PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN FENNO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, BETWEEN SECOND AND THIRD STREETS, PHILADELPHIA.
[No. 21, of Vol. lII.]
TRANSLATED
For the GAZETTE of the UNITED STATES.
A DISCOURSE OF STEPHEN BOETIUS,
Concerning voluntary Servitude : Or the Anti-One.
(Continued from No. 15 of this Gazette.)
CATO of Utica, while he was a hoy, and un
der the ferule, went and came frequently to
the house of Sylla, the Dictator. Both on ac
count of the place and house where he was, the
doors were never fliut against hiin. Indeed they
were near relations. He had always his Precep
tor with him when he went, as was the custom
of all children of good families. He perceivd
that in the palace of Sylla, in his presence, or by
his orders, they imprisoned some, and condemn
ed others : one was banished, and another hang
ed : one demanded the confifcation, and another
the head of some citizen. Every thing went on,
not as if it were before an officer of the to wn, hut
a tyrant of th"e people ; and it was not a tribunal
of justice, but a cavern of tyranny. This noble
infant said to his matter, why will you not give
me a poinard ? I will hide it under my robe—
I enter often into the chamber of Sylla, befoie
he is out of his bed—l have an nrin strong e
nough to deliver the city from him. A senti
ment worthy of Cato ! It was the beginning of a
character worthy of his death. Nevertheless, let
us not mention his name or his country —let us
relate limply the fact as it is, and the thing itfelf
will speak : and we shall easily judge that he was
a Roman, born in Rome, but in the genuine
Rome, while it was free. To what purpose is all
this ! Not certainly that I think the country aiul
the foil perform any thing—for in all countries,
in all olimates, fubjeftion is unnatural, and free
dom is agreeable.
But, lam of opinion, we should pitythofe,
who, at their birth, have found a yoke upon their
necks ; and that we should excuse or pardon them,
if having never seen the shadow of liberty, and
knowing nothing of it, they perceive not theevil
which it is to them to be Haves. If there are cer
tain countries, as Homerfays of the Cimmerians,
where the fun fliows itfelf otherwise than to us,
and after having enlightened them for fix months
together, leaves them fleepingin obfeurity, with
out returning to fee them the other half of the
year : those wha should be born during that long
night, if they had never heard mention made of
the /un-shine, should we wonder if, having never
seen the day, they should be contented in dark
ness, in which they were born, and have 110 de
fire for light ? We never mourn the loss or fa
ience of what v/e never had—and regret conies
only after pleasure—and the memory of past }oy
always accompanies the knowledgeof good. The
natural disposition of man is to be free, and to
desire to be so ; but his nature is also such, that
he naturally holds the turns and folds which edu
cation gives him.
Let us fay then, that as to man all tilings are
natural to which he is educated and accuitomed,
but that only is innate to which his simple and
unadulterated nature calls him—so thefirftcaufe
of voluntary servitude is custom—as the moftfpi
rited colts, which at firft bite the bit, and after
wards play with it; and although at the begin
ning they winced at the saddle, they at present
carry themselves nobly in the harness, and exhi
bit themselves proudly in armour They f3y that
they have always been fubjetfts, and that their
fathers lived in the fame manner : they think
that they are obliged to bear the bridle, and they
make it easy to them by examples, and found
themfelvesand their patienceon thepofleffion and
prescription of those who tyrannize over tliem.
But in truth, prescription can never give a right
to do evil—it rather aggravates the injury. There
are always some better born than others, who feel
the weight of the yoke, and cannot subdue their
inclination to shake it off—who are never disci
plined to fnbjetftion — and who always, like Ulys
ses, who by land and sea fought to fee the smoke
of his own chimney, know not how to reflrain
themselves from reflecting 011 their natural pri
vileges, to remember their predeceflbrsand their
primitive existence. These are they, who hav
ing their understandings neat, and their minds
clear-sighted, content not themselves, like the
gross populace, who look only at what is before
their feet, without examining all that is before
and behind, recollecting things and times that
are pall, in order to measure the present, and
judge of the future. These are they, who'hav
Saturday, July 5), 1791.
ing their heads well made at firil, have polilhed
them by fludy and learning. These, although
liberty Jhould be wholly loft out of the world,
imagining and feeling it, in their own minds,
and highly relifliing it, servitude is never to their
taile, cook it and dress it as you will.
FROM DUN LAP'S AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER.
On the Subscription to the National Bank on ihe
4th of July, the Fifteenth Anniversary of
American Independence.
Stranger.
HEY-DAY !—what's the meaning of yon busy throng,
Who, with purses and papers, thus hurry along,
Each panting and eager to enter yort gate,
Each draining his speed, left, he enter too late ?
Citizen.
Hitherto in her nonage Columbia has been ;
Nor in her own hands was her portion yet seen.
Yon ciowd are her guardians her dower to pay,
Rejoicing they speed, on Columbia's birth-day.
What ?—Portion'd so soon, at the age of FIFTEEN !
Citizen.
Unlike common Beauties, Columbia our Queen,
Though yet in her Teens, so much wisdom displays,
Th.it grey-beaded matrons look on with amaze.
Henceforth her own mitlrefs, —a portion in hand,
To enhance that refpeft, which her virtues command, —
Her own choice let her make, from the numberless train
Of suitors, who drive her Alliance to gain.
To the Editor of the GAZETTE oj the UNITED STATES.
SIR,
f OBSERVED in your paper of the 22d ult. fume directions by
1 the Humane Society ol Philadelphia, to prevent the effects of
drinkino- Cold Water—where they seem to lay the greatest ftrel's
of a cure on the use of Laudanum. This is conformable to Dr.
Rush's principle, laid down before the Philosophical Society in
Philadelphia fame years pad, which I remember to have read.
I think in '.hat ticatife he fays that it was the only remedy. In
manv instances it may not be in the power of the patient to get
Laudanum soon enough to prevent the ftiddcn death that generally
follows drinking cold water, in certain cases.
About 25 years part, being in Philadelphia at a time when se
veral men had die d suddenly by diinkingcofd water, at a friend's
house in Chefnut llreet, a servant went through the room with
water newly drawn ; I Was somewhat warm, and desired a glass
to be given me ; and as I had been cautioned irom many circum
(tences, and was well acquainted with the hard quality of the wa
ter, I took care, as I apprehended, to drink a very small quantity,
I think lels than one jill ; but was immediately seized with a most
intense pain in the pit of my stomach, so violent, that if a sword
had been run through that part of my body, I think it could not
have been more painful. There happened to be hot water handy ;
I immediately drank a quantity so hot as to scald my mouth—
in a few minutes a most profufe sweat fuccceded, and I was en
tirely rclcafed from pain, or any farther bad confequcnces attend
{na I am, Sir, your most humble servant,
Brunfivick, July 2, 1791
FROM THOMAS'S MASSACHUSETTS SPY.
THE NEIGHBOR
"In Shirley's form cheruhims appear—
But, then, the has a frfckle on her ear."
WE are all freckled more or less ; and it is
an a<ft of as great folly to look for perfec
tion in human nature, as to search for wisdom
in the brain of a maiiiack.
We have, all of us, foine plea to charity.—
The aflbciation of perfect and imperfect beings
together would make the situation of both or
ders very disagreeable. Our obligations would
cease to be reciprocal : It would be all debt,
and no credit. "I he disgust on one fide, and
envy on the other, would occafioti perpetual
war : The contrail would be too great. Pride
will generally keep imperfect beings in order.
Man is much less in danger of the enmity of his
neighbor for having something to be forgiven.
The difference which nature has made between
individuals, though she has left no one inde
pendent of the reft, is already too apparent for
the peace of the world. Imagination, by blot
ting the fair face of beauty—envy, by being
afl'ociated with better paliions to console the
conscious heart of inferiority, by balancing the
imaginary defetfts of others with its own real
vices and deformities, prevents those open arts
of violence which mortification would often
prompt to, and the desertion of the different
orders from each other. I have often wondered
that consciousness, which is generally prompt
and candid, never told the envious whence their
imaginations had borrowed the ingredients of
defamation.
How happens it, Invidius (said I to liim) one
day, after he had iheatlied his knife from the
facrifice of a dozen characters in his way ; how
happens it that the mod perfetfl men find the
feweft faults in others ?—ls it becaafe they have
less of their own to shape them from ? Invidius
81
Str-ancer
blushed—it was a mistaken {Iream sent from the
heart to the cheek, to difciaim a compliment
which he had not deserved, and which I had
not made hiin.— Ido not think it ever dues hap
pen, laid he — 1 believe that conscience is a true
monitor—but it is a si tent one: It wbifpers to the
heart—pride wont permit it to speak loud. Man
kind do not love to remember their faults.—
Yes, replied I, but if their pradice ii continu
ally renewing the remembrance, and they can
not prevail upon themselves to amend, will they
not look abioad for funilar faults in others, to
balance them ? And if the eye is unfaithful, or
unfuccefsful, is not imagination always called ill
to aid it? You, Invidius, are the most proper
person in the world to give a le<fture upon this
fubjedl—your own experience has all the nece'P'
f'ary rules by heart.—how ! how—said Invidius,
surprised—l don't understand you. The courte
ous blufli at that moment retreated to make room
for a frown.—Yon, Invidius, said I, are di(tin>
guiflied by the wife in our neighbourhood as an
envious man, a fame killer—there is not one of
rhem who has not had his piifluredrawn by you,
yet none of them like the painter.—By the ig
norant, you are diltinguiflied as a beautiful de
fcriber of characters—yet they all impeach you
of flattery. Why is it that the two orders find
qualities "so different in the fame man ? Is it not
becaufe'you discover very different qualities in
them ? Are you not confeious that you stand iti
a middle line between the two ? From one you
have nothing to fear ; from the other you per
haps conclude you have nothing to hope. If yon
(hould undertake to smooth the furface of the
world, would it make any difference whether
you raised the valleys to lower the hills, or low
ered the hills to raise the valleys? The only
difference is, in the latter cafe you would give
the valleys what you Hole from the hills—and
you cannot turn this the other way.—There is_
another trick yon play upon the ignorant. In!
your defcriprion offcharacfters, you do them more
thanjuftice, that you may be allowed to take
back a part from what you have given, to avoid
the imputation of flattery—you draw a very flat
tering pidture of your friend ; give a beautiful
proportion, and colour to the features—and then
with one daub of the biack but-av if-brufli, you
derange andllain the whole. Believe me, Invi
dius, you leave the piifture more your own than
your friend's. —It is a vile practice—pray leave
it off—lt is like charity emptying comforts from
one hand, into the lap of want, and Healing
them out with the other.
H. G
FROM THE HAMPSHIRE CHRONICLE,
EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE Of REANIMATION.
Mr. Prt nter,
Pletife to give the following a place in your paper.
Wir.BRAHAM, June 19, 179 T.
ON Saturday the 28th ult. about noon, my lit
tle boy, aged 4 years, was playing with his
fitters in the chamber, vvhofe floor did not ex
tend over the whole room ; when by foine un
fortunate accident he fell, and firft struck with
his head against the lower floor : I was aroufeel
by the noise occasioned by the fall, and out-cry
of his fillers, and ran with all poflible speed to
his afliftance ; but previous to my entering the
room, his mother had taken him from the floor :
I saw him gasp once, and then, without a groan,
he seemed to fink supinely into the arms of
death. There was a total suspension of the vital
functions ; however, 1 could not but hope that
the latent spark of life was not wholly extin
guished ; —that hope Simulated me to make use
of every effort in my power to reflore him to
life again ; auxiliaries were called, the windows
and doors thrown open, and his body dripped ;
stimulants were applied to his nofttils, &c. we
threw cold water into his face, agitated his limb?,
and for want of other spirits, bathed his head,
breast, arms and legs, with vinegar. 1 rubbed
his skin, and used the lancet several times, bun
in vain. He continued for a considerable time
apparently dead. Warm fomentations were ap
plied to his whole body, but more potently to
his breast and legs ; soon after I difcoveied a
tremour about the region of the heart, succeeded
by convulsive motions—on these signs of return
ing life, I opened his month and breathed forci
bly into his lungs, he gasped ; again 1 used the
lancet, and he bl#d. However, it was more thrmi
three hours after liis a! 1:10 ft fatal fall, beiore lie
[Whole No. 229.]