■ ANI) SATURDAYS BY JOHN FEN NO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, BETWEEN' SECOND AND THIRD !
[No. 20, of Vol. lII.]
FROM THE (BOSTON) COLUMBIAN CEN'TINEL,
Mr. RUSSELL,
rt 'T" , HKRE are in all European countries,"
A favs Mr. Paine, a large class of people of
that description, which in England are called
the mr.j." It was by the people of this descrip
tion that the Baftile in Paris was deltroyed. In
London there is no Baltile to deuioliili ; but
there is a government to overturn ; and there is
akingand parliament who mull either be put to
flight or compelled to call a convenciou for the
purpose of forming a conllitution. " In the
commencement of a revolution those men are
rather the followers of the camp than of the// and
tird of liberty, and have yet to be inftruc'ted
how to reverence it." As these men were made
instrumental to the accomplishment of the revo
lution in France, Mr. Paine appears to intimate
that they may be employed forafimilar purpose
in England—! am as little disposed as Mr. Paine
be, to reproach either the whole nation to
which they belong, or that unhappy class of hu
man beings themselves for the devaltation which
they commit.'.They cannot be considered as free
agents, and therefore are neither the fubjetfts
of praise or blame; but the friend of humanity
will be extremely cautious how he ventures to
put in action a tremendous power, which is com
petent only to the purposes of deftrutftion, and
totally Incapable either to create or to preserve.
This class of nien of whom it is the happinefsof
Americans, scarcely to be able to form an idea,
can be brought to adl in concert upon no other
principles than those of a frantick enthufiafin
and ungovernable fury ; their profound igno
rance and deplorable credulity, make them pro
per tools for any man who can inflame their
paifions, or alarm their fupetftition ; and as they
have nothing to lose by the total dissolution of
civil society, their rage may be easily directed
againlt any viiHirn which be pointed out to
them. Thev are altogether incapable of form
ing a rational judgment cither upon the princi
ples or the motives of their own conduct ; and
whether the objedt for which they are made to
contend, be good or bad, the brutal arm of pow
er is all the alhftance they can afford for its ac
complishment. To set in motion this inert nials,
the eccentrick vivacity of a madman, is infinite
ly better calculated than the sober coolness of
phlegmatic reason. They need only be provok
ed and irritated, and they nevertan in anyothei
manner be called into a*Sion. In the year i 7SO,
they aflembled at London, to the number of
60,000, under the direction of Lord George Gor
don, and carrying fire and flaughtcr before them,
were upon the point of giving the whole city of
London to one undistinguished devaftion and de
ft ruction : And this, because the parliament had
mitigated the fever ty of a languinary and tyran
nical law of perfec utian, against the Roman Ca
tholics. Shold these people be taught, that they
have a right to do every thing, and that the ti
tles of kings and nobles, and the wealth of bi
fhopsare all usurpations and robberies cotnmited
upon them, I believe it would not be difficult to
route their paflions, and to prepare them for
every work of ruin and deftrntftion. But, Sir,
when they are once putin motion, they soon get
beyond all reflraint and controul. The rights
of man, to life, liberty and property, oppose
but a feeble barrier to them ; thebeautious face
of nature and the elegant refinements of art,
the hoary head of wisdom, and the enchanting
("mile of beauty, are all equally liable to become
obnoxious to them ; and as all their power con
fills in defti union, whatever meets with their
difplea'ure mil ft be devoted to ruin. Could any
thing but an imperious, over-ruling necefiity
juflify any man or body of men, forufing a wea
pon like this to operate a revolution in govern
, nrcnt ? Such indeed was the situation of the
French national aflembly, when they directed
the elertric fluid of this popular frenzy, against
ihe ancient fabrick of their monarchy. They
justly thought that 110 price could purchase too
dearly the fall of arbitrary power in an individu
al, but perhaps even they were not aware of all
the confeqtiences which might follow from com
mitting the existence of the kingdom, to the
cultody of a lawless and desperate rabble.
But do the people of England labour under
ftich intolerable oppretfiou, as would authorise
auy of their patriots to employ an arm like this
for their relief,' Suppofc sixty thousand men
Wednesday, Jul! 6, 1791-
should afTemble round Wellminfter-hall,
and with clubs and firebrands for their sole ar
guments, should compel the parliament to call a
convention to make a conflit ution, what would
be the probable consequences ? Is it clear that I'o
large a majority in the people of England, have
lolt all their attachment to their conltitiuion,
as to insure an acquiescence in the measure
throughout the kingdom ? Is it certain that one
quarter part of the people would obey an ac't
extoi ted by such violence as that ? Would not
ail the friends of the present government rally
round the (landard of the conllitution, and would
not their duty compel them to defend it with
their lives and fortunes ? If it should soon appear
that they were decidedly the ftrongelt party,
would not the insurreCtion be extinguilhed in
the blood of its leaders ? If the parties should
prove to be nearly equal, would not the nation
be involved in all the hoprors of a l° n g and
bloody civil war ?—ln whatever point of view,
the effects of this scheme are contemplated, they
present nothing but profpe&s at which every
friend of mankind mult fliudder, nor can I possi
bly believe that Mr. Paine, who is certainly a
benevolent man, would deliberately recommend
this method, th nigh in his ardent zeal for the
honor of the French nation, and the propagation
oft heir doctrines, he has incautiously fuggelted it.
But he recommends revolutions by accommo
dation ; which applied to England, must mean
that a convention be called by a free and delibe
rate act of parliament, to alter the conllitution ;
but this plan appears to be equally dangerous
with the other, and more impracticable : while
by a lingular fatality an acft of this kind would
be the completed evidence of its own inutility,
it would be equally dangerous, because by a for
mal afl of competent authority it would expose
the kingdom to all the evils of anarchy and of
war, which in the other cafe would result from
a popular convulsion. It would be less practica
ble, because it is contrary to nature, that any
body of men should venture to perform the moil
tranfeendnnt acft of power of which human be
ings are capable, for the lingle puipofe of divert
ing themselves ofall power whatever. It would
prove its own inutility, because no man will pre
fnme that they ought to take such a measure, un
less the wiihes of a clear and decided majority
of the people are favorable to an alteration of
the government. If they are disposed to act in
conformity with the desires of the people, the
very fame power which would authorise tbem to
didolve the government, would likewise jullify
them in making any alterations which (liould
meet with the wilhes of the nation, and would
render a recurrence to them " in their original
charadler" perfectly unneceflary.
Whatever Mr. Pa in e's opinion may be with
refpecft to the existence of an Englifb constituti
on, it is certain that every member of the British
parliament, who gives his vote in the making of
a new law, or the alteration of an old one, mud
suppose that he arts by virtue of a conllitutional
right, veiled in him ; but the fame right which
authorises him to give his fuffrage in the mofl
trifling objecft of legislation, has veiled in the
parliament of which he is a member, the whole
power of the British nation, and he cannot pos
sibly deny their right without utterly destroying
his own. The right of the individual depends
altogether upon the right of the corporation, and
his right to vote for the regulation of a turn
pike or the toll cf a bridge, is the fame with
ihei r's to make every neceflary and convenient
alteration in the conllitution of the kingdom it
felf. While they are thus convinced of their
right to exercise these great powers, would it
not be the summit of extravagance, and folly in
them, nay, would it not be the molt flagrant
breach of the trull reposed in them, of which
they could possibly be guijfy, to abdicate an au
thority lawfully committed to them, to'declare
themselves altogether incompetent to a wife and
prudent nfe of a conflitu.yonal power, and to
commir the peace, the welfare, the very exilt
ence of the nation, to the uncertain and hazard
ous event of a revolution ?
If, however, we can fu|ipofe that the parlia
ment ffiould finally accede to the idea, that thev
are mere tyrants without the shadow of a right
;o the authority which they have hitherto exer
cised, the only act which they could agree 10,
would be a vote to diflblve themselves, and leave
the vell'el of the dare without either a pilot or a
HUso
TREFTS, PHILADELPHIA
[Whole No. 228.]
rudder. Kor the very adt of calling o tonveay
-011 would be an usurpation, and from the impor
tance of its consequences, an ufurpaiion of the
molt daring natore : It would be afiiiiniiig tliti
right to diilolve the ties of society ; and -at the
fame instant acknowledging that this afi'mned
right: was without any J'ort of foundation. In
short, this plan of calling a, convention to alter
the conflitntion, by act of parliament, appears
to me in whatever light Jit is conlidered, to in
volve an absurdity.
But, as there is unquestionably somewhere in
England, a combination of the right and of the
power to alter the constitution of the country,
and as that constitution is indubitably liable to
be improved, we may be permitted to enqtiire,
whether a blind imitation of the French national
aflembly would probably promote the happ'niefs of
the people ; the only object for which all govern
ments were instituted, or which can authorise
their alteration. PUBLICOLA.
FROM Till CONNECT ICU T COURANT.
THE present revolution in France has been
llightly hinted at and predicted by Voltaire
and others; but by none does it appear to be so
clearly predicted and ascertained, as by Monsieur
le Mercier, in his Tableau de Paris, or Piifture of
Paris
The following paflage, translated from that in
terfiling pi(fture of Parisian manners, will clear
ly evince that the prefetit revolution was inevi
table ; that it was not the efFctl of popular ca
price, or blind zeal of enthusiasts—but the neces
sary consequence of the rapid advancement of
science in that kingdom, and a just knowledge
of the rights of human nature.
" For these thirty years alone, a great and im
portant revolution, iu our ideas, has been effect
ed. The public opinion, this day, in Europe,
has a preponderating influence, which nothitig
can refill : Thus while we admire the progreis
of science, and the change which must flow from
it, we are permitted to hope, that it will produce
to the world the greateil good, and that tyrants
of every kind will tremble before that universal
cry, which now resounds and continues to fill and
roufejill Europe.
" It is by means of letters and of writers, that
ji!fl ideas have, for these thirty years, with rapi
dity, pervaded all the provinces of France, and
that the offices of government have been filled
wiih excellent magistrates. All the enlightened
citizens, at this da}, are actuated by the fame
sentiments. New ideas circulate freely ; every
thing that relates to inftru«ftion, is adopted with
boldness. The fpiritof observation is fine, which
spreads in every part, promises us the fame ad
vantages that some of our happy neighbours now
enjoy. Writers have diffufed real treasures, in
giving us the moll ju ft, the most delightful ideas,
and inlpiring us with those gentle, those indul
gent virtues, which form and embellish society.
" Preachers of morality appear not to be igno
rant of man, and to enflame his palfions, inltead
of rendering them calm and moderate. The
bias, which letters have, for these some years
past, thus produced, will at length become ufeful
to humanity ; and those, who are incredulous of
their salutary influence, are either blind or hy
pocritical.
" The influence of writers is furh, at this day,
that they can announce their hopes, and no lon
gei disguise that lawful authority, which they
have over the human inind. Standing firm on
the basis of public good, and the real knowledge
of human nature, they will direcft national ideas.
The wills of individuals are already in their
hands. Morality is now become the principal
fludy of noble minds ; literary glory seems here
after to be destined to him, who (hall, with the
most firm voice, support the interest of nations.
"Writers, sensible of their august employ
ments, will be jealous of anfwerir.g the import
ance of theirtruft ; and wealready behold, truth,
with boldnels extending herfelf on every fide.
It is prelumed, that this general tendency will
produce a happy revolution."
The Philanthropic and the Philosopher are
highly gratified in reflecting, that this revolution
has in fact taken place, and upon such principles
as mtifl: ensure its fiiccefs; and may fafelv con
clude, from this pleasing profpedt, that similar
revolutions, in favor of the rights of humanity,
and founded on similar principles, will loon per
vade not only Europe but the world.