P I.UD '.V' ..NfaDAYS AN!) SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA [No. 6', of Vol. lII.] TRANSLATED " For He GAZfL TE ,f the UNITED STATES. A DISCOURSE OF STEPHEN BOETIUS, Concerning voluntas y Servitude : Or the Anti-One. (Continuedfrom No. 4 of this Gazette.) X7"OU sow the feeds of your fruits that he may JL reap the harvest: You furniih and adorn your lioufes,-^ provide materials for his robbe ries : You your daughters, that he may have the means of satiating hi s luxury: You feed and cloath your children, to the end that he may most graciously please to lead them to his wars and conduct them to llauglner ; that he may make them the minifiers of his avarice, and the execu tioners of his vengeance : You break the conlli tutions of your bodies with labor, that he may fondle in delights, and wallow in his dirty vil lainous pleal'ures: You weaken youifelves to make him more itrong and rough, to hold you in with a lhorter rein. And from all tliefe indigni ties, which even the beasts ti.emfelves ther not feel, or would not endure, you may liver yourfeives, if you attempt it, not indeeoTn action, but in volition. Be rei'olved to serve no longer, and behold you will be free. 1 do not exhort you to pull or to haul, but barely not to lift and fupport,and you will fee him, like a great Coloflus, from which they have removed the pe deilal, fall to the ground by his own weight, and crumble in pieces. But certainly the advice of the physicians is •wife, not to lay your hands on a wound that is incurable; and I am not prudently employed in attempting to advise the people, who have 101 l Jong ago all knowledge, and whose malady is evidenily mortal, because they feel not the evil. Let us examine then, by conjeiSure, and fee if we can dilcover how it is that this obllhiate ref>- lution to serve has become fi> rooted, that itfeems at present that the love of liberty is not fa natu ral as the love of servitude. 11l the firft place, this is, as I think, beyond all j doubt, that if we live with the rights which na ture has given us, and the principles and doilrines that <he reaches us, we Ihall be naturally obedient to parents, fubjetfts to reason, and llaves to no man. Every one will be difpoi'ed to obedience to his father and mother, without any other ad monition than that which his natural disposition will didtate. All men are witnefles, every one in himfelf and for himfelf, concerning reason, whether it is born with us or not ; wiiich is a queltion difcufied to its foundation by the acade micians, and touched by all tne schools of philo sophers. For the present, I (hall not think my fejf miltaken in believing, that there is, in our human foul, fonie natural feeds of reason, which, cultivated by good council and conduct, manners and habits, may flourifh in virtue : and, on the contrary, frequently, not being able Jo support itfelf againlt the vices which grow about it, being choaked, becomes abortive. But certainly if there is any thing clear and apparent in nature, and to which it is not permitted us to be insensi ble, it is this, that nature, the minilter of God, and the go*ernefs of men, has made UQall of the fame form, has call us all in the fame mould, to the end that we may all mutually acknowledge one another for companions, or rather as bro thers. And if, in making the partition of the pvefents which {he has given us, (he has given some advantages of property, some powers of body or faculties of mind, to some more than to others—(he has not however intended to throw us into this world as into a close paflure, for the (honger to devour the weaker—lire has not sent down here below the (trongeft and the molt knowing, like robbers armed in a loreft, to eat up the weakest. But we ought rather to believe, that distributing thus to some a larger portion, and to others a smaller, (lie meant to give room for the fraternal affection, that it might have op portunity for exercise; some having the power to afford alfiftance, and others, wants, to receive it- Since then this kind mother has given us all, the whole earth for a residence—has lodged us all in the fame house—has moulded us all of the fame clay, to the end that every one may behold himfelf or his own in every other—if (he has given us all in common this grand present of the voice and speech, that we may become better acquainted and more brotherly with cach other, and make by the common and mutual declaration nf our thoughts a communion of our wills—and !» (be has endeavored by all means to draw close Wednesday, May iB, 1791. together, and tie more ftritftJy the knot of our alliance and society—is fhehasfhown in all things that she desired not so much to unite us as to make us one—we ought not to entertain a doubt but ihat we are all natut-ally free, since we are all companions ; and it cannot occur to the imagina tion of any one, that nature has placed any in servitude, having put us all in company. FOR THE GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES. O D ODE IV. John professeth his disinterestedness. CRITICS, Reviewers, by whatever name, You shine recorded on the Roll of Fame ; Whate'er your titles, or whate'er your trade, Your claim is equal to the Muse's aid. A true republican herfcif, Alike to her all titles and addrefles : From the poor idiotic elf, To the proud monarch, (he confefles, Each living wight her care pofTelles. This is the very cafe with John ; For all he feels, for all he cares, And with unwearied toil goes on To make, of sense, all mortals fellow-heirs. And here, with honesty of foul, profeffes That, notwithstanding many envious guefles Of what his motives and his wishes were, With pure difintereltednafs of spirit, And charm'd, alone, with all Reviewers' merit, He doth these several Hirts, with labor haid, prepare. In troth, dear Critics, I have nought to hope Or from your wisdom, or your wit; Alike regardless Ihoula the honest rope Adorn your necks, or decorate your spit. I've wrote no Book, profound in ancient fazvs, Which claims your praises, or your smiles requires ; Nor does a Doctorate of Medicine, or Laws, Fill me with Learning's never-dying fires, Not only destitute of Title's aid, Tofcreen my Writings from contempt, and traJJi, But I despise all writing—as a trade— And scorn, a hircling-fcribler beau, to slash, Beside, unfortunate indeed forme, This genius-barren foil has given me birth ; " Tmrcrteas- ~rritc, yen -ftrrr, of V. Unblels'd with Trans Atlantic genuine worth. Nay more, I ne'er the improving Ocean crofs'd ; Nt'er drew in science on Britannia's wave ; Nor, sense inhaling as the vessel tnfs'd, Rode o'er the seas which fair Hibcrrda. lave. Nay, and my father boasts no foreign blood, No Mac's, or O's, his progeny enrich ; Poor, but iii virtue, and in doing good— Which (hield no native from the Critic switch. Now let the rabble, and the vulvar, crv That John is fee'd your merit to display, And paid for Hints which, free, he doth supply. I'll heed no more their clamors—no, not I — No longer from my purpose w : !l I stray, But, in another Ode, my devoirs ihortly pay JOHN. Conclusion of an extraß of a letter from London, to a gentleman in Salem, dated Jan. 3, 1791, begun in our I a ft. " TT will readily occur to you that the extreme A rigor of the Navigation Ast in admitting no veflels to be British but such as are actually built within the dominions, is in this particular absurd as well as impolitic, as by increaflng the cojl of /hipping it lejfens the quantity and objtruclr the de sign of increasing feamen —and that if government should relax To far as to allow the free nurchafe and life of veflels from the United States, the British nation would gain the most solid advan tages— bv having much cheaper vehicles they could afford to carry cheaper ; and, carrying cheaper, they would be employed in carrying nior e—which neccfTarily m ult increase both /hip ping and seamen. But. you will agree with me, that nations, like individuals, are not easily in duced to give up old habits, even when acknow ledged to be bad ; and therefore that a very fid dsn change is not to be expetfted. But be this as it may, 1 think your investigation of the policy of our Navigation Lawsmuftat last result in this' that as a fyftenf of naval jlrength and defence for this ljland, nothing could be more wise-—but as a febeme of profit or gain in any country nothing can be more ABSURD. This conclusion being allowed, yon will afk'whether commercial restrictions are to be j'.iftified uiionno other ground than that of providing and supporting. a naval power? To! this qneftion f should anfver, that there may be cases in which small, tenporary or particular re ftrainis upon any fpecie< of industry must be to lerated as the means ofobtaining a greater, more permanent or general As the remedy how. 21 E ' S, [Whole No. 214.] • ever is violent.and painful we ought tfl .be fa tisfied of the reality of thedifeafe, and of its na tore and extent, and also of the probability of a cure, before we submit to the application of it. I confefs 1 don't readily think of any general fyl tem of commercial rertraint that can be fully vin dicated, except such as an aggrieved nation may form by way of retaliation upon an aggreflor, with reafonablt hope oj obtaining redress. To retaliate upon an offending nation (with refpe<ft to them) can be no violation of jultice. To recover and secure that equal freedom, which if enjoyed by all would be universally beneficial, and to which therefore on social principles all have a claim is certainly no unworthy objed: ; but to render such a mode of pursuing it confident with found poli cy, there ought to be a good probability of pur suing it with success—" but there's ihe rub." Our own history informs us of one experiment at lealt that had an unfavorable issue : we are told that, in the beginning of the reign of Kincr Charles, France had laid i'uch heavy impositions on our trr.de, that our annual loft was eflimated at one and a'half or two millions lterling. Part ly with the hope of recovering this, and partly from animosity we retaliated by severe restraints on the commerce with France ; but after much fuffering, and finding no go',d effefis at all from our rijiraints, in a succeeding reign vii prudently took tkivi off. " In tracing the progress ofinduftry you will observe that " in every prosperous state the an- nual earnings of the people exceed their annual consumption." This excels in a regular course of things accumulates to an enormous amount Whether it be finall or great however is not of any serious moment ; but it is of the I ast imp or - tancc to society that there be a continual repro duction of Jometking more than is immediately coillumed. Now theconftant endeavor of every individual to produce more than enough for his own consumption depends upon his being able to exchange the surplus for something he wants; and the more he can getfurhis surplus rhegreat er will be ins endcavoi s to mcreaie "iliac lurpTus. Let it be othcrwife—and take away this induce ment from tht individual to produce more than his own wants require, and it mult inevitably happen, if the people ilo not absolutely perish, they 111 uft at last Puffer all the-extremity of pinch ing want. To be f;ire therefore of never falling bel6w the mark of a fufticiency, it is necefl'ary to aim always considerably above ir. Ilence the advantage of a jr ee, easy and extenfivt market can not be duly appreciated, as it holds out to the in dividual an irrefiftable allurement to make his surplus as great as podible. All these things how ever will happen right in the ordinary operation of natural principles—no artificial fyftein what ever can do as well. But perhaps you will urge that while such fyftenis are pratftifed by nations with whom you have intercourse, a fort of lie ceffity is thereby created for you to do likeviifr. This abfervation, as relates to some nations, is fatisfatftory ; but the thing abstractedly consi dered may be just, and yet impratfiicable—or it may be practicable and yet inexpedient : the dil eafe may be more tolerable than the remedy— orthefuccefs may be too uncertain. Nations likeindividualsare, or ought to be, always laboring to make their own particular condition better. Like individuals, however, they sometimes lose fight of the abundant good things they poflefs, blinded by an intemperate zeal for fomerhing which they want, or imagine they want. The- fun damental cause of this is ufeful—but this excefi in the effect is pernicious. You commend the Shepherd, who, leaving in fajety his ninety-nine Jbeep goes to seek for one that has ftiaycd — but if to recover a f mall part of a fwgt? fleece only ht should weary and expose his whole flock, yos would condemn his want of prudence as .well ? •want of fenfibitity. " Of all People I think yon have the leafl o 'cafion to try hazardous experiments in politics k'oii have the most ample natural resources, tl full advantage of which you cannot be deprived by the contrivances of any foreign nation, unl. your own imprudence and indiscretion should aid the. I mention this because I have seen among you \eagernef for prohibitions or restraints on the co Lnierce with "this country— But as this biifi ef« [momentous, it is to be hoped you will delibt ' ate coolly before you decide—count fairly t coit, and eltimare truly the endof the underta ing before you begin it—these preliminaries b $isp®
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