From the Pouchkeepsii (Stateol New-York) Journal Mr. POWER, I Jtni you a copy of a letter I have lately received from one of my cor refbondrnts abroad— Ijyouwill give it a place in yonr paper, you aill oblige A Coftomer. " Dear SI R, " T HAVE just now received vour's of the 10th irftant. I X thank, you for your remarks on the work you have lately read. It appears to answer in your mind the recommendations I gave of it in a former letter. Nothing gives me more pleasure in my time of life, than to he imparting the little fruits of my knowledge and experience to the generation that is coming after mc, Tho' I have but a few moments leifurc, I shall endeavor, tho' imperfectly, to comply with your requcft, and K iveyou mv thoughts on the writings of Mr. Adams, the Vice- President, on which you tell me vou are about to enter. As you arc on a course of political studies, which I hope may hereafter render you a wife, a ufefui, and above all, an honest pa triot, I would have you always bear it in mind, that you cannot imbibe too deep an acquaintance, nor cultivate too an at tachment to the general and local constitutions of the United States. The Federalijl, tho' written in haste, and on the spur of the oc afion, is, as I have observed to vou before, one of the best pub lications on the former. It is full of correfl method, found sense, •and luminous principles of liberty from beginning to end ; and I •have no doubt but the commentary will be coeval in point of time •with the text. But the writings of Mr. Adams, mull be read with forte grains of allowance. There is a great deal of learning, and a great number of ufeful and wife principles of government brought into view ; but it appears to me that he is attached to ariftocratical and monarchical principles. My belief is founded on an attentive examination of his writings. This great malter of politics is frequently, and pretty direflly, inculcating a scep ticism as to the goodness of republican governments, and a be lief of the utility of hereditary monarchy, in terms which cannot but excite in the breast of those who are attached to the one, and who despise the other, a painful regret, and a lively indignatmn. I wish to make a firm stand agair.ft such pernicious tenets. They are a'sdirefily in the face of our institutions and manneis, as they are repugnant to our feelings and happiness. Betides, it is against moral fitnefs, no less than political duty, lo be conftar.tly infu fing distrust and diffidence asto the constitution of our country. — An unshaken confidence, 'a reverential attachment to our esta blished f>Hems, ought rather to be the leflon of the schools. In vol. 1. letter 20, of his Defence of the American Conjlitutions, he observes, " The Americans have not made their firft magis trate hereditary, nor their senators : here they differ from the Englilh constitution, and with great propriety : Land is so equal ly divided among the people, that they would not endure an he reditary King and Nobility ;or at lead, if created, they would be entirely subservient to the Commons, in whom nineteen twen tieths of the property would refide.—ln future ages, if the States become great nations, rich, powerful, and luxurious, their own feelings and good sense will dictate to them what to do ; they Trray make transitions to a nearer refemblancc of the British con stitution, by a frefh convention, without the smallest interrup tion to liberty. But they will never become neceflary until great quantities of property get into few hands." Here Mr. Adams speaks of hereditary monarchy and aristocra cy as not advifeable in this country as yet—we are not quite ripe for them, because of the too great equality of property. Here after the natural progress of things will render them neccffary, and they may exist without the fmalleji interruption to liberty. If this change should be thought proper, Mr. Adams informs us, we have an Aristocracy already formed for our purpose, by the kind hand of nature. —In letter 25 of the fame vol. he ob serves, " There are sources of inequality in every society, and in MafTachufets as well as in others.—l. Inequality of Wealth. 2. Of birth. 3. of merits. And, 4. All these advantages of birth, fortune, and fame united. These sources of inequality can never be altered by any people, because they arc founded in the consti tution ot nature. This natural ariflocracy among mankind, is a body of men which contains the greatest colle&ion of virtues and abilities in a free government." Fame and fortune may be, and frequently are hereditary ; but this is the firft time I ever heard a grave philosopher pronounce virtue and abilities to be so. In the 3d volume of his Defence-, and which costains a very in genious and ufeful criticism on Mr. Ncedham's Theory of a Common wealth, he observes (letter 6.) that, " We have adopted in Ame rica one idea of Needham's, in making a fucccflion in our Senate and Governors. It is still, however, problematical, whether this succession will be the grand preservative against corruption, or the grand inlet to it. There is room to hope, and groundsto fear. The experiment is made, and it will have fair play. If corrup tion breaks in, a remedy mull be provided ; and what that re medy mull be, is well known to every man that thinks."—" In •what manner annual elections of Governors and Senators will opeiatein America, remains to be ascertained. It should al ways be remarked, that this is not the firft experiment that ever was made in the world, of elections t© great offices ol State : How they have hitherto operated in every great nation, and what has been their end, is very well known. Mankind have univerfaliy discovered that chance was preferable to a corrupt choice, and have trusted Providence rather than themfclves. Thank Heaven ! Americans understand calling conventions ; and \ f the time should come, as it is very pofjible it may, when hereditary descent (hall be come a less evil.than annual fraud and violence, such a conven tion may still prevent the firft magistrate fiom becoming absolute as well as hereditary."— 44 Th s hazardous experiment we have tried ; and if ele&ions are soberly made, it may answer well—if not, the people must again have reeourie to conventions, and find a remedy." The prevailing bent of Mr. Adams, in favor of hereditary go vernment, seems to have acquired new force, as he proceeded in his writings. In his ift vol. we have observed, he speaks of it as a thing defirableonly at some future period, and not suited to our present condition. Here he declares himfelf much more emphatically in its savor—considers ele&ive governments as of hazardous experiment, and of doubtful issue ; and in a strain of exultation and devotion thanks Heaven that Americans can assume with ease an hereditary monarchy. Mr. Adams has lately obliged the public with a number of periodical pieces, entitled, Dijcourfes on DaviU, and which, like all his other writings, discover cxtenfive learning and superior capacity, and are calculated like his former volumes, to point out the neceflity of a balanced government. These difcouxfes, however, arc constantly interrupted with his remarks on the na tural love for iamily, and diftinflions, and property, and rank, and that aristocracy and monarchy have their foundation in the original constitution of our nature. In No. 12 he observes, " But it (hall be left to the contemplation of our state physicians t® dis cover the caufcs and the remedy o: that fever whereoj our power is sick. One queltion {hall be refpe&fuiiy insinuated; whethercqtial Jaws, the result only of balanced government, can ever be ob tained and preserved, without some signs or other of dijlinflion and degree."—ln No. after many arguments on the inextin guifhablc passion for titles and diftinflions, he breaks out into the following apoftrophe;—Americans! rejoice that from expe rience you have learned wisdom ; and instead of whimsical and fantaftic proje£b, you have adopted afromi/ing eJfajkMivards a well ordered government." Mr Adams has now begun, a discourse on Stephen Boetiui, which will probably be the fame thing a: a second edition o. his commentary on Needham. r It would be easy for me to proceed with quotations of a import ; but I trull I have already fufficently proved the truth of m V assertion, and the justness of my belief in Ine beginning oi this letter, thai Mr. Adams was attached to monarchical and ariftocratiral principles. In faying this, T ave no c ire, I had the power, to derogate f.nm the general repuia-ion ol his works : I only wish that the falfr doctrines they contain may be feparatcd from the salutary councils with which they are al led. His writings have profoundedlv developed, and placed in all «s variety ol altitude to the world, one excellent tru.h, long e re known, recognized, and adopted by his countrymen in their po litical fvftcms, and that is, the ncceflity of a div;fior, of the le gidative, executive, and judiciary powers, and a partition of the former into three independent parts, in order lo coiitroul the fpiiit of rival (hip inherent in the mind of man. But his writings have also inculcated, chetifhed, and propagated one abominable ktrtfy, and that is, that hereditary monarchy and ariltocracy art compatible with permanent freedom, and probably elfential to a wife, happv, and perfectly balanced conflitution. It is well worth observing, that Mr. Adams has undergone, fincc his rcfidence in Europe, a very great change in his political principles. In 1776, while he was a member of Congress, he wrote a letter to Mr. Wythe, of Virginia, and which has been recently published. In that letter he fays, " There is no good government but what is republican —that the only vamable part of the Britilh constitution is so—that the legislature ftiould be di vided into two branches, a °d the executive should have a nega tive on both ; but that the executive, as well as both branches of the legislative, ought to be annually cle&ive, there not being in the whole circle of the sciences a maxim more infallible than this, Where annual eleflions end, there tyranny begins. Thcfe great men, in this refpeft, should be once a year, Like bibbles on the sea of matter borne, They the* break, and to that sea return. This will .each them the great political virtues of humility, pa tience, and moderation, without which every man in power be comes a ravenous beast of prey." Mr. Adams ought to (hew us whether human nature has alter ed since the year 1776 ; and what there is at this day, more tnan there was at that day, to prevent a man who holds his feat by he reditary right, 'Or (as .Mr. Burke fays the King of England hold? his crown) in contemptoj the people, and who is not rejponfibleJot his conduct, from becoming a ravenous beast of prey : Whereas, the great leading maxim in all his writing is, that mankind arc just as imperfect now as fo'merly—in America as in Europe—in this century as in ten centuies ago. But it is the fate of Mr. Adams, in many places, t") be as inconsistent with himfelf, as some of his doctrines are inconsistent with the genius of his coun try. The English government is that perfe£l model to which al! his observations are dire6ted.—" It is (fays he) the mofl stupendous fabric of human invention, both for the adjustment of the balance. and the prevention of its vibrations."-—But the furious wars be tween the two Roses—the constant tyranny of the Tudors—the con (taut tyranny and convulsions under the Stuarts—the two re bellions against the house of Hanover, are rather bad precedents in favor of hereditary fuccefiion. At present there is not indeed the avowed oppreflion of former times. But the constitutional tyranny (if I may so express mvfelf) of the hereditary part, has changed its colour, not its nature —It has laid aside its fierce vis age, and aflfumed the livery of Venus and the Graces. Henry the 8 h was a despot, with the iron rod of prerogativc--George the 3d is a despot also, with the courtly sceptre of corruption. I finceiely believe the Englifa administration to be as much under the influence of corruption, as that of any government in Europe. The House of Commons, chosen once in seven years, is a mere mockery of rcptefentation. The English nation would have, if justice was done them, their Commons fairly chosen by upwaids ol 400,000 elcftors—and yet a ninth part of the English repre sentation is chosen by 364 votes, and a majority of the represent ation bv 5723 ele&ors, inoft of whom have no property. The House of Commons, thus wrctchedly constituted, has not been able (as we might well fuppofc) to preserve its equipoise in the system, and has submitted itfelf implic illy to the corrupt influence of the hereditary department. Nothing but the independence of their judicial, and the pride and honor of their judges, preserves the remains of their liberties. The Roman civilians and judges in like manner preserved their integrity and good frnfe long af ter Tiberius, Nero, and Domitian, had infected their government with the most accursed of all tyrannies. Mr. Hume, some years ago, predi&ed (and he predi&ed right) that the tide of power in England was running to the monarchical fide, and that absolute monarchy was the true euthanasia ot the British constitution.— This government, however, is held up to us as a model of wis dom and imitation. 14 May 21, 1791 Mr. Adams has devoted the labor of years to point out the evils to which free governments are incident, and to warn mankind a gainll them. I thank, him for his learned labors. But Iwifhhe would also warn us against the dangers of the opposite coast, to which he is (leering our political veflel; aad together with his commentaries on Machiavel, Needham, and Stephen Boetius— would also give us his commentaries on the ieign of Tiberius, as delineated by the mafteriy hand of Tacitus. His writings have certainly the tendency (whatever may be his intention) to make people weary of republican government, and to sigh for the monarchy of England. To inculcate the dottrine, that men are not fit to chufe their own rulers—that frequent elec tions are dangerous—that diftin&ions, not of virtue and talents, but of birth and fortune, are eflential to the order of government —that riches and family lhould be the titles to preferment, and poverty the obje£l of oontcmpt. Such dottrines I deem hereiies in American politics. I am, dear fir, Mr. RUSSELL, THE late revolution in France, has opened an extensive field of (peculation to the phi losopher and to the politician. An event so af tonifliing and unexpected in its nature, and so important in its consequences, naturally arret ed the peculiar attention of the whole civilized world. The friends of liberty and of man, have seen with pleasure, the temples of despotism, le velled with the ground, and the genius of free dom, lifing luddenly, in his collected and irre (irtible strength, and snapping in an inftsnt all the cords with which for centuries he had been bound. Upon the downfal of the arbitrary sys tem of government in France, there appears to have been but one sentiment, and that, a senti ment of exultation ; but while the friends of humanity have rejoiced at the emancipation of 10 many millions of their fellow-creatures, they have waited with an anxious expectation to fee upon what foundations they would attempt toef tablifh their newly acquired liberty. The pro 58 li To Mr. FROM THE (BOSTONJ COLUMBIAN CENTINEL, Your's sincerely, ceedings of their Representative Afi'cinbly h- . been contemplated in very different points"., f view, by men of names equally illustrious and of characters equally favorable to the cau'fe of liberty. Among the publications which hav appeared upon the fubjecft,two pamphlets found! Ed upon very different principles, appear to have been received with the greateit avidity, and stem calculated to leave the deepest im prefiion. one, written bv Mr. Burke, which is one cot" tinued inventive uponalnioft all the proceedings of the National AUembly since the revol u[ j o jf and which pafles a severe and indifcriminatin? tenfure upon almofl all their tranlaotions • Th« other, the production of Mr. I'ain E) containing a defence of the Afiembly, and approving every thing they have done with applause as umlif. tinguifhing as is the censure of Mr. Burke We are told, that the copy from which an edi tion of this work was reprinted at Philadelphia, was furnished by the Secretary of State, and was accompanied by a letter from which the follow iilg extract has been pubiiihed in molt of our newspapers. " lam extremely pleased to find ( " that it is to be reprinted here, and rhatfotne " thing is at length to be publicly said, against " the political hernfies which have sprung up a " mong us. 1 have 110 doubt our citizens will " rnlly a fecorid time round the standard of " Common Seuft." I confefs, fir, I am somewhat at a loft to de termine, what this very refpeftable gentleman means by political herefics. Does he consider this pamphlet of Mr. Paine's as the canonical book of poetical scripture ? As containing the true doctrine of popular infallibility, from which it would be heretical to depart in one single point. The cxpreflions indeed imply more ; they feenj like the Arabian prophet to call upon all true believers in the J flam of democracy, to draw their swords, and in the fervour of their devo tion to compel all their countrymen to cry out, " There is but one Goddels of Liberty, and Common Sense is her prophet." I have always understood, fir, that the citi zens of these Stares, were poflefled of a full and entire freedom of opinion upon all fubjedts civil as well as religious ; they have not yet eflabliih ed any infallible criterion of orthodoxy, either in church or state : Their principles in theory and their habits in pracftice, are equally a»eife to that slavery of the mind, which adopts with out examination any sentiment tTiat has the fane, tion of a venerable name. Ie Nullius in verba ju rare ma?iflri" is their favorite inaxim ; and the only political tenet, which they would lligma tize with the name of heresy, would be that which should attempt to impose an opinion up on their uuderftandings, upon the lingle prin ciple of authority. I believe also, fir, that the citizens of America are not at present disposed ro rally round the standard of any man. In the full pofieffipn and enjoyment of all the freedom, for which they have gone through so arduous a conftitft, they will roc for the poor purpbfe of extinguilhing a few supposed political heresies, return to the horrors of a civil contest, from which they could reap no possible benefit, and which would pro bably terminate in the loss of that liberty, for which they have b=en so liberal of their trea fnre and of their blood. If however, Mr. Paine is to be adopted as the holy father of our political faith, and this pam phlet is to be considered as his Papal bull of in fallible virtue, let us at lead examine what it contains. Before we determine to join the standard let us inquire what are the articles of war, to which our General requires our fubmif fion.—lt is the glorious charaCleriltic of truth, at once to invite and bid defiance to investiga tion. If any opinions which have sprung up among us, have really led lis ailray from the (tnndard of truth, let us return to it, ar the call of Mr. Paine, or of any other man, who can lliew us our errors. But fir, if upon examina tion, even this teflament of orthodoxy, shall be found to contain many fpurions texts, falle in their principles and delusive in their inferences, we in ay be permitted, notwithstanding our re verence for the author, at lead to expunge the apocryphal docftitne, and to confine our faith to the genuine tenets of real political inspiration. —It is my intention to submit to the public a few observations which have occurred to nie up on the peruf.il of this pamphlet, which has so clear and valid a title to the public attention.-— But I must here observe, that I wish to avoid every appearance of difrefpert, either to th» real parejit of this production, or to the gen tleman who has flood its sponsor in this country. Both tliefe gentlemen are entitled to the grati tude of their countrymen ; the latter still re ']" ders them important services, in a very digni fied ftarion. He is a friend to free inquiry tip on every fnbjedl, and he will not be displeased to fee the sentiments which he has made his own, by a public adoption, cauvafled with as much freedom as is confident with the reverence due to his character. PU3LICOLA
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