and oppreffion ; I fay, had either of thefe zealous, and active, and cer- tainly, difenterefted, friends of America been now liv- ing, they would not have been more welcome here than myfelf; and they would have held up their hands with aftonifhment to fee many of the old tories, the avowed enemies of your revolution, in greater favour than themfelves. If in this you act on the chriftian principle of forgiving and loving your enemies, for which, if they repent, you are to be commended, you fhould not forget your obligations to old and fleady friends. The emigrants you wifh to exclude are thofe who might reafonably expect to be the beft received here, *4 To the Inhabitants as moft likely to be attached to your government; be- caufe it is free from every thing that they complain of ar home. Finding here no hereditary honours or pow- ers, no church eftablifhment, few taxes, and thofe laid by the reprefentativesof the people, freelv chofen, what could lead to a fufpicion that perfons flying from what was in all refpects the reverfe of this in Europe fhould not be the beft friends to the government here ? I am, Sec. LETTER XIL Of the Policy of America with Refpect to Foreign Na- tions My Friends and Neighbours, Having taken the liberty in the pre- ceding letters to arraign the wifdom of fome of the late meafures of your government with refpect to your home concerns, I fhall proceed with the fame, I hope not of- fenfive, freedom, to fay what I think of your conduft towards foreign nations ■ and with refped to them I am of opinion that you have done what your intereft re- quired you not to have done. While an alliance fubfifted between this country and France, which had given you material affiftancein aliening your independence, a treaty of amity as well as of commerce and navigation, fhould not, I think, have been made with England without the knowledge, a T uth\concurr^ce, of the French government. And this being done while thofe countries were in a ftate Of Northumberland, (3c. 25 ftate of war, could not fail to give umbrage to France, efpecially as your ambaffador, who negotiated the trea- ty, was oftenfibly fent for a very different purpofe, viz. to demand fatisfaction for injuries received from En- gland. In this proceeding I fee nothing of the fair- nefs and opennefs that I fhould have expected from a republican government. The French government, however, refented this conduct more than reafon and true policy required ; and tho' it might be expected that, if friendfhip was really in- tended, a perfon fuppofed to be friendly to them would have been fent to negotiate with them, they had no right to reject any perfons in whom this country put confidence. The French government, alfo, following the ex- ample of England, was much to be blamed for their conduct to this country, and the neutral nations in general. And when your coafts were infulted, and your vcflels captured ahnoft in the mouth of your harbours, you did right, I think, to protect your pro- perty, and repel that violent aggreffion. But this might have been done without making it a national quarrel, by allowing the merchants to defend their property, which they would have done at no great expence ; and this would have been dchayed in the beft manner by an advance of the price of their goods. But to build navies, and efpecially to raife Handing armies, on ac- count of any apprehenfion you could reafonably have from France, a country fo diftant, and which could not have any imaginable motive for quarrelling with you, was, in my opinion, the wildeft policy, and put- ting the country to a great expence for nothing, if not worfe than nothing. For one writer on the fide of your government in the Philadelphia Gazette for Oc- tober ^9, fays that the army was intended to overaw, or fupprefs, the democrats. If this be true (and this wri- ter has better means of information than I have) it is a D declaration 26 To the Inhabitants declaration of war againft thofe who difapprove tha late meafures.* Tho' I honour your Prefident for his, frank and open conduct, the reverfe of that of the crafty politici- an, which I confider as one of the moft deteftable of human characters, I could not approve of his unne- celf.'ry and inceffant, not to fay unjuft, invectives againft the French government. It was in my opinion, un- becoming a wife flat dman. and muft render a recon- cileation with France which is certainly a very defira- blcobjcd) more difficult than it would otherwife be, during his prefidency; unlefs the French directory have more temper and prudence than we can reafona- bly exptct. All this, you will fay, is nothing more than com- mon p'ace partv politics. But if I have nothing bet- ter, what muft I fay ? You wifh I fuppofe, to know my * The writer of this remarkable paper fays " Though France or Rigaud fhould not invade us, we have, ncverthelefs, all the-hoft of internal enemies to keep down. Whai can do it fo efF-dtiully as a good body of troops ? To keep thieves off, have a gun or a fword at your bed fide To keep ti ai- tors, united Irifl-.Ticn, and Frenchmen in awe, have fome troops ready to repel the fiifl invaders, to crufli the firft ri- fings and fcditions. An ounce of prevention is worth a tun of rrmedy " " Military force, they tell us, is fometimes abufed. What power is n^r ? Civil power certainly is. But a military force more frequently turrs againft its employers than it betrays or repress liberty, f hit is, indeed, a ftrong argument againft ufin* it. But remote dangers are to be difregarded when greater are imminent. Jacobins are to be kept out of the ar- my and militia. Government muft ufe its beft courage and violence," « Plain truth, like this, is not to be expeded from men in Congrefs, or genera! courts. This is no good reafon why it fhould not b-; told by other honcft men, nor why honeft raea fhould reject it." Of Northumberland, (3c. 27 my fentiments, and they «ire fuch as I have to offer on a lubj;-cl which has agitated the minds of all the citi- zens of the United S ates. However, I fhall now proceed to obfervations that are not fo very trite, and indeed almoft peculiar to myfelf. If any country in the world was fo fituated as to be capable of deriving advantage from all ration*, and of receiving injury Irom none of them, it imIuicIv 1 his. The native Indians being out of the queftion, as hav- ing no power to hurt you, all that you cart have in con- templation are the feveral powers of Europe, generally, and efpecially at this time, in a ftate of war with each other. But as it is the intereft of thetn ali to be upon good terms with this country, it is very eafy for this country to be upon good terms with them, without taking any part in their quarrels. As this nation wants no territory belonging either to France or England, the two gnat rival nations of Europe, and they have novifible intereft in coveting any thing belonging to this, no natural caufe of hofti- lity canexift with n-fpect to either of them. Every poflible difference muft relate to commercial inter- courfe. But if regard to profit and lofs be the leading principle I, as a democrat, and an enemy to Handing armies, thank the writer of this paper, and alfo the perfon who introduced the extra&s fr.-ni it into th* horthinv.hcrland Gazette ef Nov 9, for this frank communication. When perfons in of- fice will not, as this writer fays, fpeak out, and tell their whole meaning, we are o liged to their friends for eking it for them. I wifh this paper may be copied into every Newfpa- per in the United bt^tes ; as I am confident it would do more towards opening the eyes of the people with refpe& to the late meafures of the government, than all cur writing. And if this be done, there will be nothing to apprehend either from fedition law*, or itandirg armies- The talifman will be bro. ken, and the caftle, with all its tcinfic rpp-^tus, willva;.:^ at once. 28 To the Inhabitants principle in all tranfaftions of a commercial nature, the protection of commerce can never be a juftifiable caufe of war; becaufe, whatever be the iflue of nation- al hoftility, the lofs muft far exceed the amount of all the poflible gain. It is the part of wifdom, therefore, to bear a frnaller lofs, rather than endeavour to repair it, with the certainty of incurring a greater. As to mere infults, there is more dignity in dif- pifing than in refentmg them. No exprt flion of con- tempt can juftify a war between nations, any more than it will juftify duels between individuals. In both cafes alike it is the conduCl of men governed by paflion rather than by reafon, by a principle of falfe honor, rather than the true one. All the intercourfe you can want with any foreign nation is, as I have obferved, a commercial one ; and the idea of commerce is very fimple. It confifts in nothing more than the exchange of one commodity for another. If any thing that you have be of lefs value to you than it is to a foreign nation, and any thing that they have be of more value to you than it is to them, it is for the benefit of both countries to exchange the oneTor the other. But the means, or the mode, in which tliis exchange is made is not the commerce. A third nation might be the carrier of the different com- modities from the one to the other. If the merchants of either of the two countries un- dertake this bufinefs, it is foreign to what is properly their own ; and if, in any fituation of national affairs, there be peculiar hazard in this bufinefs, thofe who un- dertake it ought to lay their account with that hazard be- fore they engage in it, as perfons who undertake any o- ther kind of bufinefs do with refpecl; to theirs. And whatever lofs is incurred by it, it will not fall upon them, but upon their cuftomers. For in all cafes the confu- mer is the perfon. who pays every expence attending the Of Northumberland, (3c. 2q the raifing, or the tranfport, of the commodity that he purchafes. If any number of perfons enfure the fafety of fhips at fea, they expcft to be gainers by that undertaking, as well as the merchant by his, or the farmer by his ; and the merchant will not fail to charge the price of the f infurance to his cuftomers. Is it not far better, then, to let things go on in this natural train, in which the on- ly inconvenience is that, during this ftate of things, the confumer will pay a little more than ufual for his com- modity, than to defend this particular branch of bufi- nefs by involving the nation in a war ? Exclufive of all confideration of the horrors of war, to which ftatefmen in general give little attention, it were far better, that is, far lefs expenfive, for the nati- on to pay for all the lofs by a dire6l tax ; but much bet- ter flill, if the rifle of lofs be very great, to fufpend that branch of bufinefs altogether. Others, who can do it at a lefs rifk, will be ready enough to undertake it; and the competition of nations, and of merchants, is fuch, that the country will be ferved as well, and as cheaply, as the ftate of things will bear. While the lea remains open to all nations, we need not fear wanting any thing that other nations can fupplv us with. Allowing this to be an evil, or an undefirable ftate of things, it can- not be of any long continuance. After this things will return to their natural ftate, and the merchants may un- dertake the carrying trade, in addition to their proper bufinefs, as before. But if navies muft be built and manned for the fake of protecting this particular branch of bufinefs, and what is a neceffary confequence, if hoftilities muft be engaged in firft at fea, and then by land ; and if ambaffa- dors muft be maintained at foreign courts, which is ano- ther confequence of the fame fyftem, for one dollar that the former fyftem would require, this will require a thou- sand, to fay nothing cf the intricacy of foreign politics, 3o To the Inhabitants and the lives that will be loft in war. The kingdom of China acts upon the fyftem that I wifh to recommend. That country has an extenfive commerce with all the world, but it employs few fhips of its own, it has nore- fidcnt ambaffador at any foreign court, and it has no wars on account o^ commerce. The merchant, or rather the carrier of merchandize from port to port, will fay, that as he follows a lawful occupation, he ought to he protected in it. But then e- very other perfon whofe occupation is lawlul has the fame plea for a reimburfoment of his loffes ; for exam- ple the faimer the manufacturer Sec. Do they not all lay their account with the accidents to which their leve- ral profeflions are liable, and charge their cuftomcrs ac- cordingly. I f the farmer fhould apply to Congrefs for indem- nification of his loffes by ftorms, drought, or infects, would he not be told that he knew his undertaking to be fubject to all thofe accidents, that it was his bufi- ritfs, and not theirs, to guard againft them as well as h; could, and that he might indemnify himfelf by the advanced pnees of fuch products as he was able to raife ? And fhould not the fhipper of goods, and the infurers, be content with a fimilar anf\Ver to their com- plaints, whether of loffes by pirates, privateers of other nations, &c. &c. as well as by fhipwr«cks. All thefe fhould be equally confidered as accidents, to which, in a particular ftate of things, they knew their undertak- ing to be liable, as much as the farmer was apprized of the danger of bad feafons. They might farther be told, that it would be the ex- treme of folly, and injuftice, in the reprelentatives of the nation, to involve it in a ftate of war, for the recovery of any fum they could have loft by the cer- tain expenditure of a hundred times as much, befides hazarding the fafety of the whole ftate. A nation conducting its affairs on thefe maxims, defending Of Northumberland, (3t, . and a!! the capital of the coun- try, would fee it to be his intereft to lay up his fhips for tv.c prefent, and make fome other ufe of his cap.tal. And as the greateft part of the cor.ntw is as yet un- cleared, and there is a 01 eat want of reads, Liid^s and cv.naL% I Of Northumberland, (3c. 07 canals, the ufe o> which would fufficiently repay him for any fums laid out upon them, and they would not fail to contribute to the improvement of the country, which I fuppofe to be hiseftate, he would naturally hy out his fuperfluous capital on thefe great objects. 'The expence of building one man of war would fuffice to make a bridge over a river of a confiderable extent, and (which ought to be a ferious confideration) the morals of labourers are much better preferved than thofe of fea- «pen ; and efpecially thofe of foldiers. Another great advantage attending this conduct is, that the country would be in no danger of quarrelling with any of its neighbours, and thereby the hazard of war. which is neceffarily attended with incalculable evils, phyfical arid moral, would be avoided. To make this cafe eafier to mylelf, I would confider injuries done by other natons. in the fame light as loffes by hurricanes or earthquakes : and without indulging any refentment, I would repair the damage as well as I could. I would not be angry where an per could anfwer no good end. If one nation affront another, the people would do beft to take it patient! v. and content themfelves with making rem on ft ranees. There is the trueft dignity in this con- duct ; and unprovoked injuries would not often be re- peated, as the injurious nation would foon fi:;d that it gained neither credit nor advantage by fuch behaviour. This is the cafe with independent individuals, and why fhould it be otherwife with iudependent nations ? Rafh and hafty men, ftanding on what they fancy to be honour, are ever quarrelling, and doing themfelves, as well as others, infinitely more mifchief than could pof- fibly nrifc from behaving with chriftian mec-knefs and forbearance. In fact, they act like children, who have no command of their paflions, and not like men, gov- erned by reafon. In this calculation, peace of mind, which is preferved by the meek, and loll by the quar- relfome, is a very important article. 3» To the Inhabitants It will be faid. that merchants, having no other occupation than that of fending goods to foreign coun- tries, by which their own is benefited, have a right to the protection of their country. But wha n«fv! torrent. AM this, however, I doubt not, will appear to have been ultimately for the beft. Let temperate and wife men forwarn the country of its danger, and, as they are in duty bound, endeavour to prevent, or alleviate, evils of every kind. Their conduct will meet the ap^ probation of the great Governor of the univerfe; and, in all events, He, whofe will no foreign power can con- trol, being the true and benevolent parent of all the hu- man race, will provide for the happinels of his offspring in the moft effectual manner, though, to our imperfect underftahding, the fteps which lead to it be 'incompre- henfible. We muft not do evil that good may come, becaufe our underftanding is finite, and therefore we cannot be fure that the good we intend will come. But the Divine Being, whofe forefight is unerring, continual- ly acts upon that maxim, and, as we fee, to the great- eft advantage. The CONTENTS, LETTER VIII. Of the Innocence and Advantage of the free Difcuf- fion of all Political Subjeils. - £age J LETTER IX. ; , Of Improvements in the Confiitution of the United States. 8 LETTER X. Of Infringements of the Confiitution by the acts of Congrefs refpefling the Regulation of Commerce, the Power of making Peace and War, and Ref- trictions of the Freedom of Speech and of the Prefs. 14. LETTER XL Of the Laws relating to Aliens, and the Naturaliza- tion of Foreigners. 20 LETTER XII. Of the Policy of America with Refpect to Foreign Nations. - - - 24 Maxims of Political Arithmetic, applied to the cafe of the United States of America. Firft publifh- td in the Aurora, for February 26 and 27, 1798. 33