PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA
[No. 17, of Vol. lII.]
FROM THE (BOSTON) COLUMBIAN CENTINEL.
Mr. RUSSELL,
IN examining the question whether the Englifti
nation, have a right, fundamently to demolilh
their present form of government, it becomes
neceflary to inquire whether Mr. Paine's afler
tion that there is no such thing as an Englifli
constitution, be really true ? This question may,
perhaps, in some measure affe<st the people of
America. For if thegovernment ofGreat-Britain,
is an ufnrpation, it may be worthy of considera
tion how far we are bound by treaties, which do
not reciprocally bind the inhabitants of that
Illand.
" A Constitution," fays Mr. Paine, " is not
a thing in name only, but in fad:. It has not an
ideal, but a real existence ; and wherever it can
not be produced in a visible form, there is none."
Mr. Paine Ihould have gone further, and told
us, whether like a deed it mult be written on
paper or parchment, or whether it has a larger
latitude, and may be engraved on (lone, or carv
ed in wood. From the tenor of his argument
it should seem, that he had only the American
Conftitutionsin his mind, for excepting them, I
believe he would not find in all history, a go
■vernment which will come within his definition ;
and of course, there never was a people that had
a constitution, previous to the year 1776. But
the word with an idea affixed to it, had been in
life, and commonly understood, for centuries
before that period, and therefore Mr. Paine
must, to suit his purpose, alter its acceptations,
and in the warmth of his zeal for revolutions,
endeavor to bring about a revolution in lan
guage also. When all the moil illustrious whig
writers in England have contended for the li
berty of their country upon the principles of
the English constitution ; when the glorious COll
- of 1774 declared that " the inhabitants of
" the English colonies in North-America were
" entitled to certain rights by the immutable
" laws of nature, the principles of the English Con
" flitutior., and the several charters or compacts,"
they knew very well what they meant, and were
perfe<fily understood by all mankind. Mr. Paine
fays that " A constitution is to a government,
what the laws, made afterwards by that govern
ment are to a court of judicature." But, when
the American States, by their constitutions, ex
pressly adopied the whole body of the common
law, so saras it was applicable to their refpecftive
situations, did they adopt nothing at all,becaufe
that law cannot be produced in a visible form ?
No, Sir, the constitution of a country is not the
paper or parchment upon which the compacft is
•written, it is the system of fundamental laws,
by which the people have consented to be go
verned, which is always fuppol'ed to be impres
sed upon the mind of every individual, and of
■which the written or printed copies are nothing
more than the evidence.
In this sense, Sir, the British nation have a
constitution, which was for many years the ad
mii at ion of the world ; the people of America,
with very good reason, have renounced some of
its defeats, and infirmities. But in defence of
some of its principles, they have fought and con
quered. It is composed of a venerable fyjlem
of unwritten or customary laws handed down
from time immemorial, and fancftioned by the
accumulated experience of ages ; and of a body
of Itatutes enacted by an authority lawfully com
pet en cto that purpose. Mr. Paine is certainly
Hiiltaken when he considers the British govern
ment, as having originated in the conquest of
William of Normandy. This principle of being
governed by an oral or traditionary law pre
vailed in England eleven hundred years before
that invasion. It has continued to this day, and
has been adopted by all the American States. 1
hope they will never abolish a system so excellent
merely becaufeit cannot be produced in avifible
form. The couftitutir>n of Great-Britain is a
Conltitution of principles, not of articles, and how
ever frequently it may have been violated by
tyrants, monarchical, ariftocratical or democra
tical, the people have always found it expedient
to restore the original foundations, while from
time to time they have been fuccefsful in improv
ing and ornamenting the building.
J he people of England are bound therefore
by a social compact now existing. And they have
110 right to demolilh their government, unless it
be clearly incompetent for the purposes for which
Saturday, June 25, 1791-
it was instituted. They have delegated their
whole collective power toa legislature, confilling
of a king, lords and commons, and they have in
cluded even the power of altering the conftitn
tion itfelf. Should they abuse this power so that
the nation itfelf should be opprefled, and their
rights to life, liberty, and property instead of
protecftion, should meet with tyranny, the people
would certainly be entitled to appeal in the lad
resort to themselves, to resume the trust which
has been so unworthily betrayed, and (not to do
whatever they should choose, but) to form ano
ther constitution, which (houldmore permanent
ly secure the natural rights of the whole com
munity. The fame may be said of the National
Aflembly of Ftance, who according to Mr. Paine's
idea, are poflefled of the whole collective power
of the nation, and who seem like him to think
they have a right to do whatever they choose.
Mr. Paine fays, that " the authority of the pre
sent aflembly is different to what the authority
of future aflemblies will he." Butif theprefent
aflembly lhould decree that all future national
aflemblies should pofl'efs the fame power with
themselves, it would certain'y be binding as an
article of the constitution. ,Vlr. Paine, indeed,
will not acknowledge this, and it is the second
right which he denies his nation, which at the
fame time has a right to do every thing. Mr.
Paine's ideas upon this fubjert appear to have
been formed by a partial adoption of the prin
ciple upon which Roittfeau founds the social com
part. But neither the principle of Roujfeau, nor
that of Mr. Paine, is true. Rousseau contends
that the social compart is formed by a personal
aflociation of individuals, which must be unani
mously aflented to, and which cannot poflibly be
made by a representative body. I shall not at
present spend rny time in fliewing that this is
neither practicable nor even metaphysically true.
1 shall only observe, that its operation would an
nihilate in an instant, all the power of the Na
tional Aflembly, and turn the whole body of the
American constitutions (the pride of man, the
glory of the human understanding) into a mass
of tyrannical and unfounded usurpations. Mr.
Paine does not go quite so far, but we must ex
amine whether his arguments are nor equally
wide from the truth. " A government, fays he,
on the principles 011 which constitutional govern
ments arising out ot society are established, can
not have the right of altering itfelf. Why not !
Because, if it had, it would be arbitraryßut
this reason is not Sufficient. A nation in form
ing a social compart may delegate the whole of
their collective powers to ordinary legislatures
in perpetual fucceflion, and reserve only the right
of refilling the abuse of those powers ; and eve
ry other queftinn relative to the reservation of
powers to the nation, must be only a question of
expediency. The fame power which the pre
sent national aflembly pofl'efs in France, is by
the English constitution, constantly velted in the
king and parliament of Great-Britain ; and the
people in both kingdoms have the fame right to
resist and punish the abuse of that power. Sure
ly, Sir, the people of the United States have a
constitution, although they have given the pow
er of making alterations, to those by whom it
is administered, in conjunction with the State
legislatures. Surely, the people of Maflachufetts
have a constitution, though it provides for cer
tain alterations by the ordinary legislatures, and
though since it was formed, such alterations have
accordingly been made. The constitutions of
several of the United States, are expressly made
alterable in every part by their ordinary legis
latures. 1 think there is not one of them, but
admits of alterations without recurring to " the
nation in its original chararter." Yet Mr. Paine
will surely acknowledge that the American con
stitutions arose out of the people and not over
them. His principle therefore " that a consti
tutional government cannot have the right of al
rering itfelf" is not true. In forming their con
stitution a nation may reserve to themselves such
powers as they think proper. They may re
serve only the unalienable right of resistance a
gainst tyranny. The people of England have
reserved only this right. The French national
aflembly have been in feflion more than two
years, to make laws nominally paramount to
their future legislatures : I shall hazard some
observations upon this fubjert, when I attempt
to follow Mr. Paine, through his comparison be
tween the French and Engiifh constitutions. But
65
if
[Whole No. 225.]
as the English have delegated all their power, I
contend they have no right in their original
character to change their form of government,
unless it has become incompetent for the pur
poses, for which all governments are instituted.
I am aware of thequeftion which will occur here,
Who is to judge of this incompetency? and I
am aware of the triumphant manner in which it
may be asked. But a triumph is not my objert,
and in the pursuit of truth I (hall venture in my
next number to consider this fubjert.
R E
REPORT
OF THE
SECRETARY OF STATE,
ON THE SUBJECT OF THE
COD AND WHALE FISHERIES.
[CONTI
No.
State of the WHALE-F]
from 177
-o
<u -C
t r" •
•5
5
o 're tc
> 3 r
c c
re
-0 re x:
c - W
3 3 O
O C
PORTS from
which the
equipments
were made.
Nantucket,
Wellfleet,
Dartmouth,
Lynn,
Mar. Vineyard,
Barnftable,
Boston,
6 6
20
60
1
12
2
*5
4
4
Falmouth,county
of Barnftable,
Swanzey,
.83 |,
WHA
1789,
18
12
45
:
2
6
7
138201
\LE
, boti
State of the
Nantucket,
Wellfleet & other
ports at Cape Cod
Dartmouth,
Cape-Ann,
Plymouth,
Man Vineyard,
Boston,
Rochester and
Ware ham,
I 91 | 58201 31 | 4 3 go|i6it) 798011313®
True Copy.
Attest, John Avery, jun. Sec'ry.
N. B. About one quarter of the fpermacati is head-matter, ore
quarter of which was exported to Great-Britain, the remainder
manufa£lured into candles. The fpermac«eti oil, previous to the
revolution, was mostly exported to Great-Brtaiin. The aveiage
price in that market for five years previous to the war, about sony
pounds flerling for the fpermacasti oil, and fifty pounds for head.
The whale oil was formerly about one half exported to the French
and Engl'fh Weft-India islands, the other half fold in the United
States. The average price of this oil, about seventy dollars per ton.
A whale producing one hundred and twenty barrels whale oil, will
generally produce two thousand pounds bone, which was chiefly
exported to Great-Britain, the price about half a dollar per pound.
A whale producing fifty to sixty barrels, will generally produce
nearcft ten pounds of bone to a barrel of oil.—The average price
of oil for three years past, as follows, viz.
Spermaceti, one hundred dollars per ton.
Whale oil, filty dollars per ton.
Head-matter, one hundred and fifty dollars per ton.
Bone, about fifteen cents per pound.
No. XIII.
Extraß Jrcm a Memorialprefented to the States General in 1775, by a
Committee cj the Merchants engaged in the Whale Fijhery.
THE whale filhery is of great importance to Holland, as the
produce yielded by the sea may properly be considered as our
country produce, which furnifh employ for thousands of hands)
all the apparatus being made, and the veflels fitted out in our own
country.
A new vet Tel from no to 116 feet, including an
chors, cables, rigging, See. cost from
Sixly or seventy lines, fix or caflcs, har
poons, and other materials, g to 9000
Store rent, lighters, vi£tualling,&c. for 42 to 48 men, 410 5000
From these outfits the country evidently derives real advantages,
whereas thofc immediately concerned risque their property, as has
formerly been reprcfented, that during a period of forty-feven
years, fourteen millions have been loft in this traffic, besides the
loss arising from the decrease of capital.
( To be continued.)
A FR£ NC H A N ECD OT E.
the patriotic cook.
AN aristocratic lady of Caen, gave out two days ago that there
would be every day two covers at her table for Priests who
had not taken the Civic Oath—her cook, hearing of the invitation
of his miftrefa, said—" Let the bad Priests come, I will prepare
for them a better feaft than they ate aware of. I (hall write the
Civic Oath on small tickets, and put them up nicely in petty pat
tecs ; so that if thev have not the oath in their hearts, they (Hall
have it io their bellies."
PUBLICOLA.
NUID.J
XII.
ISHERY in MaJfachufetU,
I to 1775.
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Total, 44 to 5000*
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