PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FEN NO, No. 69, MAIfCtT.STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA [No. 56', of Vol. ll.] Wednesday, November io, 1790. The Tablet No. 148. [The lift number was by mistake put 149 ] " There is unavoidably a congeniality of charatter between the tone of government and the jlats oj so ciety." IN calculating the force of those reasons which have a favorable a I'pert upon the freedom and prosperity of a community, wc lhould firlt look to the character of the inhabitants, and fix that as the molt eflential point on which the ques tion turns. The state of society, more than the form of government, is to be regarded ineftimat jngthe chances infavorof public liberty. For, thoughone political conflitution may have a pre ference over another, yet none that can be im agined will render liberty secure, unless there be a predisposition of other causes to make it so. In the United States the form of government is supposed to be as perfect, as can be framed by any light that can at present be derived from hu man wisdom ; but our situation would be fur less eligible than it is, if the duration of our freedom did not reft 011 a better foundation than words and stipulations defined 011 parchment. While it is the personal interest of the great bulk of the inhabitants to pursue lucli a (yftem of condudt as will best comport with the views of the go vernment, there is the ftrougelt pledge, both on the part of the people and their rulers, that each will regard the prosperity of the other. Every class of citizens is, in f'ome measure, a check upon other clafles ; and every individual of the fame class isa check upon other individuals. No man can prosper in his occupation, and to do which is the main desire of his heart, unless he be honest and industrious ; and while he is so, the govern ment can calculate upon him as a fafe and ufeful citizen. The legislature must be formed of men who participate of the national character; and as our inhabitants have fomany motives of a per sonal nature, to prefer a virtuous life to a vicious one, we may expedt good men, and of course a good government. That circuniftance, which more than any other, promises duration to a go vernment, is that the citizens feel and acknowlege their private interest to be connected with that of the public. This at once removes those sour ces of di(content and insurrection which flow from the belief, that the views of the government are at variance with the interest of individuals. The final left deviation from rectitude in any public officer, or a want of abilities to execute his trust with propriety, can never elude the public discernment. It is therefore a thing to be always expected that our public administration will be able and virtuous. There i 5 little danger that any person, from intrigue or powerful connec tions, can long Atftain an dffice which he does not fill with some degree of reputation to liim felf, and advantage to the community. Perhaps fouie worthier man maybe left out of office, but he who fills it, mult poll'efs fotne (hare of merit. The body of electors, in this country, are too numerous to be bribed in any instance, and they generally have too independent a temper to se cond the views of vile and mercenary candidates. The moll that is to be feared from cabal and par ty influence, is that the very belt men may not always succeed again It characters of inferior pre tensions ; but he who does succeed mull be a per son far removed from the basest of mankind. Few of those causes, which kept the ancient republics in such tumult and agitation, exist in this country. Our notions and regulations ref pedting property are well known and defined. The laws are generally approved ■of; and the citizens are apt to view a man as their «nemy, who avows himfelf an enemy to law and justice. A defect of knowledge in points refpecl ing property, and an imperfect system of lavvs, were the principal causes why the turbulent tem per of antient times could not be restrained. There were less cnergetic motives for peace and tranquility, than for war and confufion, accord ing to the ideas which the antients had imbibed of liappinefs and dignity. But a turn of think ing very different from that prevails among our citizens. And while they are i'o solicitous to pur ine their various callings, undisturbed by factions or wars, it mult be their most ardent desire that the laws flionld be equal and energetic, and that their execution fliould, under no pretcnce, be impeded. f'Te hi continued.) [The following beautiful, and animated description of the "Advantages or Commerce," written by a jttftly celebrated Englifb author, can never be mad without pleasure.] ADVANTAGES Of COMMERCE. THERE it no place in town which I so much love to frequent as the Royal Exchange.— It gives me a secret fatisfaction, and in some mea fuie gratifies my vanity as an Englilhman, to fee (o rich an assembly of my countrymen and fo reigners consulting together upon the private business of mankind, and making this metropolis a kind of emporium for the whole earth. I mull confefs, I look upon high change to be a grand council, in which all considerable nations have their representatives. Factors, in the trading world, are what ainbaflidors are in the political world They negociate afEiirs, conclude treaties, and maintain a good correspondence between those wealthy societies of men, that are divided from one another by seas and oceans, or live on the different extremities o: a continent. I have often been pleased to hear disputes adjulted be tween an inhabitant of Japan and an alderman of London, or to fee a fubjecft ot the great Mogul entering into a league with one ot the Czar of Mufcovj. lain infinitely delighted in mixing with tliefe several minilters ot commerce, as they are diltingiiilhed by their different walks and different languages. Sometimes lam jollied a mong a body of Armenians ; sometimes I am 101 l in a crowd of Jews ; and sometimes make one in a group of Dutchmen. lam a Dane, a Swede, or Frenchman, at different times ; or rather fan cy myfelf like the old pbilofopher, who, upon being alked what countrynMin he was, replied, That he was a citizen of the world. This grand scene of business gives me an in finite variety of solid and fobftantial entertain ment. As I am a great Jover of mankind, ray heart naturally overflows with pleaf'ure at the fight of a prof'perous and happy multitude ; in somuch, that, at many public solemnities, I can not forbear expressing my joy with tears. For this reason, I am wonderfully delighted to fee such a body of men-thriving in their own private fortunes, and at the fame time promoting the public flock ; or, in other words, raising eltates for their own families, by bringing into their country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it whatever is fuperfluous Nature feenis to "have taken a particular care to difleminate her bleflings among the different regions of the world, with an eye to this mutual intercourse and traffic among mankind, that the natives of the several parts of the globe might have a kind of dependence upon one another, and be united together bj their common interclls. Almoll: every degtee producesfomethingpeculiar to it. The food often grows in one country and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbadocs ; the in fullon of a China plant sweetened with the pith of an Indian cane. The Philippine iftands give a flavour to our European bowls. The single dress of a woman of quality is often the produtft of an hundred climates. The muff and the fan come together from the different ends of the earth. The scars is sent from the torrid zone, and the tippet from beneath the pole. The bro cade petticoat rises out of the minds of Peru, and the diamond necklace out of the bowels of 111- doftan. * If we consider our own country in its natural profpeifl, without any of the benefits and advan tages of commerce, what a barren uncomforta ble spot of earth falls to our (hare ! Natural his torians tell us, that no fruit grows originally among us besides hips and haws, acorns and pig nuts, with other delicacies of the like nature; that our climate, of itfelf, and without the assist ance of art, can make no farther advances to wards a plum than a floe, and carries an apple to no greater perfection than a crab ; that our melons, our peaches, our figs, our apricots, and our cherries, are strangers among us, imported indifferent ages, and naturalized in our Englilh gardens; and that they would all degenerate and fall away into the tralh of our own country, if they were wholly neglected by the planter, and left to the mercy of our l'un and foil. Nor has traffic more enriched our vegetable world than it has improved the whole face of na ture among us. Our Ihips are laden with the harvest of every climate ; our tables are stored 633 [Whole N0.'160.] witlifpices, and oils, and wines ; our rooms are filled with pyramids of china, and adorned vvir'i the workmanlhip of Japan; our morning's draught comes to us from ilie reraoteft corners of tile earth ; we repair our bodies by the drugs of America, and repose onrfelves under Indian ca nopies. My friend, Sir Ylndren), calls the vine yard of France, our gaidens ; the spice-islands, our hot-beds ; the Persians, our silk weavers ; and the Chinese, our porters. Nature, imleecf, furnilhes us with the bare neceflaries of life ; ,but traffic gives us a great variety of what is ufeful, and at the fame time supplies us with every thing that is convenient and ornamental. Nor is it the least part of this our happiness, that, while we enjoy the remotelt products of the noith ami south, we are free from those extremities of wea ther which give thein birth ; that our eyes are refreihed with the green fields of Britain, at the fame time that our palates are feafted with, fruits that rife between the tropics. For tliefe reasons, there are not more ufeful members in a commonwealth than merchants. They knit mankind together in a mutual inter course of good oflices, dillribute the gifts of na ture, find work for tlie poor, add wealth to 'the rich, and magnificence to the great. Our Englilli merchant converts the tin of his own country in to gold, and exchanges his wool for rubie:s. The Mahometans are cloathed in our Britifli manufac tures, and the inhabitants of the frozen zone are warmed with the fleeces of our Bleep. When I have been upon Change, I have often fancied one of our old kings itanding in person where he is represented in effigy, and looking down upon the wealthy concourse of people with which that place is every day filled. In this cafe, how would he be surprised to hear all the lan guages of Europe spoken in this little spot of his former dominions, and to fee so many private men, who, in his time, would have been the *af fals of some powerful baron, negociating, like princes, for greater funis 'of money than were formerly to be met with in the royal treasury ! Trade/ without enlarging the British territories, has given us a kind of additional empire ; it has multiplied the number of the rich, made our landed eflates infinitely more valuable than they were formerly, and added to them an accelfion of other estates as valuable as the lands tliemfelves AMERICAN ANTIQUITY ON the eastern fliore of the Miffifippi, in near 47 degrees north latitude, end some miles below Lake Peppin, is a level open plain, on which is an elevation, which, even al a distance, has the appearance of an entrenchment ; and, upon the flrifreft exam ination, it appears that it has really been intended for this put pofe many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it is now covered with grass, it is plainly to be discovered that it was once a breait work about foui feet in height, extending the belt part ot a mile, and fufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form is somewhat circular, and its flanks reach to the river. Though much defaced by time, every angle is diftinguiflaable. and appears as regular, andfafhioned with as much military skill as if planned by Vauban himfelf. The ditch though not very visible, yet there are evident marks of there certainly having been one. From its situation there can be no doubt that it must have been designed for a fortification. It fronts the country, and its rear is covered l>y the river, nor is there any riling ground for a considerable way that commands it, and only a few draggling oaks are to lie feci) near it. They who observe this work with a fkilful eye, fee in it evident traces of very great antiquity ; but it is hard to tell how it could have been produced in a country that has hitherto, according to the generally received opinion, been the feat ot war like untutored Indians alone, whose whole flock of military knowledge ha&only, till within two centuries amounted to draw ing the bow, and whose only breast work, even at present, is.the thicket. It is hoped the time is not far diflant when perlons of {kill will be enabled by the bounty of the public, to investigate not only this but many other American antiquities, and by this means give us some idea of the antient inhabitants, and ft ate ot regions, that we at present believe to have been from the carl left period only the habitation of savages. LONDON, August 28. Extrali of a letter from Warsaw, Augufi 3. AMONG the different objedts occupying the diet latterly, they have decreed the suppression of Abbeys, of which the revenues, amounting to 500,000 florins, are applied to the invalids and the hospitals. " In order to attach the united Greeks of Vol binia and the Ukraine to the republic, they have agreed to admit their archbilhop into their se nate. For those yet disunited, they reserve them femfelves to form such resolutions as may make them cordially co-operate at length. , " The ancient yoke of aristocracy fliackling the people, is about to be broken tore vtfr, and the heretofore fettered fubjedi, come and boldly aflert and maintain the dignity and inde pendence of his being." o
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