The RIGHT CONSTITUTION of a COMMON
WEALTH EXAMINED,
(in continuation.)
I iIL example of Paulus is equally
lioflile to our author sfy (leni, and equally friend
ly to that which we contend for. The firfl consul
of thatnanie, the conqueror of Illyricum, in 533,
although he returned to Rome in triumph, yet, at
the expiration of his office, he was cited before
the people, in their tribes, and accused of having
converted part of the spoils to his own use. /Emi
-1 ius'had great difficulty to escape the condemna
tion which his colleague fuffered. This great pa
trician and consul commanded, and was killed at
the battle of Cannas. His son, of the fame name,
whole filter /Emilia was married to the great
Scipio, distinguished liimfelf by avoiding those
intrigues, solicitations, carefles, and other arti
fices, pracftifed by molt candidates, even at tliis
r \ me > 562- His pains were employed to make
himfelf esteemed by valour, justice, and ardour in
his duty, in which he furpafled all the young men
of his age. He carried the oedile/hip agaiiilt ten
competitors, every one of whom was so dis
tinguished by birth and merit as afterwards to ob
tain the conlulfliip. By his wife Pupiria he had
two foils, whom he procured to be adopted into
the molt illttflrious houses in Rome ; the ehlelt
by Fabi us maximus, five times consul and dicta
tor ; tlie younger by a son of Scipio Africanus.
His two daughters were married, one to a son of
Cairo he censor, and the other to Tubero. 111
he gained a complete victory over the Lufi
tanians, in which he killed them eighteen thou
land men, and took their camp, with thirteen
hundred prisoners. In the offices of xdile, and ol
augur, he excelled all his contemporaries in the
knowledge and practice of his duty: and military
discipline he carried to greater perfection than
had ever been kijown : nevertheless, when he
flood for any office, even in those virtuous times
there was always an opposition ; and he could not
obtain the consulship till after he had fuffered fe
deral repulses. Why? Because his virtue was toe
severe ; not for the senate, jjut the people ; and be
cause he would not flatter and bribe the people.
Before the end of the year of his firfl consulate
he fought the Ligurians, and gained a complete
victory over them, killing more than fifteen thou
sand men, and making near three tlioufand pri
soners, and returned to Rome in triumph : Yet
witli all his merit, when he flood candidate, fomc
years after, for the consulate, the people reject
ed him ; upon this he retired to educate his chil
dren. He was frugal in every thing of private
luxury, but magnificent in expences of public
duty. Grammarians, rhetoricians, pliilofophers.
sculptors, painters, equerries, hunters, were pro
cured for the inflruction of his children. While
he was thus employed in private life, in 583, four
teen years after his firfl consulship, the affairs of
the Republic were ignoranily conducted, and the
Macedonians, with Perfeiis at their head, gained
great advantages againlt them. People were not
fatisfied v. ith the conduct of their consuls of late
years, and began to fay, that the Roman name
was not supported. The cry was, that the com
mand of the armies niuft 110 longer be given to
faction and favor. The Angular merit of jEmi
lius, his splendid f'ervices, the confidence which
the troops had in his capacity, and the urgent
lieceffity of the times for his wisdom and firmnefs,
turned all eyes upon him. All his relations, and
the senators in general, urged him to stand can
didate. He had already experienced so much
ingratitude, injuflice, and caprice, that he shun
ned the present ardor, and chose to continue in
private life. That very people who had looften
ill used him, and rejected him, now crowded
before his door, and infilled on his goino- to the
; and his presence there was universally
considered as a sure presage of victory, and he
was unanimously elected consul, and appointed
commander in Macedonia. He conquered Per
seus and his Macedonian Phalanx, and in the
battle he formed Fabiufes and Scipios to be
the glory and triumph of his country after him.
He plundered the immense wealth of Macedonia
and Epirus : he plundered seventy cities, and
demolished their walls. The spoils were fold,
and each soldier had two hundred denarii, and
each of the horse four. The soldiers and com
mon people, itfeems, had little of that disinter
estedness for which /Emilius was remarkable.
They were so offended at their general forgiving
so little of the booty to tliem, and reserving so
much to the public treasury, that they raised a
great cry and opposition against his triumph ; and
Galba, the soldiers, and their friends among the
plebeians, were determined to teach the great
men, the consuls, generals, &e. to be less public
fpirited—to defraud the treasury of its wealth,
and be 'low it upon them : they accordingly op
posed the triumph of this great and difinterefled
general, and the firfl tribes absolutely rejected it.
—Who, upon this occasion, saved the honour
juflice, and dignity ofthe republic ? Nottheple
beiaus but senators. The senators were highly
enraged at t his infamous in ] uflice and ingratitude,
and this daring effort of pioputar licentioufhefs
and avarice, and were obliged to make a noise,
and excite a tumult. Servilius, too, who been
consul, and' had killed three and twenty en
emies who had challenged him in.single combat,
made a long Ipeecli, in which he lliewed the
baseness of their conduct in so linking alight,
that he made the people ashamed of tliemfelves ;
and at length they conlented to the triumph,but to
all appearance more from a desire to fee the show
of Perseus laden with chains,lcd through the city
belore the ch iriot of the vitftor, than from any
lioneft and public spirited design to reward merit.
1 he lum which he caused to be carried into the
public treasury on the day of the triumph was
one million three hundred thousand pounds ster
ling, and caused the taxes of the Roman people
to be abolished. At his death, after the sale of.
part of his slaves, moveables, and some farms, to
pay his wife's dower, the remainder of his fortune
was but nine thousand three hundred and fe
v enty-five pounds sterling. As he was dcfcendecl
from one of the moll noble and ancient houses of
Rome, illustrious by the highest dignities, the
fmallnefs oi his fortune reflects honor on his an
cestors as well as on liimfelf. The love of sim
plicity was flill supported in lome of the great
families, by extreme care not to ally tliemfelves
with luxurious ones ; and vimiilius chose Tubero,
of the family of ./Elii, whose firft piece of plate
was a silver cup of five pounds weight, given him
by his father-in-law. These few families item
raed the torrent of popular avarice and extrava
gance.
EUROPEAN ACCOUNTS, BY LATE ARRIVALS.
St. Petersrurgh, May 15. The son of Ge
neral Kaniefkoy, who commands the army in
Moldavia, arrived here yesterday with the news,
that 011 the 27th of April, General Derfelden
compelled the Turks to retreat to within twenty
xverlts of Brailla, near Mackfunene, 011 the river
Sireth. Jn this 40® of the enemy were
killed, and a considerable number drowned. A
Pacha of Two Tails, who commanded in Molda
via, was taken prisoner, with about 100 men, one
piece of cannon, and three standards.
A second Courier arrived this day from Gene
ral Kamefkoy, with an account that on the 30th
April, General Derfelden had attacked the ene
my in the camp near Galata, 011 the Danube, and
that after an obstinate engagement of more than
three hours, lie had totally defeated them. Fif.
teen hundred Turks were billed, and a Pacha
oi 1 lir'ee 1 ails, with a considerable number of
officers, and above 1000 men taken prisoners.
The cainp, with the artillery, standards, &c. feli
into the hands of the conquerors, whose loss
amounted only to 60 men killed,and 100 wounded.
Vienna, May 30. Intelligence has been re
ceived that the Grand Vizir, with an army of
t 00,000 men has left Rufchuck, and is advancing
along the banks of the Danube, towards
in Servia.
London, July i. According to advices from
Gibraltar, the arrival of Admiral Peyton's crui
zers inform, that the States of Barbary, Algiers,
1 unis, Tripoli, Barca, &c. are making much
more formidable naval preparations than were
ever before known at any period of time whate
ver; all in aid of the Ottoman Porte in its wara
gainft the two Imperial Courts. It was even said
that tliefe conjoint forces are meant to attack some
of the Imperial or Tuscan ports in Italy.
By the last advices from Madras, we learn that
General Meadows was on his way from Bombay,
to succeed Governor Campbell, but that he had'
not then arrived.
General Meadows is to be succeeded by General
Abercrombie, in the government of Bombay.
Much praise is due to Sir Archibald Campbell,
for the excellent slate of defence in which he has
left the Carnatic. The disposition of the troops
ftatloned in that province, is such as does honorto
his military Jkilf, while it eifetftually secures, at
the fame time, that province from the sudden in
sults of Tippoo Sultan.
July 2. All attempt is said to have been made on
the life of Monf. Necker, by poison ! The Minister
however, happily discovered the matter in time to
prevent its effects ; for the dish which he had tail
ed, upon_ further trial, killed a dog ; and some
fiiuff, which had been conveyed into a box before
him, in a few minutes destroyed another animal !
111 the last attempt, the artifice was this : The
box was a jac simile of Mr. Neckar's, and it was
placed, according to (hat gentleman's cultom, 011
the mantle-piece. He had a narrow escape, for
the box was in his hand, when he discovered his
own in his pocket ! ! !
It is needless to add, that Mr. Neckar is now on
.us guard ; his chief food is hen's e<rgs, which
Madame Neckar fees boiled in her own room.
The spirit of the people, now urged on by def
peiation, seems capable of the mofl darino- at
tempt. Ihe 7 ters Etat, of the Commons, as they
are proud to call themselves, are prevailine more
and more The only rjueftion now is,—whether
the foldiefy will or will not adhere to the Court
If the army prefer the intrefls of their fellow
citizens to thole of the Crown, there is an end to
the (lelpotifm of the French Monarch!
\ !
ABn.DGc.MENr of the STATE of. POLITICS for last
FRANCE.
AMIDS T the various figures that fill UD t i,„
litical scenery for this week, the moft,w P °'
still is the com motions in France The dHV'' C "° US
i„ that kingdom f« m „„„ t0 bc
foine caVaftrophe. We wait,
for the eventful ilTue. The Third £ltate ,'
in number to the Nobility and the Clergy iS
have allumed to themselves all the powen ?f?'
States General. They have endeavored t °£
vert their decrees into laws, which the?l!
printed, publilhed, and diitribnted in the 1
vinces. Detachments to Ipeak in the mili? ar °v
stile which must 100-.be too powerful,
Nobility and Clergy have joined their corps - ai
thus a foundation is laid for a civil war which
it now appears, is altogether inevitable • f ort „
order of the Nobles, formidable by their num.
beis, weaiih, high l'pirus, and Connections in the
army have lent a remonstrance to the Kine in
which they express their resolution to mainrah
the perogatives of the Crown, and the preron
tives of their own order. This body, rendered
compact and mdivilible by a military spirit anda
fenie of honor, presents a front of opposition
that is not to be appalled by threats, nor eulily
cajoled by concessions. The French nation is
therefore divided into two great parties ; or rather
they have fallen into two div-fions. The Kim
under the influence of Mr. Neckar, and the Cora'
111011s lorin one division ; the great body of the
Nobility and the Clergy the other. In these cir
cuinftances an appeal will naturally be made to
the army. It is said that several gentlemen of the
army have caught the infection of freedom as
well as the mals of the people. The Frenchrecri
ments thatferved in America, in thelate war,are
particularly diltinguifhed, as might have been
naturally expected,by their zeal for liberty. Were
this enthufiai'm general among the military <ren
tlemen, the mutters in dispute would be fetlled
at once. But this, we have been allured by pri
vate intelligence, which we cannot doubt, is by
no means the cafe. The great part, by far, of
the officers of the army, commi'llioned and non
commiflioned, dependent on the crown for their
f übliftence, their consequence in society* and their
luture views, fee with jealousy the riling powti
of an order of men whom they were accullomed
to treat with insolent contempt. And though the
present Monarch, Louis XVI. leans towards the
Commons, they conlider this as a dereliction of
the Royal Prerogatives ; as a temporary phrenzy
which connot be lalling. They make adiftinc
tioli, in short, between the person of the Sove
reign, whole sentiments and inclinationsare un
certain, and the Throne, which they conlider as
fixed and permanent.
EAST-INDIES.
By late advices from India, we have been in
formed, that our affairs in that quarter wear a
flourilhing afpe<si, though there be a pretty gene
ral dillatisfaction among the fervantsof the Com
pany, as might be expected, at the rigorous
reforms carried on by Lord Cornwallis. In a
political view it may be questioned, how far it is
prudent, before the powers of our govemmentbe
more accurately defined, and our authority more
firmly rooted in India, to dry up the resources by
which individuals acquire fortunes ; or to dil
courage men of family and spirit from entering
into the Company's service. Presents and per
quilites are natural in Alia.
THE NATIONAL MONITOR No. XVIII.
" Combine ye sons of freedom, ah, combine,
" 7 he people are invincible who join;
" Fuel ions and feuds will overturn the State,
u Which union renders flonrifhing and great.
AT the commencement of the revolution, Union
was the word.—We juflly considered this as the gnat
axis 011 which our political exif/ence turned. Our t%-
perience verified the idea ; for,
11 'Twos Union fav'dvtin the trying hour."
Can it be thought less important thatwe Jkould be as full)
impressed -with this important fentimentnow! Jtcan
not.—This led us to empire and independence. —This
has given us the glory of this wtf
em region, and the envy and admiration of the worli-
Union alone can preserve and perpetuate this intf
timable jewel—without which Freedom is but *
name.—Laws, and government being perhaps more
necessary to its preservation, than they are for the ft
curity of life and property The Conflitution has faf
fed a fiery trial, and Hike gold has come forth wit'
additional lufire —it is now the " Sutreme La*
of the Land"—that great uniting bond that holds
the States together,and on which all our hopes of nation"'
happiness am}glory depend.—Let us then view with ab
horrence and indignation, every• attempt to fo'Ji J"'
feeds ofjealouj), dijlruft and dijunion among ourftl vcs
—every effort to injure, deface, or depreciate the
merits of the Conflitution. In an especial manner It
us spurn every attempt to fully the -reputation,
the feelings, or dejlroy the ttfefulnsfs of those j> at '
rioticcharacters, which the people have appoint
to admit/iJJ'er the new Government. There ar!
sons in every community whose element is confufon "
for the people to countenance such incendiaries, is to J'
their own house on fire. _
Published by JOHN FENNO, No. 9, Maide* 1
Lane, nearthc Ojwego-Markct, New-York. —[3 dol-.p r ' ar^