PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNQ, No. BROAD-STREET, NEAR THE IXCHANCE,NEW-YORK [No. 41, of Vol. ll.j PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS On the late REVOLUTION IN FRANCE, tc CONTINUATION. THUS the splendor of aristocracy was diffYi fed to the widelt extent in France, waspro ira<fled through every gradation offociery, and threw a brilliancy over their domeltic manners Thefovereign disposed of the whole national re venue, and disposed of it with the nioltjudici ous liberality. Tliofe who were incapable of alfifting theinfelves, —those who could nolongei afford the indulgence of falhidnable expence,— those who difdaiued the luftreof thei. birth by the fordid acquifuion of commercial gain,—ltill enjuyed every luxury of life, by the condescending kindness of royal beneficence A million and a half (almolt the twelfth of the ■whole produtft of national taxation) was graci ously beltowed, with unbounded generosity, on a superb and gallant race of nobles. As this mine of regal munificence was exhauftlefs, Paris and Versailles were crowded by men offhiuing accomplishments, who, with passionate anxiety longed to recommend theinfelves at court. Bur it was neither by the arrogance of felf-aflumed merit, nor the revolting pride of parts, that their hopes were to be realized, and t heir withes gra tified. Where the fafcinating influence, discri minating taste, and decisive power of the fairfex prevailed, their favourites rose to fatne and for tune, by the acquisition of those artificial etnbel lilhments, :.nd by that exquisite polish, which the tad fin of Versailles could alone appreciate. No envoy was appointed to a foreign court who could not trace the complicated figure of a ini nuet with graceful precision. The dignified cre dentials of an amballador were often granted for the composition of a chanson aiuoureuf,; and J. fincer la hurfe avec£»ut, or to pollefs the happy art de ki:n tourner fan compliment, has frequently tjufesl an officer to the command of an army, ui a clerk~iiT~oTlicno pi rfiic tj*cr the marine of Krance. War or peace depended on the charm ing caprice, on the smile or frown of this en chanting gynocracy ; and the beaux yieux of the reigning Sultana often set the wot Id in ablaze. The laucy indiscretion of ill-bred authors was likewise inftajitly corrected, and an inllruc r tive hint conveyed to them in the polite style of a lettre de cachet.—► Diderot was treated with this .flattering mark of attention by Madame de Pom padour, andfent to apartments provided for him ty the King at Viuccirnei, for presuming to criti cife the composition and execution of a favorite court fiddler, without being hiinfelf a connoifieur in music. Roufl'eau, with his accullomed mifan thiopy, presented a memoirc, soliciting the in largement of his friend, or requesting to share his prison. Both these favours were, with g eat propriety, relufed him ; yet he ungratefully ex ercifed his cynical declamation, on not being in dulged in either alternative. But, alas ! the whole of this sublime and beau tiful system is deranged. The very dregs of the people have fatally discovered that nobles, prin ces, and even kings, are formed of the fame clay ■with themselves, and owe their elevation and grandeur only to the accidental circumstances of birth and fortune. It has been well observed, that tru h {hould not be told at all times ; and surely a truth of this dangerous tendency fliould ever be concealed frointhe vulgar , forcontempi often begins with them when admiration ceases. They were happy and contented when they look ed up to the great ones of the earth, as beings of a superior order ; but the pleafingdelufion from whence they enjoyed fomuch felicity will quick ]y vanish ; the transient splendor of a terrelb ial meteor would no longer excite their wonder and astonishment, if they did not trace iw origin to thelieavens, and iniftake it for a falling star. I am confirmed inthejuftice ofthefe fantiments by the philosophical obfervationsof Mr. Necker, y/ho describes, with fympatheiic delight, the happineft of the French peasantry beforethe late ..political revolution. " They behold," fays he, •' tlie oftentati6us display of ranks with the cool eft indifference ; grandeur isfo remote from theii habitual ideas, that they accustom themselves to look upon it as the attribute of a tew beings of a fpeciesdifferent from their's ; and as they retuin liome to their cottages, under the preflure of a burthen they can scarcely bear, they feethofe fiery couriers, who rapidly whirl the magnificent chariots of the rich and noble, close by theui,and WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1790. view them with thefame indifference as they con euipldte those wandering planets over their heads whole twinkling motion they just discern." But his t>eautiful Arcadian landscape will quickly vanifli ; the serenity of rheir prelent enjoyments ■vill speedily be djfturbed ; their political con- Sequence in elections will excite new and afpir mg ideas, and foou transform this humble, con reutcd,-fubmillive peasantry, into a bold, turbu lent, factious yeor.ranry ; magnificent 6ha riois and fiery couriers vfjll ltop at their doors, ind the rich and great will condescendingly alight to solicit their votes ; they will be tempc ed, by long leases and low rents, to lead a life of cat e, anxie.j and labor, in the cultivation of , their farms. The taif/e, that excellent tax, so admirably calculated to maintain the splendor and dignity of the noblefle, and keep their tenan try in a comfortable state of degradation, will be aboliihed for ever. They will spurn their vege table meal, and insolently, perhaps, afpirc to re alize the unkingly wish of Henri quatr.-, whose llatue is still contempruoufly exhibited on the Pont Ntuf, as a monument of his folly :—" That he hoped to fee the time when every peasant in France should eat flelhmeat once a day, and have a boiled fowl for his Sunday's dinner." The more I confiderthis important fubje<Jt, the -political evils thai menace our country, from the fatal revolution in France, become moie appar ent. I ifaall adduce oneft. iking iuitance by which our revenue and manufactures may be ruined. The commutation ast is now a favorite one, as it fairly and impartially compels evtfry man to pay an additional window tax, in order to reduce the price of tea : Ifhedoesi.ot choose to drink it, lie has no reason to complain, as it is his own fault. Perhaps it will be fuggcfled at some mo ment of popular phrenzy, that the commutation nc r t is a badge offlavery ; for when this uieafure was firft proposed, it was compared in debate to the gab.lls, a funilar fort of impost on fait, which long prevailed in Franca, aud has lately aboliihed by the National Afleinbly. Mr. Kox, tho he owned the justness of the remark, fac tiouily preferred the mild spirit of French taxa tion ; aflerting, " that there was 110 degree of comparison, 011 the plea of neceflicy, between the use of fait and tea.— The latter was clearly a lux ory, and no ways conducive to health; perhaps far otherwise, as many had thought. Salt, on the contrary, was a necellary ; and therefore it was farlefs oppreflive to oblige the I'ubjecfts of France 10 purchase as much fait as it wasluppofeda per son of any given description in life would have occasion for." These words may be malicioully repeated, to excite ieditioa and difloyahy in the minds of the people, and induce them to insist 011 the repeal of a most equitable and impartial tax. What inuft be the consequence ? The flourifhing state of the Ealt-India Company would no longer excite Mr Crawfuid's admiration ; bankruptcy mult ensue ; publiccredit would be Ihaken ; the rapid reduction of the national debt would cease, and we should no longer be charmed by the ac curacy of calculation and elegance of composition Co eminently aifplayed in that annual oration, (the India budget) which shews forth the merit, and celebrates the praise, of the President and Members of ilie Board of Control. The dangerous proximity of the two countries also uiakes ine tremble.—Our manufactures, on any wife judicious exteniion of the excise laws, tempted ro migrate to France, instead of doubling their industry and ftarpening their ingenuity here, both to pay the rax and evade the lafcr. Now as our experienced and eiilighteped minilters have candidly declared, that all our future resour ces of revenue, all our hopes of a permanent flourifhing finance, inuft be derived from an ex tension ofour excise laws, and their application to our manufactures, we majr be reduced to the melancholy alternative of choosing either to be ruined by enforcing, or abandoning, thisfalutary fyllem. The threats and audacious conduit of the tobacconists at thismomenr, implicitly direct ed by the factious advice jf an able, active, and dangerous leader in the lioufe of commons, fuf ni(h too lamentable a proof t>f the facility with which our fraudulent smuggling traders (moftof whom are diflenters) may be induced to spurn at the laws of their country, elude the wisdom of its arts ; and, with unparalleled impudence, to combat and oppose the opinion both of the minister ajid his lecretary. (To i; CQJtiiued.) 577 LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.- PUBLISHED CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES : at the second session. Begun and held at the City ot New-York, on Monday the foiutia of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety. An ACT to alter the times for holding the Circuit Courts of the United States in the Diftri<fts of South-Carolina and Georgia,and providing that the Diftri& Court ofpennfylvania, (ball in fu- ture be held at rhe city of Philadelphia only. BE it enabled by the Senate and House of Representatives oj the United States oj Ameiica in Congrejs ajjemb/ed, Tuat the circuit court* ot the United States inthediftnlU of Soutn-Carolina and Georgia, shall tor the future be held as follows, to wit: In the dtftns ot South-Carolina on the twenty-filth day of O&ober next, ai Charles ton, and in each succeeding year at Columbia, on the twelve day of May, and in Chariefton on the twen'y-fifth day of Otlober y in the diftrift of Georgia on the fifieentn day of O&ober next, at Augusta, and in each fucceedng year at Savannah, on the tw n;y fifth aay of April, and at Augusta on the fiiteenth day of October s except when any of those days (hall happen to be Sunday, iu which cafe the court shall be held on the Monday sol And all process that was returnable ufider the former law at Charleston, on the firft day of Ottober next, and at Augusta on the fevtntecnth day of October, shall now be deemed returnable rc fpethvely at Chariefton on the twenty-fifth day of October nt^i r and at Augusta on the fifteenth day of October next ; any thing iu the f >rmer law to the contrary not withstanding. And be it further enadedy That so much of the ast, intituled, " An *£t to eftablilh the judicial courts of the United Sates, ' a« diie£ts that the d ftri£t court for the diftrift of Pcnnfylvanu Ihall be held at York-town in the said state, be repealed ; and that in future the diftri£t court tor Pcunfylvania be held in the city of Philadelphia. % FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG, Speaker oj the House of Reprcfentattvey. JOHN ADAMS, Yiu-Prejid<nt of the United Stut-j, and Prejident oj the Senate. Approved, August the eleventh, i-?go. GEORGE WASHINGTON, Prejident oj the United Suiek. (Thus Corv) THOMAS JEFFERSON, SetrtUry of Slalt. EXTRACT frtm the EULOGILM en the late Dr. Cut.i.en. By his pupil, Dr. Benjamin Rush, of PhiLJil- fhia. " Dr. Culles is now no more.—What a blank has been produced by his death in the great volume of Icience ! Behold, the genius of humanity weeping at his feet, while the genius of medicine lifts up the key, which fell from his hand with his last breath, and with inexpi efiible coucern cries out " to whom fliall 1 give this in ftrnment ! Who now will unlock for me the treasures of universal nature " I repeat it again—Dr. no more c —No more, I mean a pillar and ornament of an ancient feat of fcier.ce—no more the delight and admiration of his pupils—no more the luminary of medicine to half the globe—llo more the friend and benefador of mankind. But I would as foou believe, that our solar system wascreated only to amuse and periih like a rocket, as believe ilia a mind endowed with such immense powers of ac tion and contemplation had cealed to exist, Beafon bids us hope that he yet lives ; and reve lation enables us to fay with certainty and con fidence that he yet lives. Fain would 1 lift the curtain which separates eternity from time, and inquire what are now his studies and employ, ments ? But it is not for mortals to pry into the; fecrcts of the invisible world." BOSTON, August 2f. Mr. Jacob Ifaacks, of Newport, has made such further improvements in extracting frefh water from ocean water, as to take nine and one half parts of frefh water from ten of ocean water, so as to answer for land or sea for all ihe common and culinary purp o fe3 of fountain or river water. Mr. Ifaacks presented a bottle of water extracted, by him to the President of the United States, on. his late visit at Newport, who was pleased to ex press himfelf highly fatisfied therewith. ] wo young Men are committed to Jail in Port, land upon a complaint against them for having wilfully burned inthenighr time, the dwelling, ho use of William Widgery, Efq of New GJocelierl [Whole No. 14S-]
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