3Z/ 
 
B 
 
LETTERS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 NHABITANTS 
 
 O J 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 NEIGHBOURHOOD, 
 
 On Subjects inter efting to the AUTHOR 
 and to THEM. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 JOSEPH(PRJESTLEY 3 L. L. D. r. R. s. &c, 
 
 -Nunquamne reponam ? 
 
 Juvenal. 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND : 
 l intcdfor the AUTHOR ly ANDREW KENNEDY, 
 
 MDCCXCIX. 
 

The CONTENTS, 
 
 LETTER- 1. 
 
 Of my Situation as an Alien. - P a g e * 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Of my French Citizen/hip, and French Principles. 5 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Of my Right to treat of Sub j efts of civil Policy, and. 
 the Advantages I have, had for acquiring Know- 
 ledge of this Kind, 1 1 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Of what I have done with Refpetl to the Politics of 
 this Country. 16 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Of the intercepted Letters, and of the French Revo- 
 lution. - - 22 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Of the Style of Ahtfe in the Writings of Mr. Cob- 
 bet, alias Peter Porcupine. - - qo 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Of my Religion. _ ^ 
 
 A Defence of Mr. Cooper and myfelf, in anfwer to 
 agrofs mifrcprefentation of an Application to the 
 Prefident. 
 
TO T H 
 
 INHABITANTS 
 
 o r 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 Of my Situation as an Alien. 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 WHEN 'any perfon becomes an object 
 of more fufpicion than he willies to lie under, he na- 
 turally appeals/to thofe who have had the bed oppor- 
 tunity of knowing him ; and if they be fatisfied with 
 refpect to his conduct, it is the bed means of {satisfying 
 others. This unpleafant character of zfufpettcd pcrfon, 
 hoilile to the country in which I live, aggravated by 
 tlie confideration of its having afforded me protection 
 when I could not live with comfort, or even with fafe- 
 ty, in my native country, you 'well know I have borne 
 for feme time, 
 
 B I I 
 
2 To the Inhabitants 
 
 I think it barely poffiblc for a man who has, in 
 the five years that I have been among you, done fo little 
 of an offenfive nature, to have become the obje& of 
 more fufpicion and rancour than I have incurred. The 
 mofl popular writer in this country, and who receives 
 the greateft countenance from the perfons in power, 
 lays, " I hope I fhali fee tKe malignant old Tartuff 
 " of Northumberland begging his bread thro' the ftreets 
 " of Philadelphia, and ending his days in the poor 
 " houie, without a friend to clofe his eyes." The curfe 
 of Ernulphus in Triftram Shandy does not exceed 
 this. 
 
 In order to keep as clear as poilible, and as free 
 from fufpicion, with refpeft to the politics of this coun- 
 try, I did not chufe even to be naturalized, and the 
 Prefident, to whom I mentioned my objection to it, 
 much approved of my rcfolution. But I find that this 
 precaution has not availed me any thing. 
 
 Being an alien, the Prefident has been again and a- 
 gain called upon to carry into execution againft me the 
 late aft of congrefs refpefting aliens. It has heen faid, 
 that " if what I have done pafles unnoticed by govcrn- 
 " inent, it will operate as the greatcft encouragement that 
 " its enemies have ever received. They will fay, and 
 " juftly too, that tho' the Prefident is armed with pow- 
 " er, he is afraid to make ufe of it, and that the alien law 
 
 is a mere bug bear/' 
 
 I hope, however, to convince you that fucli an 
 order would be cruel and unjuft; for that I am not fo 
 very dangerous a perfon as this writer and his party 
 fuppofe. 
 
 That I may con duel; this addrefs to you with fomt 
 regard to method, I fhall firil confidcr what is object - 
 c-1 to ni2 from what / am, and then from what / hays 
 d.:.'M. After this I fhall tell you what I think, both 
 
 refp^cl to your government in general, and th 
 iaiilration of it, with thi rcaforis on which my 
 
 Oiii-^-: ; 
 
Of Northumberland. &c. 3 
 
 opinions are founded ; and thus you will know bet- 
 ter than you can do at prefent what to think of me, 
 and of my accufcrs too. In doing this I fhall, with 
 Pope, 
 
 pour out all myfelfas plain, 
 
 As honeft Shippen, or as old Montague. 
 In the firft place, then, I am to confider what is 
 objected to me from what / am. In fome refpedis 
 neither praife nor blame will attach to what a man is, 
 becaufe it was not in his power to have been any other. 
 It will not, for inftance, be objected me, at leaft as an 
 unfavourable circumftance, that I am a native of Eng- 
 land, even by thofe whofe grcatefl boafl it is that they 
 are native Americans. Nor fhall I be cenfured for 
 faying, what I always have done, and what with great 
 truth I repeat, that I am proud of my native country, 
 and am as fincere a well wifhcr to it as any American 
 can be to this country. It does not depend on ourfelves, 
 but upon our parents, and upon God, who afllgns to 
 every man his proper ftation and duty, where we fhall 
 be born. 
 
 But of what importance is it where I was born, 
 or whence I came ; whether I dropped among you 
 from the clouds, or rofe out of the earth. Here I am. 
 Here is my family. Here is my property, and every 
 thing elfe that can attach a man to any place. Let any 
 perfon only view my houfr, my garden, my library, 
 rny labora' /, and the other conveniences with which 
 I am furrcunded, and let him withal confider my age, 
 and the'little difpofition that I have fhewn to ramble 
 any whither, and fay whether any perfon among your- 
 felves, or in the United States, could remove with more 
 difficulty, or with more lofs, than I fhould do. And 
 yet there are great numbers who would think no more 
 of an order to fend me out of the country (which it is 
 in the power of the Prefident to give, and even without 
 deigning to give me a hearing) than ii I v/as a pauper, 
 
 without 
 
4 Fo the Inhabitants 
 
 without houfe or home ; and they would rejoice as 
 much in it as if I had been a burden to the diftricl:. 
 
 It is furely, alfo, as probable that I fhall have a 
 real attachment to a country, and the government of it, 
 to which I came voluntarily, and from a preference of 
 them to any other, as if I had been a native, and confe- 
 quently had had no choice in the cafe. Is it fuppofed 
 by my adverfaries that I have any predilection for 
 England, or the government of it, merely becaufe 
 I was born there ? 
 
 If I am an alien myfelf, my fons are naturalized ; 
 and muft not a father feel for them ? Can he be an 
 enemy to the country to which they belong ? 
 
 You will fmile to hear my accufer fay that I live 
 in " njhcd, which I dignify with the name a houfe ;" 
 when you know that, with refpect both to convenient 
 and elegance, it is fuperior to any houfe in the county, 
 and excepting Philadelphia, and its neighbourhood 
 there are perhaps few that are equal to it in the whole 
 State. It would be a better founded objection to fay, 
 that its appearance is too Ariftocratical for the habita- 
 tion of a Democrat. My library and philofophical 
 apparatus, are, without boafting, fuperior to any thing 
 of the kind in this country, and of much more value 
 than my houfe. 
 
 He alfo fays that, " like Mr. Vaughan, I (hall 
 " leave this country in dudgeon the moment I can 
 
 " do it 
 
 t with a profpect of living elfewhere with fafety 
 " and in eafe." You who know the provifion I have 
 made for fpending my days with comfort here, are bet- 
 ter judges of the probability of this than any perfon at 
 a. diftance can be. Mr. Gobbet's account of myfelf, 
 and my conduct, in his pamphlet on th-? fubjeft of my 
 emigration, has jufl as much of truth ini" as his account 
 of my houfe and my intentions. 
 
 It is, however, rnofl feriouOy objected to me that 
 I am a French citizen, and have adopted. French prin- 
 ciples ; 
 
Of Northumbtrland, &e, $ 
 
 ciples ; and in the opinion of many perfons 4 thofe prin- 
 ciples are truly diabolical, fo that I might as well have 
 come to you from the infernal regions. This I feel to be 
 dangerous ground ; but having undertaken to give 
 you the beft account that I can of what I am, I (hall, 
 if you will have the courage to follow me, venture upon 
 it in my next Letter. In the mean time, I ana, 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 Your fmcerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Of French Citizen/hip, and French Principles. 
 My Triends and Neighbours, 
 
 IN my laft I promifcd to confider what 
 is obje&cd to me as a Citizen of France. This I find 
 to be an accufation of a very fcrious nature. For on 
 tills account alone it is taken for granted that I rnuft be 
 an enemy to this country, which for fome time pafl has 
 been in a ftate nearly bordering on open hoftility with 
 
 France. Mr. H confiders it as a fufficient proof 
 
 of Mr. Cooper's being inimical to this country, that, 
 on a late occafion, he was fuppofed to have a&ed in 
 concert with me ; as if I was not only avowedly hof- 
 tile to this country myfelf, but muft ncctflarily com- 
 municate 
 
f To the Inhabitants 
 
 municate the fame hoftile difpofition to all perfons who 
 have any communication with me, 
 
 But, my friends, hear a little reafon on this fub- 
 je&. You have heard a great deal that is not realbn, 
 but mere paffionate declamation upon it ; and efpeci- 
 ally attend to the circumltance of the time in which I 
 was made a citizen of France, and the occafion of it. 
 It was fimply as a well known friend of general liber- 
 ty, in confcqucnce of my having written in defence of 
 the liberties of America, as well as thofe of France, 
 and as one who hadfuffered in the caufe. 
 
 Conficler alfo that at that time there wasnofufpici- 
 of a war between England and France. The French 
 king was then living, the conflitution of France was 
 then reduced to a limited monarchy refembling that of 
 England, and other Englifhmen, and among them 
 Mr. Wilberforcc, a faft friend of Mr. Pitt, were made 
 citizens of France. He was diftinguifhed in this man- 
 ner on account of his taking the lead in the meafures 
 that were adopted for the abolition of the flave trade. 
 It was alfo, I believe, at the fame time that your Gene- 
 ral Wafhington received the fame compliment ; and 
 furely you do not for this fufpecl him of being your 
 enemy. 
 
 In thefe circumftanccs it is very poflible that any 
 native American might not have thought it at all dif- 
 reputable to have been made a citizen of France, ob- 
 noxious as the character happens to be at prefent. I 
 certainly confider it as an honour to me, and think that 
 I have more reafon to be proud of it than of being a' 
 native of any country whatever. I.-wifh I had done 
 more to deferve it. 
 
 But it is alleged by thofe who wifh to make the 
 mod of every circumflance that can be conftrued to 
 my prejudice, that, befides being axitizen of France, 
 I was elected a member of the Conventional AflTembly, 
 appointed for the purpofc of framing a new conflitu- 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 7 
 
 tion for that deteftcd country and this implies a nearer 
 relation to it. To this, alfo, I plead guilty. I was 
 elected in a great number of the departments of France, 
 and was informed that I Hiould have been elc&ed in 
 many more, but that it was well underftood that I cer- 
 tainly fhould be in others. I mould have been eleft- 
 ed for the department of Paris, if it had not been for 
 the oppolition of Robefpierre, who very properly ob- 
 jected to it, as not fit for any foreigner. I faw the ho- 
 nourable propofal in the fame light. I was pleafed 
 with the compliment, but declined the office ; and 
 what could the proudeft native American have done 
 more ? Thefe circumflances, I am willing to think, 
 will be deemed to operate as fome extenuation of my 
 offence. 
 
 Confrder, alfo, the change that has taken place 
 with refpecl to opinions, as well as other things, in the 
 lafl five years among yourielves. When I came to this 
 country, in the year 1794, I found the people in ge- 
 neral in unifon with me on this fubje&. On all public 
 occafions, Succefs to the. arms of France was never o- 
 mitted among the toads that were drank. Complaints 
 were at that time univerfally made againft the iniblence 
 and injuftice of the Englim, and even an open rupture 
 with England was generally expected. There was no 
 complaint of French principles then, tho' they were the 
 fame that they are now. They were univerfally con- 
 iidered as the principles of general liberty, and the 
 fame with American principles, that is republican, in 
 oppofition to monarchical. The change, therefore, that 
 has taken place is not in me, but in the people here; 
 and confideiingthat old men do not eafily change their 
 fentirncnts, or attachments, if I muft change, you muft 
 allow me mere time, and this I cannot pretend to fix ; 
 but I mall be as expeditious as I can. 
 
 If by French principles be meant the principles of 
 the French government, I do not fee where they differ 
 
Jb the Inhabitants 
 
 in any thing that is cflential from thoft of your own. 
 In neither of the two conftitutions are there any here- 
 ditary honours or powers. All offices arc ele&ive, and 
 for a moderate time. In both there are three diftinft 
 powers, an executive, a fenate, and a houfe of repre- 
 fentatives; tho' not called by the fame names, or con- 
 nected in quite the fame manner ; and in ntither of the 
 countries is there any form of religion eftablifhed by 
 law, 
 
 The great outline of the two conftitutions is there- 
 fore the very fame. In feme other things they differ, 
 as in their executive there arejfo/^perfons, and in yours 
 only one. But which of them is beft adapted to anfwer 
 its end experience only 'can decide. Tho' each has its 
 peculiar advantages, as in a future letter I may fhew, and 
 I am difpofed to give the preference to that of this 
 country ; yet as far as I can fee, either of them may 
 do very well, and whatever is found to be inconvenient 
 in either of them may be changed at a proper time. So 
 great an agreement as this might be expected to lay a 
 foundation for friendmip , efpecially as the French na- 
 tion, with whatever view (which it does not behove any 
 date to fcrutinize very narrowly) gave you material af- 
 liftance in aGTer'ting your liberties, and then followed 
 your example in afferting their own ; changing their 
 monarchical government for a republican one. 
 
 Thernofi opprobious appellation with which thofe 
 who call thernfelves Federalifts reproach us, as a confe- 
 quence of our adopting French principles, is that of 
 democrats. Democracy, they feem to think, the greateft 
 of all crimes, and the perfons chargeable with it not fit 
 to be tolerated in any regular government. But my 
 friends, pray confider what democracy really means. It 
 Signifies nothing more than the government of the pcoplt, 
 or a conftitution in which the people chufe all their 
 inagiflrates, and in which the roagiihates are accounta- 
 ble to the people, or their reprefcntatives, for their con - 
 
 duel 
 
Of Northumberland, (3c. g 
 
 duct in office, which is exactly the eonftitution of 
 this country. Every man, therefore, who is no< ? de- 
 mocrat is an enemy to this constitution. What (Iran^e 
 and arbitrary meanings our enemies may annex to this 
 word I cannot tell, nor do I believe they know thern- 
 felves; but I have not yet met with any democrat who 
 ufed the word in any other fenfe than that which I have 
 now given to it. 
 
 Our enemies will tell you that by democracy we 
 mean a (late of anarchy arid confufion, a government 
 by mobs, and an equalization of all property. But 
 can any of you really believe that a perfon of my fmall 
 property would wifh for fuch a ftate as this, or that a 
 perfon of my age would like to fcramble among the 
 ftrongeft of you for what I could get. If that was to 
 be the cafe, I mould expect to be very foon turned out 
 of my houie, and left to ftarve among you. If you 
 can be made to believe this .of us, you are eafily impof- 
 ed upon indeed, and might be made to fear left the iky 
 fhouldfall, that fire might be fet to your river, or that 
 an army of French canibals may crofs the Atlantic in a 
 fleet of balloons, land on the blue mountain, and eat up 
 all your children for their firft breakfaft. For thefe are 
 not more improbable than the other. 
 
 As by democracy we mean a government of the 
 people, and not of the mob, fo by equality we mean an 
 equality of rights, and of power both to acquire pro- 
 perty, and to keep it ; the equality that actually ex- 
 ifls in this country. This has been explained fo often 
 that our enemies muft know it to be our whole mean- 
 
 ing. 
 
 You are angry at the French for their captures of 
 your fhips, as you were before at the Englifh on the 
 fame account, and I believe you had reafon in both 
 cafes. But do not lay the blame on French or Englifh 
 principles, but on the adminiflration of the countries. 
 The French themfelves are far from approving of the 
 
 G conduct 
 
10 To the Inhabitants 
 
 conduft of all their rulers, and ftill lefs of all that arc 
 employed by them. Why then muft I be fuppofed to 
 approve of all the attrocities of Robcfpierre, with 
 which I am continually charged, merely becaufe I am 
 an adopted citizen of France. I condemn them as 
 much as you can do, and hope they will not occur a- 
 gain. I find, hoxvever, that, in the opinion of fome, 
 I muft bear the blame of all that has been done in 
 France, even fince I have had no communication with 
 that country, or knowledge of what paffes in it, and 
 perhaps of all the crimes that may be committed there 
 after I am dead. 
 
 But they who are the loudeft in their exclamati- 
 on again ft French principles, appear to me to know 
 nothing of any principles of government. For it is 
 impofTibie to reprobate the general principles of the 
 French government, and not include thofe of the A- 
 merican government in the fame cenfure. It may, 
 therefore, be fairly prefumed that they are diffatisfied 
 with this government, and wifh to overturn it. This 
 would give me the greateft concern. I came hither 
 from the preference I gave to it ; and any material 
 change in it would certainly, old as I am, drive me 
 away again. With your immortal Franklin, I fay 
 Where liberty is, there is my country. Of the American 
 cpnftitution, I therefore fay, EJlo perpetua. 
 
 am. 
 
 &c. 
 
 LETTER 
 
Of Northumltrland, &e , 1 1 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Of my Right to treat of Sub j efts of civil Policy, and the 
 Advantages I have had for acquiring Knowledge of 
 this Kind. 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 HAVING confidered what is objeaed 
 to me on account of what I am, I proceed to what I 
 have done ; and indeed this is of much more impor- 
 tance than the other. For what does it fignify what 
 any man is, or what character he fuftains, if he do 
 nothing in confequence of it. But it is urged againft 
 me that I have not been an idle fpe6tator of what is 
 paffing ; for that I actually bufy myfelf in the poli- 
 tics of the country, and with thefe it is faid I have 
 nothing to do. 
 
 Before I inform you what I have done, or what I 
 have not done, give me leave to obferve that, tho' I am 
 an alien, I cannot allow that I have no right to have 
 an opinion with refpedfc to the government of the coun- 
 try in which I live, or to exprefs my opinion, in words 
 or in writing, if I be fo difpofed. 
 
 Can any man, whofe pcrfon and property are in 
 any country, be wholly unconcerned about the con- 
 duel of its affairs. Tho' a man may be a merepajjen~ 
 ger in a fhip, muft he be content to fee it fuffer, or 
 fink, and not give his opinion how it might be faved, 
 becaufe he is not the owner, the captain, or any officer 
 on board acting under him. I have heard, indeed, of 
 a man who when he was alarmed with the cry of fire in 
 thehoufe in which he was fleeping, faid "what is that to 
 me, I am only a lodger. But his conduct is not gene- 
 rally thought worthy oi imitation. 
 
 When 
 
i j To the Inhabitants 
 
 When Dean Swift, who was an Englifhman re- 
 fiding in Ireland, wrote about the politics of that coun- 
 try, and by his Drapier's Letters prevented the circu- 
 lation of Wood's halfpence, was there any complaint 
 of his interference on account of his being a foreigner ? 
 And had I done any thing pleafmg to thofe who now 
 complain of my conduct, their complaints would not 
 have been heard. Do the fame perfons complain of 
 the writings of Peter Porcupine, who, as an alien, Hands 
 in the fame predicament with myfelf ? Had I, like 
 him written any thing in praife of the meafures of ad- 
 miniftration, I might have done it without any cenfure, 
 as well as he. 
 
 On the principles of my accufers, had I difco- 
 vered a certain method of preventing or curing the 
 yellow fever, or of deftroying the Heflian fly, I muft 
 not have divulged it becaufe I am an alien. But if I 
 be at liberty to do good, it muft be what I myfelf deem 
 to be good, and in my own way alfo, and with refpect 
 to all fubjects indifcriminately, that of politics not ex- 
 cepted. Another muft not think, judge, or act, for 
 me. 
 
 If I had nothing at flake in the country (and I 
 have much more than thoufands of native Ameri- 
 cans) is it poflible for a man to fee any company, in 
 which, from the prefent interefting ftate of public af- 
 fairs, there is hardly any other topic of converfation 
 than politics, or read your new fpapers, in which topics 
 of this kind are continually difcuflcd, and form no o- 
 pmion about them ; and if he have an opinion, can 
 he forbear to let his acquaintance know what that opini- 
 on is. when perhaps they are inquifitive, and wifh to 
 know it. 
 
 I have another apology to make for the conduct 
 that is objected to me. Having never had much ca- 
 pacity for the more active purfuits of life, I had from 
 very early years a turn for Jpeculaiion on every fubject 
 
 that 
 
Of Northumberland, &e. 13 
 
 that has become before me ; and they have been very 
 various, as my writings will fhew. Among them po- 
 litics, in fuch a country as England, could not be ex- 
 cluded, any more than religion, or philofophy. And 
 being now old, and of courfe lefs active, I am more 
 difpofed to think, and, having more experience, I 
 prefume I am rather better qualified for it than e- 
 ver. Have the candour, therefore, to bear with my 
 thinking, and with my talking and writing too, as. 
 you do with refpecl; to other old men, tho' you mould 
 be of opinion that what I think, fpeak, or write, is 
 not fo much to the purpofe as you could wifh it to 
 be. 
 
 As I own I am fometimes difpofed to think, 
 and to fpeak on the fubjeft of politics, as well as on 
 other topics, you muft excufc my vanity, if I imagine 
 that I am in fome meafure not unqualified for it. 
 At leaft I have, in the courfe of a very various life, had 
 the means of acquiring fome political knowledge. 
 
 I was feven years in the family of the Marquis of 
 Lanfdown, which was altogether a political houfe, 
 where I daily faw, and converfed with, the firfl poli- 
 ticians not only of England, but from all parts of Eu- 
 rope. And, independent of that connexion, I have 
 had more or lefs intercourfe with moft of the political 
 living characters whofe names you have heard menti- 
 oned, and with many that you have not heard of. 
 Befijdes the principal politicians of England, both in 
 and out of the miniftry, I was perfonally acquainted 
 with fome of the moft eminent in France, both be- 
 fore and fince the revolution ; as Mr. Turgot, Mr. 
 Neckar, Mr. Briflbt, Mr. Pethion, and the Due de 
 Rochfocault, who was my conftant correfpondent 
 from the time that I was in France to that of his un- 
 fortunate death. 
 
 I am fenlible that what I am now faying will have 
 .tie airof boailing. But if, as Solomon fays, there be 
 
 a tims 
 
i> To the Inhabitants 
 
 g time for all things, my prefent fituation may juftify 
 it in me, as a firnilar one did in the apoftle Paul. 
 
 Tho' niy writings, as you may fee by the catalo- 
 gue of them, relate chiefly to theology, philofopiiy, 
 or general literature, fome of them are political, efpe- 
 cially my EJfay on thefirft principles of government and 
 my Lcttures on Hijlory and General policy, which are 
 read in fome of your colleges. As well for the compo- 
 fition of this work, as to enlarge my knowledge of the 
 fubjecl:, there are few political publications of much 
 note that J have not read, and with feveral of the 
 later and the moft eminent writers on fubje&s of po- 
 licy I was perfonally acquainted, as the Abbe Raynal, 
 and Dr. Adam Smith, the author of the celebrated 
 treatife on the wealth of nations. If, therefore, I have 
 no knowledge of the fubjecl: of politics, it has not been 
 for want of the means, or the opportunity of ac- 
 quiring it. 
 
 1 mould hardly have been thought of as a pro- 
 per perfon for a member of the conventional aflembly 
 of France, chofen in what are reckoned the beft times 
 of their revolution, for the exprels purpofe of forming 
 a new conflitution of government for that country, 
 if I had not had (ome character for knowledge of this 
 kind. My knowledge of theology, or chemiftry, would 
 not have recommended me to that fituation. 
 
 Your Prefident, with whom I^arn^well acquainted 
 when he was ambaflador in England, and with whom 
 I correfponded from that time till he was advanced to 
 his prefent fituation, will excuTe me if on this occalion 
 I quote his authority. Having in one of my publica- 
 tions declared my preference of one of his political 
 maxims to that which was maintained by Dr. Franklin, 
 he fays in one of his letters, that he confiders it as " a 
 " compliment which he holds very precious/ 3 With Dr. 
 Franklin, who was as much a political as a philofophical 
 character, I was intimately acquainted many years. 
 
 p 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. i5 
 
 His letters to me would have made a very large vo- 
 lume. Three of them he has publifhed in his mif- 
 cellaneous works. 
 
 Notwithftanding thefe advantages which I have 
 had for public information, and the obfervation and 
 experience of a long life, many of the young men of 
 this country, being native Americans, think them- 
 felves, I doubt not, much wifer than I pretend to be, 
 and will make very light of any opinions of mine. Be 
 it fo. It is in the order of Providence that fucceeding 
 generations mould grow wifer than the preceding ones ; 
 and if theyoungeft of the native Americans will teach 
 me any thiug, I fhall not think rnyfelf too old to learn. 
 
 The great principles of found policy are not, 
 in my opinion, above the comprehenfion of young 
 men, and even fuch as have not had the advantage of 
 a learned education. The circuniftances that contri- 
 bute to the flourifhing liate of a country, which is the 
 proper object of all civil policy, are eafily known, and 
 the operation of them in all particular cafes would be 
 as eafily underflood, did not prejudice and paflion mif- 
 lead men's judgments. But in confequence of this, 
 the fchemes of fome of the moft profound politicians 
 have brought nations to the very brink of ruin. What 
 is it that has been effected by the great politicians of 
 Europe in the laft century, befides involving their ref- 
 peftive countries iaa flateof perpetual war ? When 
 has peace been made, but when the people werelb 
 exhaufted that war could not have been carried on any 
 longer ? And in confequence of thefe violent exerti- 
 ons, are they not all loaded with debts which neither 
 the prefent nor any future generation will ever be able 
 to pay, and which muft haften the period of bankrupt- 
 cy, and revolution, which they fo much dread. Can 
 you contemplate all this and call it wifdom ? 
 
 Since, however, the fubjec~t of politics has not in 
 itfelf any greater difficulty attending it than even young 
 
 men 
 
i6 To the Inhabitants 
 
 men may furmount; and fince it is chiefly pajjion that 
 miflcads men's judgment with refpeft to it, it is furely 
 the lefs prefumption in old men, whofe paffions are ge- 
 nerally more under the command of reafon than thofe 
 of young men, to think and write upon it. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Of what I have done with Refpecl to the Politics of 
 this Country. 
 
 My Friends, and Neighbour. 
 
 THO' I have not been prevented by 
 any peculicar difficulty that there is in the fubjecl of 
 Politics, or by the fuppofcd impropriety of an alien at- 
 tending to it, from taking a part in your political 
 differences, I have had other views and purfuits; and 
 having had much leifure in this country, I have done 
 fo much in other ways, that I think I can convince you 
 that I cannot poffibly have been that bufy, intriguing, 
 and dangerous politician, that I am reprefented to have 
 been. 
 
 Of my publications in England, which I believe 
 are about an hundred, very few relate to politics. My 
 publications in this country are not lefs than twelve, 
 all theological or philofophical, befides three articles 
 on the Tranf actions of the Society at Philadelphia^ and 
 eleven that are printed in the Medical Rcpofitory at 
 New-York ; three more are fent, but are not yet 
 
 printed ; 
 
Of Northumberland^ 6?c. 17 
 
 printed ; and I have four or five articles ready to fend 
 to the Society at Philadelphia. * 
 
 Befides thefe works, I have juft printed in this 
 place a large volume intitled a Comparijon of the Injti- 
 mtions of Mcfes with thof: of the Hindoos and other an- 
 cient nations. I have competed a Continuation of my 
 Church hijtory to the prefcnk time, which will make fix 
 volumes 8vo. and about as many of Nvtes on the Old 
 and New Tejtamcnt, part indeed compofed in England, 
 but deftrqyed at the riots in Bermingham, and recornpo- 
 fed here. You will ple'afe to obfeive that in merely 
 writing much, there is no other merit than that ofinduf- 
 try] a quality which I believe my greateft enemies 
 will allow me. 
 
 Tho' I have written fo much fince I have refided 
 in this place, I generally fpend the great eft part of my 
 time in my laboratory, making experiments, the objecl: 
 of which is not gain, but the extenfion of natural 
 knowledge. Judge then yourfclves whether it has 
 been pr.ffiblc for me to have given much attention to 
 the peculiar politics of this country. 
 
 It is true, as I have obferved, that I could not 
 help forming fome opinion on fubjccls that are conti- 
 nuity before me ; and I will not deny that it accords 
 better with my former principles and habits of think- 
 ing to take part with thofc who disapprove of the late 
 meafures of your government, and are generally cal- 
 led Democrats, than with thofc who call tbfmfelvcs 
 Fcderalijis, whofe language and fentiments appear to 
 
 D me 
 
 * In philofophy I am combating the principles of the 
 French chemifity ,- and as every thing that is French is now un- 
 popular, the Ft d era lifts may be expected to wifii me fucccfs. 
 Of this however I arn as confident as the allied powers are thst 
 they (hall conquer France, and overturn its repubHean govern- 
 ment, tho' at prefent almoft all chemifts in this country, "as 
 well as in Europe;, ure flrongly attached to it. 
 
18 To the Inhabitants 
 
 me to be very congenial to thofc of the friends of mo- 
 narchy, and high maxims of government, in England. 
 My political opinions, however, I have not been for- 
 ward to obtrude on others ; and if the private opinions 
 of one man, and that an alien, can make any country, 
 it cannot fland long. 
 
 I do not know, nor have I any reafon to believe, 
 that any one of you has changed his opinion in politics 
 in confequence of my refidcnce among you. Whate- 
 ver be your fentiments in this refpecl:, they are wholly 
 independent of me. You alfo well know, that my 
 opinions, have had no more influence on any of my 
 countrymen in this place than they have had on your- 
 felvcs. 
 
 Tho' wl. it I have done in theology and philo- 
 fophy may feem fufficicnt to have occupied me wholly, 
 I will now gratify my enemies by informing them, 
 that notwithstanding this, I have actually found time, 
 both to fay and to do fomething with refpecl; to the 
 politics of the day, and fomething which without my 
 own voluntary confeflion, they could not have found 
 out. In the Aurora, that receptable, as it is confider- 
 ed for all feditious and treafonable matter,* for Feb. 
 26 and 27, 1788, there is an article of mine, which will 
 be thought to be of a fufpicious complexion, figned 
 a Quaker in politics. But to lave them the trouble 
 
 of 
 
 ; Tho' I fee almofl all the newfpapers that are printed in 
 Philadelphia, it is to this that I give fhe preference. In En- 
 gland I was a reader of the Morning Chronicle, which was then 
 patronized by the friends of liberty in that country ; but I do 
 not think that, in its beft times, it was fuperior to the Aurora 
 with refpeft tojuft fentiment/valmblc information, or good 
 compofition. The Federalifts of this country, who feldom, I 
 believe, read this paper, mud be ignorant of many things that 
 it brh.ivcs them to knnw. Having faid this, I mud expetl to 
 be made anfwerablc for every thing that ever has been,, or ever 
 will be printed in the Aurora. 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. / 19 
 
 of looking for it, I (hall reprint the whole of it at the 
 end of thefe Letters. This, however, is all that I have 
 -written till the prefent time. 
 
 But tho' I have written nothing more than this 
 fingle article myfelf; yet approving of Mr. Cooper's Ef- 
 fays in your Gazette, I contributed one dollar towards 
 printing a few extra copies of one of them, before it was 
 known they would all be reprinted in the form of a pam- 
 phlet. However, to make amends for this fault, and 
 to fhcw my impartiality, and my defire to promote the 
 freedifcuffion of fubjetts of importance to the commu- 
 nity, I here promifc that if any Federalift will give as 
 comprehenfive and as diipaflionate a view of what they 
 have to advance in iupport of the late meafures, as Mr. 
 Cooper has don?, againft them, I will give another dol- 
 lar towards that publication. I fear, however, it will 
 not be in the power of Mr. Cooper's antagonift to ful- 
 fil the conditions on which I make this promife. Per- 
 fbns writing in fupport of any government, bcim;* 
 fure of protection, if not of reward, are apt to indulge 
 thernlelves in intemperate language, as a mark of their 
 zeal in the caufe ; while the diead of penal laws natu- 
 rally makes the oppugner of them timid, and confe- 
 quently more guarded and decent in his language, 
 mindful of the Latin adage, leniter in mudo fortitcr in 
 re. 
 
 The writer who fliles himfelf MaJJachutenfis, gives 
 me more merit than I am entitled to with refpecl to Mr. 
 Cooper's publication, when he fays that " I took great 
 " pains to circulate it, that I travelled thro' the country 
 " for the purpofe, and that I was, in fa 61, the patron 
 of it." The fa 61 was, that I never faw any of the pa- 
 pers till after their publication, and all that I did with 
 refpecl; to the circulation of the extra copies was to car- 
 ry a bundle of them from the printer's to the houfe of 
 a brother democrat in this town, which might as well 
 have been done by the printer's boy. 
 
 I do 
 
2o To the Inhabitants 
 
 I do not. however, fay this to exculpate myfelf 
 from any crime. For I confider both the writing of 
 the letters in qucftion, and the circulation of them, as 
 praife worthy actions. Maflachutenfis calls Mr. Coop- 
 er an Englifli Jacobin, but this is merely a term of re- 
 proach. The principles that Mr. Cooper has main- 
 tained are clearly thofe of the American conftituuon. 
 Whoever denies this, either does not underiland thofe 
 principles, or is an enemy to them ; and as the fubjecT: 
 is fufficiently intelligible, the latter is the more proba- 
 ble iuppolition of the two. 
 
 The paragraphs which this writer fe]e6ls, as parti- 
 cularly obnoxious, I entirely approve. For certainly 
 the man who fhould wifh to extend the power of the 
 Prefident of this country beyond the bounds prefcribed 
 by the conflitution, could not take better fteps to gain 
 his end than thofe that are pointed out by Mr. Copper. 
 At the fame time, it is not denied, nor does Mr. 
 Cooper deny it. that the fame things might be done 
 from other motives* But, as he obferves, we have 
 not lh: . : r> do with men'* motives, but only with the tcn- 
 dtticyof their me a fur cs ; and of this we muft form our 
 judgment from confidering their nature, and the cir- 
 cumilances of the cafe. 
 
 For what I did in this bufinefs Maffachuten- 
 fis, who confidcrs it as a crime of. a peculiarly hei- 
 nous nature, lays ' : I fiand charged before the great 
 <: tribunal of the American people !" I do not, howe- 
 ver, confider an anonymous writer in a newfpaper as 
 the American people. But whenever this people, whom 
 I refpecl, ma!! arraign any part of my conduct by their 
 authorized officers, in due form, I (hall be ready to 
 meet the accufation. In the mean time, thefe letters 
 may be fufficient. 
 
 That I may leave nothing on rny confcience rela- 
 ting to this fubjeft of what I have done, I will farther 
 coniefs that, averfe as I generally am to public meet- 
 ings, 
 
Of Northumberland, &c, 21 
 
 ings, which are often attended with, much noife, to which, 
 from the habits of a fludious Jife I am much averfe, I 
 wss prevailed upon to join in two celebrations of tht 
 4th of July, one of them two years ago, in a grove 
 near this town, and this year in another near Sun bury, 
 at both of which republican or democratical toafts were 
 drank, and where the late meafures of admimfhation 
 were not p railed. 
 
 If I could think that it would avail me any thing, 
 I might perhaps plead that, if I have done mifchief in 
 feme refpecls, I have done good in others. But with 
 thole who have no knowledge beyond that of the po- 
 litics of the day, and a very fuperricial knowledge even 
 of them, pounds of merit of any other kind would be 
 outweighed by grains of political, or rather of party 
 dement. Let a man who is fufpe&ed of what any 
 party terms fedition defervc ever fo well of his country, 
 or of mankind at large, in other refpefls, no more 
 mercy would be (hewn him on that account, than 
 was (hewn by Robefpierrein France. Had I made dif- 
 coveries in fcience equal to thofe of Newton, or had 
 had the philanthropy of Howard, they would not have 
 exempted me from the coarfeft abufe that the Englifh 
 language can furnifh. A dcte6ted thief, or a fraudu- 
 lent forger of bank bills, would have met with more 
 favour than has been ihewn to me. 
 
 I do not recollect any thing more that I have 
 done with refpe6l to the politics of this country fince 
 I have come into it, except writing a reply to a viru- 
 lent cen lure of me for holding a correfpondence with 
 a friend in France on occafion of a letter to me in- 
 tercepted and publifhed with notes in England, and 
 republifhcd with additional and more virulent remarks 
 in this country. This reply I publifhed in feveral of 
 your newjfpapers, and I believe it gave general fatis- 
 faclion, I mall, therefore, foon proceed to inform 
 you what I really think of the political ftate of this 
 
 country, 
 
To the Inhabitants 
 
 country, and I fhall do it with perfect freedom, but 
 with that coolnefs which I hope is habitual to me. 
 J only wifh that what I write may be read with the 
 fame temper. But before I do this I mall in my next 
 make fome farther obfervations concerning the inter- 
 cepted Letters, and abufive writings in general, and thofe 
 which refped myfelf in particular, 
 
 I am, c. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Of the intercepted Letters, and, of the French Revolution. 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 A GREAT clamour was made fome 
 time ago about the intercepted letters mentioned in my 
 3aft. It was on that occafion that I wrote the fub- 
 ftance of thefe Letters ; but being unwilling, without 
 more urgent caufe, to appear as a political writer, I 
 withheld them from the prefs, and contented myfelf 
 with writing a fhort advertifement, merely in anfv/er to 
 a charge of being a fpy in the intereft of France. 
 
 To decline all particular difcufiions, I then obferv- 
 cd, that I was not anfwerabJe for what any perfon 
 might think proper to write to me. But this bufinefs 
 being again brought before the public, I will freely 
 acknowledge that my friend's letter gave me great plea- 
 fure ; and the like I have received from others before 
 and lincc that time, written by the fame hand, and in 
 the fame fpirit, tho' no two men think exactly alike, 
 
 or 
 
Of Northumberland, &V. 23 
 
 or would exprefs themfelves in exactly the fame man- 
 ner. Mr. Stone, being a younger man, will naturally 
 be more fanguine, and write with more warmth than I 
 fhould be d^fpofed to do. But, my friends, read the 
 intercepted letters without regarding the notes that ac- 
 companied the publication, and then fay what there 
 is in them that can givejuft offence to any American. 
 
 Mr. Stone is a per Ion who, together with niyfelf, 
 earneftly wifhed for a reformation of abufes in the En- 
 glifh government, in order to prevent an entire revo- 
 lution, which we did not think was wanted there. He 
 now fees, or thinks he fees, that no fuch reformation 
 is to be expected; and therefore wilhcs a revolution to 
 take place, thinking it to be absolutely neceffary for 
 the good of the people. I own that I am now in- 
 clined to his opinion. I fincerely wifh (if the genuine 
 fpirit of the original constitution cannot be revived, 
 which would no doubt be the beft for that country) 
 ' for fome more radical change than I have hitherto 
 thought neccfTary, the* 1 wifh it may be effected pea- 
 ceably, and without the interference of any foreign 
 power. 
 
 Tho J during the American war it was voted, in 
 the houfe of Commons, that " the power of the crown 
 " had increafed, was increafing, and ought to be dimi- 
 " niihed ;" it is evident that, fo far from being dimin- 
 ifhed, it has kept increafmg fince that time ; and how 
 far it may go it is impoflible to fay. The forms of the 
 Britifh confutation are fo far fro?n being any real check 
 on the power of the crown, as in theory they ought to 
 be, that they are the moft convenient inflruments of it ; 
 the court, as is well known, always commanding a ma- 
 jority in the houfe of Commons, and being equally 
 fare of the fupport of the Lords in all their mea- 
 fures. 
 
 Seeing that, for want, as I conceive, of a due 
 reprefentation of the people, a refpeclable clafs of En- 
 
24 To the Inhabitants 
 
 glifli citizens arc frowned upon, and their fituation un- 
 comfortable, and hardly f'afe, I fmcerely wifh them 
 relieved. My correfpondent does I he fame, and more- 
 over expr ifcs his fatisfa&ioh in the progrefs that the 
 fmblutipndry fpirit is making in other parts of Europe, 
 where it is ftiil more wanted. Now, pray, what of- 
 fence, can this juftly give in America, where a fimilar 
 revolution has actually taken place, and where the great 
 benefits of it are every day experienced ? Why fhould 
 you take umbrage at othsr countries following the ex- 
 ample that you have fet them ? 
 
 Shocked at the enormities which have been com- 
 mitted in France, and which no perfons lament fo much 
 as the friends of liberty in every country, it has be- 
 come fafhionable with many to exclaim againfl all re- 
 volutions indifcriminately, and all the principles that 
 lead to them ; and in the Englifh parliament a wifh 
 has been openly exprf fled for the reftoration of the an- 
 cient government, and the ancient religion, of France. 
 But, furely, they who hold this language muft either 
 be avowed advocates of arbitrary power, or have for- 
 gotten the ftate of Fiance before the lafl revolution. 
 
 No writer whatever exprcffes a greater dread of e- 
 very thing tending to revolution than Mr. Robifon, 
 profeflbr of Natural Philofophy in the univerfity of 
 Edinburgh, in his book entitled Proofs of a conspiracy a- 
 gainjl all the religions and governments of Europe, in 
 which he makes me one of thofe confpirators. But e- 
 ven this writer could not help acknowledging the exift- 
 ence of fuch abufes in the government of France as 
 were absolutely infupportable, and fuch as would abun- 
 dantly judify the fubjecls of it in attempting its fub- 
 verfion. It may not be amifs to bring before you a part 
 of what this writer fays on the fwbject. 
 
 After enumerating all the caufes of corruption in 
 government, he fays p.. 48 " Perhaps there never was 
 " a nation where all thefe co-operating caufes had 
 
 " acquired 
 
Of Northumberland, (3c. 25 
 
 " acquired greater ftrength than in France. Opprefli- 
 i$ of all kinds were at their height. The luxuries 
 st of life were enjoyed exciufively by the upper claffes, 
 " and this in the higheft degree of refinement ; fo that 
 ; t\>". defires of the reft were whetted to the utmoft. 
 " Rdu/.vi appeared in its worfl form, and fcemed cal- 
 " oulated ioleiy for procuring eflablilhments for the 
 " younger fons of an infolent and ufelefs noblefie. 
 " Th^r morals of the higher orders of the clergy and of 
 " the laity \vere equally corrupt. The whole nation 
 " became infidel The mifconducl of adminiftration, 
 " and the abufes of the public treafure, were every 
 " day growing more impudent and glaring, c. &c. 
 " In facl: the king of France was an abfolute monarch, 
 *' and the fubjeds were Oaves/' p. 264. 
 
 " There is no denying the infolence and oppreffi- 
 " on of the crown, and of the nobles, nor the mifeiy 
 " and flavery of the people ; nor that there was fuffi- 
 " cient provocation for a total change of meafures and 
 <: of principles," p. 301. And is not this the very 
 thing that the French nation, now fo much execrated, 
 have done ? For what, then, are they to be fo much 
 condemned ? 
 
 You will obferve, however, that this writer af- 
 cribes the revolution in France, in a great meafure, to 
 the example fet by this country, to which it is fuffi- 
 ciently evident from his manner of exprefling himfelf, 
 that he is no friend. " Their officers and foldiers, who 
 " returned from America," he fays " imported American 
 " principles, arid in every company found hearers who 
 " liftened with delight and regret to the fafcinating tale 
 " of American independance," p. 263. 
 
 Be allured that the enemies of the French revo- 
 lution are in reality no lefs the enemies of the Ame- 
 rican, as they both arofe from the fame principles. 
 The immediate flimulus was oppreflion, which was 
 unfpeakably greater in France than it was in this coun- 
 
 E try. 
 
26 To the Inhabitants 
 
 try. And if ever monarchy be firmly eftablifhcd in 
 France, the liberty and independence of America will 
 be in imminent danger. But I have no fear on the 
 fubjecl, I rejoice in both revolutions alike.* 
 
 If you read any authentic account of the ftate 
 of the other European kingdoms (I except, however, 
 Denmark and Sweden) you will be fatisfied that the 
 abufes of government and the oppreffion of the peo- 
 ple, are got to an extreme. Germany has long groan- 
 ed under the oppreffion of a haughty nobility, and 
 there have been frequent rifings of the peafants to bet- 
 ter their condition. In the time of Luther more than 
 a hundred thoufand had recourfc to arms in Swabia; 
 but wanting good leaders, and ill provided with ftores 
 and ammunition, they were foon fupprtffed. Both 
 
 Spain 
 
 * From the commencement of the American war I wimed 
 for the independence of this country, being firmly perfuadcd 
 that it would be for the real advantage of England, as well as 
 of thcfe States , and this is now, I believe, almoft univerfally 
 acknowledged to be the cafe. I am equally well perfuaded 
 that it would be for the benefit of the people of England (I do 
 not fay for the glory of the Monarch) to have nothing to do 
 with the dominion of the Eaft or the Weft Indies. I once 
 mentioned ihis opinion t Sir George Savile, adding, that it 
 would have been much better for England never to have had 
 the pofleflion of Gibraltar, and that it would be good policy to 
 give it up. He faid that he had often thought fo too, but that 
 the opinion was fo unpopular that he had not dared to avow it. 
 
 The late Lord Chatham was fond of foreign poffeffions. HC 
 was much againft granting abfolute independence to America, 
 which he faid wag the faireft jewel in the crown of the Bri- 
 tifh monarch, and his opinion had for feme time great weight 
 with the marquis of Lanfdown, then Lord Shelburne. On 
 this Dr. Price, who thought as I did on the fubjeft, agreed 
 with me to write our thoughts feparately on the fubjeft, and 
 prefent them to his Lordfhip. We did fo, and fome time after 
 he told me that he had (hewn my paper to Lord Chatham, 
 but that he was much offended at it. At the couclnfion of 
 
Of Northumberland, &?c, 27 
 
 Spain and Naples, which are held by the fame family, 
 have not one half of their ancient inhabitants ; and 
 there cannot be a more certain proof of bad govern- 
 ment than this. Their condition is little, it at all, 
 better than that of the Turkifh dominions. Portugal, 
 is in much the fame flate. 
 
 Can, then, any perfon, any friend of liberty and 
 humanity, himfelf enjo^in^ the bieffin^s of a republi- 
 can government, wifh that any part of his ipecies 
 ftiould continue in this (late of degradation and bon- 
 dage ? If not, he muft partake in the generous feel- 
 ings of my correfpondent, and earneftly wifh for their 
 emancipation. And we may hope that, with the ex- 
 amples of America and France before them, other re- 
 volutions may be attended with lefs bloodfhed than 
 thofe have been. 
 
 The revolution of France would, it cannot be 
 
 doubted, 
 
 the war, however, the Marquis made no difficulty of granting 
 what he thought not only neceflary, but advantageous to his 
 country, of which he was then prime minifter. Had he con- 
 tiaued fo to this day, kis liberal anH enlightened policy would 
 have Caved England, and all Europe, the horrors of the pre- 
 fcnt, moft ruinous and impolitic \vr. 
 
 Tho* I did not accept of a feat in the conventional afiem- 
 blyof France, I had at that time a correfpnadence with fome 
 ef the leading men of that country ; and believing that my o- 
 pinion would have fome weight, I advifed the abandoning 
 the Weft- Indies, and all their foreign pofigfiions. The an- 
 fwer I received was that they thought 23 I did on the fubjer, 
 but that theintereft of thofe who were poffefied of property 
 in the ifland*, would prevent their doing it for the prefent. 
 This correfpondence was continued till the death of the king, 
 againft which I gave my advice ; but a concurrence of circum- 
 ftances, the principal of which was thTlhfluence of the queen, 
 was fatal to that well meaning man. Of what paffed in France 
 after that event I had no information but from newfpapers. 
 But ic feems I muft, notwithftanding this, be anfwerabic for it 
 all. 
 
2 8 To the Inhabitants 
 
 doubted, have continued to be as peaceable throughout, 
 as it was at its onfet. * if the king had been content 
 with the limited power of which the firft conftitution 
 left him poffefTed ; and had not this unfortunate prince 
 been ftimulated by others, more ambitious than him- 
 felf, to recover the power that he had loft, the war, and 
 the confequent enormities, had not taken place. To 
 thofe princes, therefore, and their wicked confederacy, 
 are all the enormities to be afcribed. 
 
 But it appears to have been the intention of pro- 
 vidence to do more for the French nation, and ulti- 
 mately for all Europe, than they ever thought of do- 
 ing for themfelves, tho' by means which men would 
 not be juftified in having recourfe to. The national 
 affemblv, and the people of France, meant to do no- 
 thing ^ore than to limit the power of the crown ; but 
 God IMS given them a government purely republican, 
 and rtpre Tentative, like that of America, without any 
 hereditary powers or honours; and the fame benefit, 
 I doubt nr.f, with my correfpondent, is intended for 
 all thofe countries whofe kings are at prcfent confede- 
 rated againfl France and univerfal liberty. 
 
 If every thing that is true and right v*i?] finally 
 prevefctj againfl whatever is error and wr.--:ig t [he caufe 
 of monarchy, always tending to defpocifm, cannot be 
 fupported much longer. Independently of wars, .\vhich 
 muft accelerate the great cataftrophe, they all con- 
 tain within themfelves the feeds of their own deflruc- 
 tion. The people acquiring knowledge every day, will 
 not much longer bear what they have done. Nor is 
 
 it 
 
 * At the time of the firft conftitution, when France was a 
 H/nited monarchy, *NMl thofe who took the lead in that country 
 wouM to nuy own knowledge, have given alrnoft any thing for 
 the frienrfi ip and concurrence of England, as, in their opini- 
 on, that would have enfured the peace of France, and of all 
 Europe, 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 29 
 
 it difficult to forefee that the infatuation of the prefent 
 race of kings, which is remarkably fimilar f o .jjut of 
 Pharaoh, will bring on their definition in the manner 
 predicted in the fcriptures, viz. with violence, and much 
 confequent general calamity. 
 
 I (hall on this occafion obferve, that it is alfo a 
 manifeil error with refpecl; to true policy in thole who 
 wifh to difarm feditious publications of their flim* to 
 publifb themfelves as they fometimes do, what appears 
 to tiem moft obnoxious in them; thinking toexpofe 
 them, an 1 to render the authors odious ; not coul* Ber- 
 ing to whom they will appear in that light. For while 
 they are read with diflike, and even horror, by fome, 
 they maybe read with admiration by others. The inter- 
 cepted Letfers. and the paragraphs feletled from Mr. 
 Cooper's Addrcfs are cafes in point, as well as feveral 
 other articles which have been inferted in the Federal 
 Newfpapers of this country. The friends of liberty 
 rejoice to fee fuch publications thro' any channel, and 
 efpecially when it is done at no rifk to themfelves ; and 
 without regarding the comments, they attend to the 
 text. 
 
 The fame wretched politicians alfo do not confi- 
 der the natural tendency and effeft of the abufe that 
 they throw out againfl the friends of liberty ana the 
 rights of man. If it have any effect, which is very 
 queftionable, it only makes us Hand fomething worfe 
 with thofe with whom it is no object to us to (land 
 well at all, while it recommends us to all thofe wbofe 
 good opinion and attachment we really value. What 
 is it to me to bethought ill of by the friends of Church 
 and king (with the cry of which my houfe was burned) 
 in England, or by Mr. Gobbet and his readers in this 
 country. My account with them has been long fet- 
 tled. I am already a bankrupt in their efteem, and 
 no new article in the account can alter the balance for 
 or againft me. My partis taken, and my reputation, 
 
 as 
 
go To the Inhabitants 
 
 as far as it is an objeft with me, is with men of oppo- 
 fite principles, thofe who are opprobrioufly called de- 
 mocrats, jacobins, and every thing elie of the kind ; 
 and to thefe, and efpecially thofe of that clafs in France, 
 this abufe tends to recommend me. 
 
 I am, &c* 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 Of the Style of Abufe in the Writings of Mr. Cobbet, 
 alias Peter Porcupine. 
 
 My Friends, and Neighbours, 
 
 IT is Commonly faid that when much 
 dirt is thrown, fame willjlick ; and on this principle I 
 fuppofe it is that I have been diftinguifhed fo often by 
 my principal antagonift Mr. Cobbet, under the figna- 
 ture of Peter Porcupine. But he appears to me to 
 have fpoiled his part by overa&ing it. For men may 
 be fo covered with dirt that it mall not be known 
 who they are, nor will they be diftinguifhed from one 
 another, like Virgil's complimentary epithets, Jortifquc 
 Gyasfortifquc Cloanthus. Befides fuch coarfe abufe as is 
 implied in the words vilain, rafcal, fcoundrel, &c. &c. 
 witn which his writings abound, only marks the low 
 education, and the low character arid manners of the 
 man that ufes them. Such language is never ufed by 
 gentlemen, or fcholars, nor can they return it, tho' it 
 were ever fo well merited, not to fay that a chriflian 
 mufl not return railing for railing, (i Pet, 3, 9) With 
 
 refpeft 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 31 
 
 refpecl; to them, therefore it is an unfair weapon. It 
 is like throwing ftreet dirt, which they cannot han- 
 dle. 
 
 It was a thing of courfe that I fhould be the ob- 
 ject of calumny ever finer: I wrote in defence of unpo- 
 pular truths, and unpopular maxims. Indeed, I 
 queflion whether any perfon in England (the pi 'me 
 minifter for the time beir.g excepted) ever had fo 
 much of what is generally termed abuff, as rny- 
 felf. It has been pouring out with very little intermif- 
 iion for more than twenty years, and 1$ continued, I 
 find, in rny abfence. My friends, however, fay that 
 it certainly agrees with me. Fortho'I was originally 
 of a weak conftitution, my health has been improving 
 ever fince, and I never was fo well a I have been fmcc 
 my arrival in this place, except about three months af- 
 ter my landing, which was before Mr. Cobbet took no- 
 tice of me. They now fay that, old as I am, I bid fair 
 to outlive fome of my younger oponents. That farcaftic 
 writings mould have this ialutary effect., will not be 
 thought fo extraordinary, when it is confidered that 
 pepper, muftard. fait, and vinegar, have their ufe in a 
 good dinner, as well as the beef and the pudding. 
 They certainly contribute to a good digcftion. But 
 there mud be feme peculiar charm in Mr. Gobbet's wri- 
 ting, operating unfeen and unknown, for I do not think 
 I have feen more than a tenth part of his voluminous 
 publications, and in all of them, I doubt not, he con- 
 trives to find a nich for me. I am alinoft as neceflary 
 to him, and as good tfubjcB for him, as the king of En- 
 gland is to Peter Pindar. In England, however, where 
 decency and good manners are rarely violated, my anta- 
 gonifts were never of this low clafs. But the lafl of the a- 
 nimals that had a kick at the old lion in the fable was 
 the afs. 
 
 The profufion and variety of Mr. Gobbet's abufe 
 argues a peculiar genious of the kind unequalled by any 
 
 thing 
 
j-i To tJtt Inhabitants 
 
 thing fbat I have met with before. In the compafs of 
 o^'.\ iree ncv/s-papers, and ch ?-.\r none of the:;: I 
 am railed * : a hoary hypocrite, a malignant old Tajtoff, 
 " a lurking -Id illuminatus, a poor o'd wretch, a tni- 
 " ferable perverfe old man, a perverfe old hvpocrite, 
 " and a vincli&ive, unnatural, hyporrit.-cal wretch/' 
 I am " of a factious difpofirion, anapoflic of fedition, 
 " a political viper, with a black rancoious heart, and 
 " fmooth tongued whining cart ; a cunning fe&ary, an 
 " ambitious fe&ary, a baffled focinian, and a Jefuit." 
 I am accufed of " falfehood and poifonous malignity, 
 (t actuated by cool and premeditated malice." I have 
 " the craft of a fedary, joined to the hatred and malice 
 <c of a fiend. My conduct/' he fays " has been wick- 
 <{ edand deteftable, that I wifh Great Britaj i revoluti- 
 " onized, and ruined, and indulge a wicked tho' delu- 
 " five hope of feeing this wifh accomplifhed ; that I 
 " never mifs an opportunity of endeavouring to render 
 " my countrymen the hate and fcorn of the univerfe ; 
 <c that for twenty years pad I have, from hatred to my 
 " native country, facnficed my intereft, my peace, and 
 " my reputation, to the pleafure of injuring, infult- 
 " ing, and ruining it." In conjunction with others, 
 he calls me " a vilain and a fcoundrel, * and both 
 " fool and knave. My bufinefs in this country," he 
 fays, " is of a nature moft hoftile to its happinefs and 
 " independence." It is no wonder, therefore, that he 
 treats me, as he fays, " with his unqualified con- 
 " tempt/' 
 
 His pamphlet on the fubjecl: of my emigration, 
 publiflbed foon after my arrival, contains the following, 
 
 among 
 
 * I rather wonder that the term rafcatis not applied to me, 
 as it ig to others) in this particular paper, as well as vilain and 
 ftoitndrel. It i$, J doubt not, frequently enough applied to 
 me in other parts of his writings. But fuch near relation* and 
 companions ought not to hive been fofir feparatcd. 
 
Of Northumberland. &?c, 33 
 
 among other falfehoods, " I had been/' he fays, " for 
 "many years an avowed and open enemy to the go- 
 " vcrmnent and conRitiztion of my country ; th?t in 
 " my inflammatory difcourfes, called fermons, ^ -:- 
 " glifh conftitution was openly attacked ; anr 5 
 " doctrines there held forth were fubvci five ci ill civil 
 " and religious order;'* and in his i?ev- he 
 
 'fays, "my conventicle at IIa.< !. w; _ ,oft con- 
 " venient and fuccefsful fchooi ov trt.i^ti. 1 
 " tamed," he fays. " the hope v. bftngiftg atoijt a. re- 
 " volution in England on the French p<art an., that I 
 " had no obje&ioti to the continuance of i/ihes in 
 fc England, provided I came in for a (hare .." 
 
 He fays that " my public celebration of the 
 " French riots and maiTacres is a convincing proof 
 " of my ajipfovingjthern. ^r.d that my fending my fon to 
 " Paris in die miclft of them, to requeft the honour 
 " of becoming a French citizen, is another proof of 
 " the fame that cannot be difputed; that I approved 
 " of the unmerciful persecution of the. unfortunate and 
 " worthy part of the French clergy, men as far fur- 
 " palling me in piety and ability, as in fufFering ; that 
 " the French conftitution is my fyftem, and that 
 " fooner than not fee it eftabliflied, he much queftions 
 "if I would not with pleafure fee the maffacre of all 
 "the human race/' But if all mankind were deftroy- 
 ed where is this conftitution of mine to be eftablifhed ? 
 As he has not told us where, I muft fuppofe that he 
 meant among bears, wolves, or wild beafts of fome 
 kind or other. 
 
 With refpecl; to the riots in Bermingham, he fays, 
 " that " I was the principal caufe of them ; that the fef- 
 " tival of the commemoration of the French revolution 
 " was to celebrate events which were in reality the' 
 " fuhjecl of the deeped horror ; that this riot, confi- 
 " clered comparatively with what I and rry friends 
 " wifiied to ilir up, was peace harmony, and gentle- 
 
 F " nefs : 
 
34 To the Inhabitants 
 
 " nefs ; that the magiftrates ufed every exertion m 
 " their power to quell the riot in its very earlieft ftage; 
 <' that had the rioters flopped at the deftru&ion of my 
 '* meeting houfe, all had been well. In whatever 
 " light," he lays, " we view the Birmingham riots, we 
 :i can fee no objeft to exnte our compaflion, except the 
 " inhabitants of the hundred, and the unfortunate ri- 
 " oters themfeives ; that the lofs of my manufcripts 
 " was little more than a few dirty meets of paper, and 
 " their deftru&ion a benefit, rather than a lofs, bc.h to 
 " myfelfand the country; that my philosophical appa- 
 " ratu-s was a thing of imaginary value onJy, and ought 
 C{ not to be eftimated at its coft, any more than a col- 
 :c lection of flieJIs, or infels, or any other fnvola of a 
 " virtuofo." 
 
 " In this country," he fays, " there is nothing to 
 ' ( fear from me except my difTeminating my deiftical 
 " principles." In another place, however, he calls my 
 doctrines athcifiical, tho" it is impoffible that they can 
 be both; and he fpeaks of " the infidel philofophy of 
 " Voltaire, Roufleau, Gibbon, Prieftley, and the'reft 
 " of that enlightened tribe/' To make the group com- 
 plete (for the conjiftency of it is no obje6l with him) 
 he mould have added fome diftinguimed heathens, and 
 mahometans as holding the fame opinions. " When I 
 " preached in Philadelphia," he fays, " I gave up a 
 " ftiare of the pence which I was able to draw out of 
 " the pockets of my hearers for the liberty of preach- 
 " ing in the church of the Univerfalifts," of which he 
 fpeaks with the greateft contempt. 
 
 All this, you will obferve, is mere affertion, with- 
 out any evidence whatever ; and therefore my fimple 
 denial (tho' I could bring abundant proof of every 
 thing that I fliali fay] may be a fufficicnt anfwer. 
 
 Now I can fay with truth that, in the courfe of 
 more than forty years, I never preached one fermon 
 that any of you would have faid was political ; nor did 
 
 I ever 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 35 
 
 I ever, in any place, or in any form, exprefs a wifh for 
 any material change in the Englifh conftitution ; and I 
 am confident I have a more fincere refpecl; for my native 
 country, and for this too than Mr. Cobbet has for a- 
 ny country. My writings fhew that I was always an e- 
 nemy of all civil eftubliftiments of religion, but thought 
 that if there was to be one, it fhould be of chnjhanity 
 in general, fuch as cxifts in the New-England ftatts ; 
 and then that the church revenues, whatever they were, 
 fhould be given to ail the feds alike. 
 
 When I preached at the church of the Univerfal- 
 ifts, I wifhed to have no colle&ion made after fervice, 
 all that was collected was given to the minifter of 
 the place ; and when I preached in the hall of the u- 
 niverfity, only one collection was made to defray the 
 expences that had been incurred. I was glad of the 
 opportunity of doing what I thought to be good without 
 any pecuniary benefit. Whether the difcourfes tha't I 
 delivered were calculated to do any good thofe who 
 read them may judge. 
 
 My fon went to France before the revolution took 
 place, and before any fuch thing was expected ; nor 
 was any requrft ever made by myfelf, or my friends, to 
 be made a French citizen. The fecond time that 
 he v/ent was in order to be received into the houfe of a 
 merchant at Nantes, from which place, on account 
 of the troubles in that neighbourhood, he removed to 
 this country. 
 
 When the anniverfary of the French revolution 
 was celebrated at Birmingham, the conftitution of 
 France was a limited monarchy, very much like that 
 of England, and had been folemnly accepted by the 
 king himfelf. Tho' I approved ofr that celebration, I 
 neither piojecled. nor attended it. The magiftrates 
 made no ferious attempts to quell the riot, but rather 
 
 promoted 
 
o6 To the Inhabitants 
 
 promoted it. * Of the amount of my lodes on that 
 occafion I have nothing to add to what will be found 
 in my Appeal to the people of England on the fubjecL 
 In a pecuniary computation it was more than two thou- 
 fand pounds lefs than the real value. 
 
 This orofs abufc comes from a man with whom I 
 
 Q 
 
 never had any jntercourfe, whom I never pflfennied, or 
 
 irritated by any reply to his : nveciiv*?s, which have ne- 
 ver celled fince I have been in the country ; nor 
 fho ?] J I have noticed them now. bat that I find his 
 publications, have increaiing acceptance and celebrity 
 with the friends of thofe who have the chief power 
 in this country : fo that fince the riot in Birmingham 
 is opr-nly approved and prailed by him and his fup- 
 porters, a firnilar one may be apprehended here, ef- 
 pecially if what Mr. Cobbet 'ays be true (and I fee 
 no r ; queftion itj that " he has lived to fee the 
 
 " truth of his ftaiemeiits, and thejufticv. of bis opini- 
 t: ons, refpecling me fully and univerfclly acknow- 
 ledged ;" a" : <ince a fpirit of party runs as high in this 
 country as 1 ever knew it to do in England. If you 
 believe one half of what Mr. Cobbet fays of me, you 
 would be juflified and applauded, for destroying me, as 
 you would for killing a ferpent or a wild beafl. 
 
 Having advanced thus much in my vindication, 
 I mall probably bear in filence (as I have hitherto 
 done with refpccl; to what is paflj whatever farther a- 
 bufe I mav be expofed to. What other terms of re- 
 , cH Englifh language can furnifh I am ignorant 
 o Kit I fliall expect very foon to find ; if not, that 
 more curious changes will be rung on thofe that have 
 been fo often ufed already, and eipccially his three fa- 
 vourite 
 
 * I have been very credibly informed that Lady Aylesford, 
 \vife of the lord Lieutenant of the county, convrrfing on 
 the fubjed of the riots, faid " They went iarther than we 
 intended." 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 37 
 
 vourhe words, rafcal vilain and fcoundrd. Thefehavc 
 been fo much ufed by him, that I imagine his printer 
 rnuft provide frefh types for the letters of which they 
 con ML 
 
 If any frelh accufation be advanced, it muft be 
 that 1 was fent hither as a convict, for theft or robbery 
 on the high way; but that, ben^ favoured, I was 
 permitted to export myfelf to America, rather than be 
 lent to my friends and old comparions at Botany bay ; 
 it being thought that there were already dangerous per- 
 fons enow in that one place. And there will be juit as 
 much truth in this, as in any thing that has yet been 
 advanced againft me by Mr. 'Gobbet. 
 
 As a part of the gener;;! plan of that providence 
 which overrules all thirds. I am far from complain- 
 ing of the treatment 1 Lave met with in England, or 
 in this country; fpociaHy as it Has altnoft always at- 
 tended the greai' j fl merit, and we cannot expect to have 
 any commodity without the tax that is laid upon it by 
 the L;ws of nature. In a fyftem in which infinite wif- 
 dorn and infinite goodneis are equally apparent, no- 
 thing can eventually be wrong : and toads and vipers 
 are as neceifary in the fyflem as horfcs and fheep; and 
 noxious plants as much as wholefome herbs. 
 
 I mail con elude this letter with obferving that what- 
 ever I may think of the Englifh government ; I have 
 fuch an opinion of the liberality, the good fenfe, and 
 the good tafte, of my countrymen, that I do not be- 
 lieve that any fuch a newfpaper as that of Peter Por- 
 cupine would meet with any encouragement among 
 the warmeft friends of Church and king in England, . 
 
 I am, &c. 
 LETTER 
 
3 8 To the Inhabitants 
 
 LETTER VI L 
 
 Of my Religion. 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 MR. COBBET calls me fometimcs 
 an Unitarian fometimes a deift, fomctitnes an atheijl, and 
 always a hypocrite. And a great hypocrite I muft, in- 
 deed, be, if, in reality, I do not believe in the being of 
 a God, or in the truth of chriftianity, when I have 
 written more in defence of thofc articles of faith than 
 any other man now living, or almoft that ever did 
 live,* and have officiated as a chriftian minifter more 
 than forty years. 
 
 I mud alfo have a greater want of common fenfe 
 than he afcribes to me, to maintain opinions fo incon- 
 jQftent with one another as thofe above mentioned. An 
 atheift acknowledges no God, and no future flate ; 
 deifls acknewled^e the former but few of them the 
 latter, and they believe in no revelation ; whereas uni- 
 tarians deny, indeed, a trinity in God, but they be- 
 lieve in one God, the Father, and in the divine miffion 
 of Chrift. They believe that he worked miracles by 
 the power of God, that God raifed him from the dead, 
 and that he will come again to raife all the dead, and 
 judge the world. The lame man can-not;, therefore, be 
 at the fame time an atheifl. a dei/c. and, an unitarian. 
 
 if 
 
 * I can only recoiled one pcrfon who has written more in 
 defence of cbriftiamty than my fell, and that was an Unita- 
 rian, I mean Dr. Lapfaer, wuh vh rr, I had the h&ppinefs 
 to bf acquainted, and who, in conjunction "with Dr. Ficm- 
 ing, was the publisher of the firft of m? theological writ- 
 ings. 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 39 
 
 If I be a hypocrite, in pretending only to be no 
 atheifl, ordeift, while, in reality, I am cither the one 
 or the other, what have I got by my hypocrify ; when, 
 tho' I have been a preacher, as I have obfervcd, more 
 than forty years, my profcilion has never yielded me 
 half a maintenance and here I get nothing at all by it. 
 Men arc not at the trouble of acting the hypocrite 5 and 
 efpccially for fo long a time, for nothing, 
 
 It is true that I do not j un in the public wo.-fhip 
 of this place ; but it is becaufe I cannot join in your de- 
 votions, which are altogether trinitarin, as they ought 
 to be while you are triniianans. For it would be ab- 
 furd to acknowledge Chrift to be God, and not to ren- 
 der him the honours of divinity, by praying to him as 
 an omnipvefent arid omnipotent Being. But tho' I do 
 not worfhip with you, I have divine fervice every Lord's 
 day in my own houfe, which is then open to every bo- 
 dy, and where feveral of you occafionally attend. Now 
 did any of you ever hear me preach any thing like a- 
 thcifm, or deifm, or indeed any thing contrary to your 
 own opinions ? And when you have heard me pray, 
 could not you join me in every word I faid ? If you 
 be chriftians at all, I am confident you always might. 
 It never was my cuflom to preach on the controverted 
 fubjecls of religion, or only on particular occafions. 
 Thefe I difcufs in my publications, in which you may 
 fee what my opinions on thofe fubje&s are, and the ar- 
 guments I have to advance in fupport of them. 
 
 Had I been permitted to officiate in either of your 
 meeting houfes (which I iliould have done gratis, thank- 
 ful for luchan opportunity of being uleful among you) 
 you would never have heard from me anything but the 
 principles of our common chrijlianity. And this will 
 furnifh topics of difcourfe in great abundance, and fuck 
 as are of far greater importance than all the things ab- 
 out which we differ . The fubftantial dtities of the 
 chriftian life, to inculcate which is, or ought to be, the 
 
 great 
 
40 To the Inhabitants 
 
 great end of all our preaching, are the fame on all our 
 principles ; and do I in rny preaching (and I hope I 
 may add in my preface) contradift any of fhde ? 
 
 We all agree in acknowledging the fame books of 
 fcripture, and we protcfs to derive our fauh from them, 
 th./ we interpret them differently. This, furely, is 
 not atheifm, or deifm. If I do not believe the divini- 
 ty of Chrift, it is becaufe I do not think it to be the 
 do&rine of the fcripturcs, and becaufe I cannot help 
 thinking that if Chrifl, and alfo the Holy Spirit, be 
 poffefled of all the attributes of divinity, equally with 
 God the Father, there muft be three Gods, and not one 
 only, which the fcriptures affert, and on which they lay 
 the greateft ftrefs. In this you will not agree with me ; 
 being of opinion fehat, in fome fenfe or other, three may 
 be ^one, and cut. three. But you will not fay that be- 
 caufe I am not a trinitarian, I am an atheiil, or a de- 
 ift. 
 
 You do not call the Jews atheifls or deifts, be- 
 caufe they do not believe the divinity of Mofes, or of 
 the Mefliah whom they expect. They believe that 
 Mofes delivered to them the laws and commands of 
 God ; and therefore they rcfpecl: them as much as if 
 they had all com^ f r orn the mouth of God himfelf. I 
 do the fair.:* with refpe&jo all that Chrift, fpeakingin 
 name of Gc^ : as delivered to us. He has repeated- 
 ly faid ( John vn. 16. xiv, 24) that the words which he 
 fpake were not his rwn but the Father's who fcnt him ; that 
 the Father who w<?$ in him. or with him, worked the 
 miracles which proved his divine million (John xiv, 
 10) for thafe of himfdf he could do nothing (John v. 30) 
 The apoftle Peter calls Chrift a man approved of God by 
 Jigns and wonders which God did by him, AtTrs ii, 21, 
 and the apoftle Paul fays (i. Cor. viii. 6, i. Tim. ii. v.) 
 To us there is one God, the Father, and one mediator be- 
 tween God end men, the man Chrijl Jefus. 
 
 But tho' I think the clear fenfe of fcripture, fuch 
 
 as 
 
Of Northumberland, &c, 41 
 
 as is intelligible to the meaneft capacity is on my fide, 
 I can ealily iuppofe that you fee things in a very dif- 
 ferent light, and that you are as confcientious in differ- 
 ing from me, as I am in differing from you. I, no 
 doubt, wifh that you could come to think as I do on 
 thefe fubjects, as you do with refpct to me. This is 
 unavoidable in us both, if we lay any ftrefs on our opi- 
 nions, and have any good will for one another. But 
 I do riot obtrude my opinions upon you, or offend you 
 with difputation. Few of you have ever heard me 
 mention the fubjecl; of our differences with refpecT: to 
 religion, and then the occafion has never been fought 
 by me. I do not condemn thofe who al otherwife, but 
 my habits are different ; and tho' I have no lefs zeal, 
 I take a different-'method of propagating my principles. 
 I have feldom feen any good produced by difputiflg in 
 conversion. It too often tends to irritate, and tho* 
 men are often filcnced in this way they are feldom con- 
 vinced. But beoaufe I am not always talking about re- 
 ligion, do you fuppofe, with Mr. Gobbet, that I have 
 none ? 
 
 Mr. Adams, your Prefident, is unque (lion ably a 
 religious man, and on this account, as well as on ma- 
 ny others, I greatly refpecl; him. He knows me well ; 
 and do you think he would have attended me conftant- 
 ly, as he did, when I delivered my firft fet of Difcour- 
 fes in Philadelphia, and have confented that I fhould 
 dedicate them to him, if he had known, or fufpeted, 
 me to be an atheifl or a deift, and confequently a hypo- 
 crite. He entertains no doubt cjf my being a fincere 
 chriftian, tho' our opinions may not be exactly the 
 fame. 
 
 I wifh we had all more religion than we have. We 
 fliould then think more of another world, and make 
 lefs account of this, and of all things in it, than we 
 now do. It would give us an habitual regard to God, 
 and his providence, refpe&ing both individuals and fo- 
 
 G cieties 
 
42 To the Inhabitants 
 
 cieties of mankind, and efpeciaily; the great and inter- 
 eftin i; > event? which are now viking plac^ ib the old 
 ftorla. Fimii; believing that a wile and good provi- 
 dence fuperintends all events, and wilt bring good out 
 of all evil, fo that the final iffue of the moft calamitous 
 events will be glorious and happy, we (hall view them 
 as they pals before us not without intereft, but with more 
 tranquility. and without ill will towards any part of the 
 human race, even our perfonal or national enemies. 
 
 Whatever you may think in the prime of life, while 
 your fpirits are high, and your profpe&s good, the va- 
 lue of religion at my time of life is beyond all eftima- 
 tion. Without fuch profpe&s as religion fets before 
 us the evening of life would be cheerlefs and gloomy, 
 but with them it is moft ferene and happy ; far more fo 
 than any preceding period. I am far, I affure you, 
 from wifhing to be young again, tho* I enjoyed that 
 part oi life as much as any of you can do. 
 
 On this account I regard unbelievers at the clofe 
 of life with much companion. And late converts, and 
 nominal chriftians, who give little attention to the fub- 
 jeft, are not much better. It requires time before the 
 principles of chriftianity can be of much ufe in this 
 refpecl. An habitual attention muft be given to them, 
 fo that in every interrniflion of necelfary bufmefs they 
 (hall, even without any effort, be upperrnofl in a man's 
 thoughts, affording relief under all his troubles and 
 cares. This ftate of mind cannot, in the natural courfe 
 of things, be acquired in a fhorttime. In this refpecl: 
 faith is a different thing from mere conviftion, and ad- 
 mits of degrees, giving confolation and joy in proport-- 
 on to its ftrength. 
 
 Atheift or deift as I may be confidered, and at- 
 tached as I am to philofophical purfuits. my chief fatif- 
 fadiops are derived from the daily ftudy of the fcriptures, 
 and reflections on the momentous fubjec^s that arc there 
 propofed to us. Religion is the only effectual fupport 
 
 under 
 
Of Nj*t number land, &e. 43 
 
 under all the troubles of life (and in faying this you 
 know that I may fpeak from experience) as well as in 
 the hour of death. It alfo tends to make men lefs am- 
 bitious, and to allay the heat of party fpirit, which is 
 too often the bane of good neighbourhood, and ie- 
 parates thofe who would otherwife be happy in a plea- 
 iing and beneficial intercourfe. If nations, or their 
 gO'/ernors, were really chriftians, all mankind woi id 
 live in pe^tce and friendship with one another. 
 
 Call -thisa/frwwn, if you pleafe, and let Mr Cob- 
 bet call it cant and hypocrijy, Only behtvt mo <.e be, 
 notwith'fTahdirig every difference of opinion, religious 
 or political, 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 your fincere weil-wifher, 
 
 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. 
 
 Northumberland, Nov. i. 1799. 
 
 P. S. In my next Letters I fhall, according to my 
 promife, proceed to igitain you what I think with ref- 
 pe6l to the conduct o^your admimftration, and even 
 the conftitutJBj^kfelf. But as thefe are ferious and deep 
 fubjecls, theylRpaire to be treated with much caution. 
 And thefe being tickliih times, it may be prudent to 
 have a confultafton of my lawyers on the bufmefs. Poor 
 as is the fled which Mr. Cobbet fays I dignify with the 
 name of a hoitje, I mould be forry to exchange it for 
 fuch lodgings as the liberality of this country affigned to 
 Mr. Lyon, 4^0' this might gratify Mr. Gobbet as much 
 as my having a place in the poor houfe in Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 SINCE 
 
44 
 
 To the 
 
 SINCE this Poflfcript was fent to the prefs the fol- 
 lowing article, reflecting on Mr. Cooper and myfelf, 
 has appeared in the Reading Newfpafer of Oftober 26, 
 
 1799 
 
 " Thomas Cooper s addrefs to the readers of the Sun- 
 
 c bury and Northumberland Gazette, of which he was 
 1 Editor, having been re-publifhed in this State, with an 
 
 * introduction approbatory of the piece, a correipondent 
 ' wifhes to know if it be the fame Thomas Cooper, an En- 
 e gliihman, of whom the following anecdote is related ? 
 
 * If it is, every paper devoted to truth, honor and decen- 
 c cy. ou^ht to give it a thorough circulation." 
 
 " Not man}' months ago, it is faid, a Mr. Cooper, an 
 ' Englifhman, applied to the PRESIDENT of the Uni- 
 ' ted States to be appointed " agent for fettling the ref- 
 
 * pective claims of the citizens and fubje&s of this coun- 
 
 * try and Great Britain." In his letter he informs the 
 { PRESIDENT that although he (Thomas Cooper J had 
 f been called a Democrat, yet his real political feritimentf 
 
 * were fuch as would be agreeable to the PRESIDENT 
 ' and government of the United States, or expreffions to 
 ' thai effect. This letter was accompanied with another 
 
 * from. Dr. Jofcph Priejllcy, who did not fail to a flare 
 : th-" PRDsiDENT,of the plifllity of his friend Cooper's 
 1 democratic principles. TheT RESIDENT it is faid, re- 
 e jtSicd- Cooper's application with difi^yjmd Priejlley's 
 ' with iliii ftronger marks of furprife, T^^ng, it is faid, as 
 f he threw the letter on the table, does he think that I 
 
 * would appoint any Englifhman to thai! important office 
 < in preference to an American ! What was the confe- 
 e quence ? When Thomas Cooper found his application 
 1 for a lucrative office under OUT PRESIDENT reje&ed he 
 ' writes in revenge the addrefs which ha* appeared in 
 ' print, and Dr. Prieftlcy exerted his influence in difper- 
 ' ling this very addrefs, which he mufl know was the ofF- 
 
 * fpringof difappointment and revenge ! ! !" 
 
 " The addrefs is as cunningand infiduomsaproduc- 
 
 * tion 
 
Of Northumberland, tfc. 45 
 
 c tion as ever appeared in the Aurora, or the old Chro- 
 ' nicltf, and as for impudence it exceeds, oral leafl equals 
 -' Porcupine himfelf. Priefiley and Cooperate bothcal- 
 * led upon to deny the above narrative. A recourfe to the 
 ' letters themfelves would eftablifh the accuracy of this 
 ; anecdote even to a fyllable." 
 
 Of the candour and juftice of this reprefentation 
 my reader will judge from the tenor of the letters refer- 
 red to, of which the following are copies. 
 
 Auguft 12, 1797. 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT was far from being my intention, or my 
 wifh, to trouble you with the rcqueft of any favours, tho' 
 it is now in your power to grant them; and it is not at all 
 probable that I mall ever take a fecond liberty of the 
 kind. But circumftances have arifen which, I think, call 
 upon me to do it once, tho' not for myfelf but a friend. 
 The office of Agent for American claims, was offered, I 
 underftand,to Mr. Hallof Sunbury,andhehas-declinedit. 
 If this be the cafe, and no otherperfon be yet fixed upon, 
 I fhouid be very happy if I could ferve Mr. Cooper (a 
 man, I doubt not, of at leall equal ability, and poifelfed 
 of every other qualification for the office) by recom- 
 mending him. It is true that both he and myfelf fall, 
 in the language of our calumniators, under the defcrip- 
 tion of Democrats, who are ftudioufly reprefented as e- 
 nemies to what is called government both in England 
 ar . here. What / have done to de ferve that character 
 you well know, and Mr. Cooper has done very little 
 more. In fact, we have both been perfecuted for being 
 fnuids to American liberty, and our preference of the 
 government of this country has brought us both hither* 
 However, were the accufation true, I think the appoint- 
 ment 
 
46 To tht Inhabitants 
 
 ment of a man of unqueftionable ability and fidelity 
 to his truft, for which I would make myfelf anfwerable, 
 would be fuch a mark of fupenority to popular preju- 
 dice as I fhould expect from you. / therefore think it 
 no unfavourable circumflance in the recommendation. 
 That you will act according to your bed judgment I 
 have no doubt, with refpect to this and other affairs of 
 infinitely more moment, thro* which I am perfuaded 
 you will bring the country with reputation to yourfelf, 
 tho', in circumftances of fuch uncommon difficulty, per- 
 haps with lefs eafe and fatisfaction. than I could wiffi. 
 \\ ith my earned wiihes for the honour and tranquiiity of 
 your Prefmency, 
 
 I am, Dear Sir, 
 
 yours fincerely, 
 
 JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 ON my expre fling an inclination for the 
 office which Mr. Hall has declined, Dr. Prieftley was 
 fa good as to offer his fcrvices with you on my behalf. 
 
 Probably the office will be filled 'ere this letter can 
 reach you : probably there may be objections to nomi- 
 nating a perfon not a native of the country : probably 
 the objection mentioned by Dr. Priejlley may reafonably 
 be deemed of weight in my injlance. Be all this as it 
 may, I fee no impropriety in the prefent application to 
 be appointed Agent of American claims, for it is itill 
 poffible I may fuppofe more weight in the objections 
 than they will be found to deferve. If it fhould fo hap- 
 pen that I am nominated to that office I mall endeavour 
 to merit the character the Doclor has given of me, and 
 your efleem. I am, &c. 
 
 THOMAS COOPER. 
 
 From 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 47 
 
 From my letter it will c learly appear that I was 
 far from propofing any derileclion of principles on the 
 part of Mr. Cooper. I (hem Id as foon have expecled 
 it on the part of Mr. Adams himfeif. I was L\\O far 
 from intending any affront to Mr. Adams, for whom I 
 always had a very high efteem. I honoured hirn for 
 his integrity, and refpeted even what I thought to be 
 his prejudices. Befides. he was then juft entered on his 
 office of Preiident, and had not done any thing to offend 
 per fons of Mr. Cooper's political principles. 
 
 I thought Mr. Cooper fingularly well qualified 
 for difcharging the duties of the office in queftion on 
 account of his knowledge of Englifh law and Engliili 
 commerce, as well as for his acknowledged ability and 
 a&ivity. I alfo thought that I was giving Mr. Adams 
 an opportunity of ferving himfelf, by fhewing his libe- 
 rality, in favouring a perfon whofe political principles 
 differed from his own, but in a cafe in which they could 
 not interfere with them. At the fame time he would 
 have obliged a perfon for whom he always profeffed 
 much efteem, and whom he had honoured with his 
 correfpondence and mtercourfe. 
 
 The following obfervations on the general fubjeft 
 of appointment to offices, which I wrote fome time ago, 
 will, not, I flatter myfelf, be thought improperly fub- 
 joined here, and may recommend themielves as of fome 
 importance to impartial perfons of all parties. Let the 
 Prefident in queftion be either Mr. Adams or Mr. Jef- 
 ferfon. 
 
 To have the higher officers of the ftate, thofe with 
 whom it may be proper to confult in the general con- 
 dud of affairs, as the heads of the feve-fal departments, 
 men of the fame political principles of the Preiident, 
 could not be complained of. But when all offices, e- 
 ven fuch as are merely lucrative, are confined to one 
 party, it naturally exafpcrates thofe of oppofite princi- 
 ples, and greatly promotes a fpirit of party in the coun- 
 try, 
 
^8 To the Inhabitants of Northumberland, &?c. 
 
 try and this may proceed fo far as to hazard a civil 
 war. It is, therefore, the part of good policy, as well 
 as of magnanimity, to di (tribute all offices with as equal 
 a hand as pofiible. Otherwife, inflead of being the 
 chief of the nation, a Prelident makes himfelf the head 
 of a particular party. 
 
 Should all the partifans of fuch a Prefident follow 
 his example, and employ no phyfician, no carpenter, no 
 mafon, no moemaker, Sec. but men of their own poli- 
 tical fentiments ; and mould thole of oppofitc princi- 
 ples, in felf defence, do the fame, it would be a ftat of 
 mutual perfecution on account of opinion, an endea- 
 vour to exterminate one another by ftarving, winch ap- 
 proaches very nearly to an attempt to effect the fame by 
 violence. The only difference is that of taking a ^wn 
 by blockade, or by ftorm. They are alikt optiations 
 of open war. A Preiident, therefore, who wifhes to 
 promote the peace of ths country will carefully avoid 
 letting fuch an example. 
 
 ERRATA et CORRIGENDA. 
 
 (b) Jlgnijies from the bottom. 
 
 p. 14. 1. 11 (b) for am, read was. 
 
 Ib. 1. 9 (b) from that time occafionally. 
 
 p. 14. 1. 5 public political. 
 
 28. 1. 2 onfet outfet. 
 
 Ib. ! 7 (b) prevent prevail. 
 
LETTERS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 INHABITANTS 
 
 O I 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 NEIGHBOURHOOD, 
 
 On Subjects inter cfting to the AUTHOR, 
 and to THEM. 
 
 PART IL 
 
 By JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, L. L. D. *..*.*. ftc. 
 
 -Nunquamne reponam? 
 
 JuvenaL 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND : 
 
 ^x, 
 
 Printed for the AUTHOR by ANDREW KENNEDY. 
 
 UDCCXCIX, 
 
TO THE 
 
 INHABITANTS or NORTHUMBERLAND 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Of the Innocence and Advantage of the free DifcuJJien of 
 all political Subjects 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 HAVING promifed you a full con- 
 feffion of all my political crimes and mifdemeanors, and 
 having in the preceding Letters made a faithful decla- 
 ration concerning what / am, and what I have done a- 
 mong you, I proceed to give you fome of my thoughts ; 
 and tho' you might, in fome meafure, have guened at 
 them thro' the medium of my a&ions, I will fave you 
 that trouble, and tell you more of my thoughts than 
 any knowledge you have of my a&ions could poffibly 
 have enabled the moil fagacious of you to difcover. 
 But in order to do this fairly and honeftly, you muft 
 excufe me if, after fpeaking of my own faults, I touch 
 a little upon yours, tho' I mall do this with as gentle a 
 hand as poflible. 
 
 You muft, however, confider, that tho' I may 
 point out what appears to me to be a fault, you will, 
 ,f courfe, be the judges in your own caufe, and ac- 
 knowledge 
 
4 To the Inhabitant 
 
 knowledge it or not as you may fee rcafon ; and alfo that 
 it is not in my power, but altogether in yours, to find 
 the proper remedy. As a fenfible Pope faid to fome 
 Englifhmen who were introduced to him, when he un- 
 expeftedly gave them his benedi&ion in the ufual form 
 at parting, " The bleffing of an old man can do you 
 " no harm ;" fo the advice of an old man, as I am, how- 
 ever improper, or impertinent, cannot hurt you. My 
 trouble in writing is not much, and yours in reading 
 is flill lefs. 
 
 Prefuming, as I hope I may, that, after the apo- 
 logy I have made for writing thefe Letters, you will not 
 think it impertinent in me, tho' an alien, to give you 
 my thoughts on any uibjecl; relating to the conduct of 
 public affairs (in which I am as much interefted as a- 
 ny of you can be) I fhall take the liberty to requcft 
 more of your attention to fotne particular articles, than 
 you feem to me to have given to them. I may alfo 
 plead that this is the only way in which I can contri- 
 bute to the redrefs of any grievance of which I may 
 think I fee caufe to complain. For, being an alien, I am 
 neither eligible to any office of truft myfelf, nor have I 
 a vote for any candidate. But the loweft fervant in a 
 family, if he thinks that any thing is going wrong, may 
 fpeak of it to any of his fellow fervants, even to the 
 fteward, or to the mailer himfelf, whether they will at- 
 tend to him or not. 
 
 Nothing, however, is more common with the friends 
 of the adminiflration in all countries than to confider e^ 
 very cenfure of public meafures as an attack upon the^ 
 vernment of the country, and every cenfure of the go- 
 vernment as a thing hoftile to the -people. But it is with- 
 out any good reafon jn either of the cafes. Will it be 
 pretended that all magiftrates, and all minifters of Hate, 
 are infallible, or impeccable ? If not, they may mif- 
 take the interefl of the country, or confult their own in- 
 bereft at its expense. May not, then, a perfon who 
 
 thinks 
 
Of Northumberland, t3c. 5 
 
 thinks them to be ckher miftaken, or difhoneft, and 
 that the people at large are in danger of being injured 
 by their conduct, point it out to his countrymen. Nay, 
 is it not the abfolute duty of every honeft man to give 
 to others the information that he has acquired himielf. 
 According to the principles of your conftitution, all 
 perfons entrufted with the conduct ot public affairs, 
 how high foever you have placed them, are but your 
 fervants, and accountable to you for their conduct in 
 office. 
 
 Farther, if any perfon mould conceive that any thing 
 in the very conftitution of the government itfelf might 
 be changed for the better, is he an enemy to the people 
 for propofing it ? It is only giving his opinion con- 
 cerning what he imagines will be for their good, Tho* 
 he be miftaken, his intention may be the beft in the 
 world, and therefore he will be entitled to their thanks. 
 If I were to advife you to change the whole form 
 of your government, from a republic to an abfolute mo- 
 narchy, I mould do you no harm, fince you would be 
 at liberty to receive or reject the propofal as you thought 
 proper. I might fay that a Prefident like yours would 
 make a poor appearance in the prefence of a king, that 
 kingly government has both more dignity and more c- 
 nergy than yours ; that fuch a man as the late king of 
 Pruflia, or Peter the Great of Ruflia, would prefently 
 rid you of all traitorous and feditious perfons, without 
 troubling your courts of juftice with them, which would 
 be a great faving of expence ; that fuch a government 
 would keep all the country perfectly quiet ; that then 
 the lower orders of the people, having nothing to do 
 with politics, would attend to their proper bufinefs, of 
 agriculture, manufactures, or commerce, without dif- 
 fraction, and their affairs would profper in proportion ; 
 and that thofe of the higher orders, the more opulent, 
 not being obliged to give any part of their time to the 
 #udy of the theory of government, would have more lei- 
 
 fure 
 
6 To the Inhabitants 
 
 Cure to attend to the improvement of the polite arts 
 and fcience, to the glory of the monarch in the firft 
 place, and their own reputation in the fecond. 
 
 But if, notwithstanding all that I could urge in fa- 
 vour of fuch a government, you mould prefer what you 
 call liberty, in which perfons of all ranks, qualified or 
 unqualified, give the greattft part of their time to a fub- 
 je6l which they will never undtrfland, and ftill chufe to 
 clamour, and almoft fight, about endlefs elections of 
 magiftrates, no harm would be done. You might pro- 
 ceed juft as you had done before. 
 
 If, in order to prevent the mifchief that often ari- 
 fes from competition, I fhould advife that, inftead of ma- 
 king a king of any native American, who would not 
 foon acquire the proper difpofition and habits of one, 
 you mould return to your former allegiance to the 
 king of Great Britain, a king ready formed to your 
 hands, who would, no doubt, forgive all that was 
 pad, and promife you the beft treatment for the future, 
 and thus become a wing of that great empire which now 
 commands the world, and fhare in the honour of exter- 
 minating all Jacobinifm, democracy, anarchy, and irre*- 
 ligion (all which are now only confidercd as different 
 names of the fame thing) and you mould not quite like 
 the propofal, I fhould liill hope to be excufed for ma- 
 king it, from my loyalty to my natural fovereign. and 
 my zeal for the honour of my native country, even if I 
 did not coufult your interefl in it ; and as you would 
 not be hurt, you could not be much offended. 
 
 Mr. Cobbet, a greater admirer of England than I 
 am, would, no doubt, go farther than I could in its com- 
 mendation. He might fay that, could you but fee the 
 king of Great Britain in his (late coach, drawn by eight 
 cream colouied horfes, with all his horfe guards, fur^ 
 rounded by perhaps a hundred thoufand admiring fpec- 
 tators, in his progrefs thro' St. j ames's park ; and after that 
 fee himfeated in his robes on the throne in the houfe of 
 
 Lords, 
 
Of Northumberland, &? c. ^ 
 
 Lords, with all the Lords and Bifhops in their robes ; could 
 you fee him ferved on the knee, and perfons killing his 
 hand, you would be afharaed of your Prefident, and 
 every thing belonging to him. He might fay that an 
 American would be flruck dumb at the fight of an En- 
 giifh judge feated in his fcarlet robe on the bench, with 
 all the lawyers in their gowns, and flowing wigs. He 
 would fay that the beft man among you was hardly fit 
 to be made a jufticc of the peace in England. And 
 then what is your navy ? It is not fojmuch as the frog 
 compared to the ox in the fable ; and might bid you take 
 care left the ox fhould fet his foot upon it. 
 
 But fhould you confider all this as mere prejudice 
 in favour of our native country, and think there was 
 more Ihew than fubftance in kingly governments, that 
 armies and navies eoft more than they are worth, and 
 that you could employ your funds to more advantage, 
 you would only fmile at our reprefentations, and not 
 be angry. 
 
 To be perfectly ferious : in all countries, and under 
 every form of government, opinions of every kind, and 
 thofe of all perfons, natives or aliens, in office or out of 
 office, fhould be perfectly free ; becaufe they can do no 
 harm ; tho' overt affis, tending to the forcible fubverfion 
 of any government, fhould be watched with the greatefi 
 care. 
 
 A perfon may even be fafely trufted with the admi- 
 niftration of the affairs of a country the conftitution of 
 whofe government he does not approve. Admitting, 
 for inftance, what is commonly fuppofed, and is not al- 
 together improbable, that Mr. Adams, the Prefident, 
 fhould think an hereditary monarchy preferable to an c- 
 ItBcd Executive, like that of this country ; being of o- 
 pinion that fuch a form of government is more favoura- 
 ble to the peace and happinefs of the people ; yet, yield- 
 ing, as every man muft do, to the opinion of the ma- 
 jority of his fellow citizens, and dreading, as all wife 
 
 men 
 
8 To the Inhabitant* 
 
 men will, the hazard of any great change, or revoluti- 
 on, in the government, he may faithfully adminifter that 
 which he has fworn to maintain ; and I have no doubt 
 but that, whatever may be his private opinion on the 
 fubject, he will do it to the beft of his ability. 
 
 All that we have to apprehend in fuch a cafe is 
 from the opinions of perfons in high offices becoming 
 general; and it is, doubtlefs, much in their power to 
 recommend their opinions to general acceptance. But 
 even then, if the people at large really approve of the 
 change propofed, he will be entitled to their gratitude 
 for bringing it about. Nothing is to be dreaded but 
 violence, "which we need not fear will ever be attempt- 
 ed in this country. Let every thing, efpecially things 
 of importance, be propofed to free difcuflion, and let 
 truth and error have equal advantage. The former can- 
 not fail to recommend itfelf to univerfal acceptance in 
 due time, and the latter will be univerfally exploded. 
 
 I am, t&c. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Of Improvements in the Conjlitution of the United States. 
 My Fsiends and Neighbours, 
 
 MY object in this Letter is not to cri- 
 ticife J;he whole of your conftitution, or to dwell on the 
 gencr.il excellence of it. I think it the beft that has 
 ever 'been devifedby man, and reduced to practice, in 
 any s t ge, or in any part, of the world. It has every 
 thing that is valuable in the Englifh conftitution, which 
 
Of Northumberland, t3c. 9 
 
 was confefledly fuperior to any other in Europe, with- 
 out its defers. Without this perfuafion I lliould not 
 have come among you. But no work of mm can be 
 expected to be perfc?6l ; and therefore you will not, I 
 hope, be offended if I mention two or three particulars, 
 wirh refpeft to which I think it might be improved. 
 Of this, however, you will judge for yourfelves. The 
 ITK re opinion of any perfon, and efpecially that of an 
 alien, cannot do you any harm. 
 
 i. If, then, I may take the liberty to cenfure any 
 article in your conftitution, the firft that I fliould no- 
 tice would be that which allows of the eligibility of 
 auy man to the office of Prelident for life. Hiftory 
 abundantly iliews that the love of power is as great as 
 that of money. The more men have of either, the 
 more they generally wifh to have: It being poffible, 
 then, by your conftitution, fora man to keep this high 
 iituation for life, by being clecled into it every four years, 
 he has an intereft in enlarging the power attached to it ; 
 and if ambition be his objecl; (and pure patriotifm, I 
 fear, exifts only in Utopia) he will ufe every means that 
 his fifeuation gives him, which will neceflarily be great, 
 to gain friends ; efpecially by giving offices of truft and 
 emolument under him, not to thole who are the beft 
 qualified to difcharge the duties of them, but to thofe 
 who will fecond his views of continuing in power. And 
 they who are thus favoured by him will naturally con- 
 cur in promoting his intereft, becaufe it will lay him 
 under an additional obligation to promote theirs. 
 
 Oa the contrary, if the conftitution was fuch as 
 that no perfon could enjoy an office of fuch power as 
 that of the Prefident longer than three or four years, 
 and he was riot eligible to it again, or not till after a 
 confiderable diftance of time, it would not be his inter- 
 eft to make friends at the expence of his country, and 
 he would not wifh to enlarge a power to which he muft 
 himfelf foon be, and remain, iubjeft. 
 
 B Whatever 
 
io To the Inhabitants 
 
 Whatever may be objected to the conilitution of 
 France in other relpecls, in this it is preferable to trur of 
 this country. Since each of the five dire&ons, be tides 
 having only one fifth part of the power of your Prefi- 
 dent, muil be reduced to the rank of a common citi- 
 zen in five years, the temptation he is under to extend 
 his power is much lefs. This advantage, however, is 
 probably more than balanced by the want of union, and 
 confequently of energy, in fuch a divided executive. 
 
 It will be faid that the longer any perfori in the 
 executive offices of government continues in power, the 
 more flable and uniform the meafures of government 
 will be ; whereas frequent changes will be attended wit;h 
 endlefs fluctuations, fo that foreign powers will never 
 know what to look to. 
 
 But this inconvenience, for fuch it is acknowledg- 
 ed to be, only takes place when the perfon poffeffed of 
 this power has no will but his own to follow, as in go- 
 vernments that are arbitrary, like that of Ruflia. This 
 empire has feldom changed its head without a total 
 change of its politics. Peter I II found his country at 
 war with the king of Pruffia, and inftantly became his 
 ally. This alliance the cmprefs, who foon fucceeded 
 him, changed into a ftate of neutrality, and if fhe had 
 pleafed, it might have been hoftility again. 
 
 What can be more changeable than the meafures 
 of the fame arbitrary court, directed by the caprices of 
 different courtiers and favourites. Dumouriez fays that 
 thofe of the court of Verfailles, in his time, varied with 
 every change of minifters, of factions, of miflreffes, or 
 of favourites. See his Life, vol. 2, p. 85. 
 
 But the leaders of a government truly republican, 
 like that of the United States, will, and mufl, take 
 their meafures from the wifhes of the people, which are 
 not fo apt to change, becaufe they flow from the gene- 
 ral intereft. The annual change of the Roman con- 
 fuls never occafioned any change in the meafures of go- 
 vernment, 
 
Of Northumberland, &c, 1 1 
 
 vernment, nor did the annual ele&ion of Doges at Ve- 
 nice or Genoa. 
 
 It will alfo be faid that if the people really prefer 
 any particular Prefident to any other, they ought to be 
 gratified, and not be under a neceffity of changing him. 
 But in A country of fuch an extent as that of the Uni- 
 ted States of America, there muft, furely, be more than 
 one per ion whom the people will think fufficiently qua- 
 lified to furve them, and in whom they can lafely place 
 confidence: and this fmall rcOnclion of their choice 
 will be abundantly compenfated by putting it out of the 
 power, or inclination, of any Proficient to confult his 
 own mtereft at the cxpence of theirs. 
 
 If you read any niflory, you will find that an at- 
 tachment to particular perions has been the occafion of 
 unfpeakable mifchief in all countries. Tho' fome in- 
 convenience a role Irom the Romans having annual con- 
 fuls, and annual generals, it was found to be trifling 
 compared with thofe which were the confequence of the 
 attachment the ioldiers acquired for fuch mtn as Mari- 
 us and Sylla, Caefar and Pompey, who were fuffered 
 to continue many years in the command of the fame ar- 
 mies. It was the true caufe of that fucceflion of dread- 
 ful civil wars, which did not end but with the tola 1 fub- 
 verfion of the republican form of government, and the 
 eftablimment of one that was purely military and def- 
 potic. 
 
 2. So excellent aconflitution as is that of thiscoun- 
 try deferves to be guarded with the greateil care ; and 
 yet in this refped it appears to me to be defective, as it 
 contains no fufficient provifion for guarding againft vi- 
 olations of it by perfons entrufled with its adrmniflra- 
 tion. To decide in queflions of this high and ferious 
 nature, there fhould, I think, be afpecial court, con- 
 fifling of deputies from all the ftates of the union. 
 
 The greateft danger of any encroachment on the 
 conflitmion is from the congrcfs miftaking or exceeding 
 
 their 
 
1 2 To the Inhabitants 
 
 their power ; and by proceeding without any check of 
 this kind, they might gradually aflame all the power of 
 the Englifh parliament, which is uncontrouled by any 
 defined confutation. And certainly no body of men 
 mould be judges in their own caufe. 
 
 The ordinary judges, tho' continuing in office du- 
 ring their good behaviour, and not removeable at any 
 perfon's pleafure. are fo connected with perfons in pow- 
 er, and efpecially thole from whom they received their 
 appointments, that they have been found, with very few 
 exceptions, to favour the exifiing admini frration in all 
 countries, and in all times. 
 
 I would alfo take the liberty to propofe that it 
 fhould be in the power of the legiflature of any of the 
 feparate dates to call this fpecuil court, and lay before 
 it whatever they fhould apprehend to have been a vio- 
 lation oi the couflitution, by the Congrefs, the Prefi- 
 dent, or any man, or body of men. whatever. 
 
 3. If I might take the liberty to ceni'ure not only 
 your government, but th.-\t of every other in the world, 
 it would be your requiring oaths / allegiance, and in- 
 deed any declaration of a man's principles or ientiments, 
 in words or writing. Befides being an abufe of reli- 
 gion, and a temptation to prevaricate. I do not believe 
 that this meafure has ever been iound to anfwer the end 
 propofed by it. On one pretence or other, and efpe- 
 cially that of perfons being compelled to take them, thro' 
 the impoflibility of avoiding them, it will be main- 
 tained by many, that they are of no force or obligation ; 
 and in many countries oaths of allegiance have been 
 changed toothers inconuftent with them, and yet not ob- 
 je&ed to on that account. Witnefs thofe that have been 
 taken in France to the different conftitutions of that 
 country fi-nce the abolition of monarchy. 
 
 A few confcientious perfons, who wifh to be quiet, 
 and who might be fafely trufted in any government, will 
 Scruple to take iuch oaths : and by this means good 
 
 fubjeOs 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 13 
 
 fubje&s are excluded, while men of no principle, fuch 
 as alone are dangerous, will make no difficulty of ta- 
 king any oath that you chufe to impofc. 
 
 It might, furely, be fufficient to punifh perfons 
 redding in any country when they are found to act con- 
 trary to the laws of it. For my own part, I prefer the 
 iituation of an alien, inconvenient as it is in feveral ref- 
 pects, rather than make the haifh declaration which 
 your laws require refpectirig the country of which I am 
 a native j but while my perfon arid my property are in 
 your power, have you not iiiffich nt hold upon me, 
 without requiring any verbal declaration about renoun- 
 cing England, and of my attachment to America? 
 
 It may be prudent not to admit Grangers to offices 
 of truit and power till after a competent time of refi- 
 dence ; fo that it may be prefumed that they have ac- 
 quired a fufficient knowledge of your laws and confli- 
 tution, and a proper attachment to them. But the de- 
 claration of this by an oath appears to me to be fu- 
 perflnous, to be a caufe of diftrcfs to the confcienti- 
 ous and no bar whatever to thofe whom you would 
 wifh to keep out of the country. 
 
 I am, &e. 
 
 LETTER 
 
14 To the Inhabitants 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Of Infringments of the Conjlitution by the Afts of Con- 
 grefs r effecting the Regulation of Commerce, the Power 
 of making Peace and War, and ReJlriBions of the 
 Freedom of Speech and of the Prefs. 
 
 Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 WHEN I left England, I was in- 
 to come hither chiefly on account of my high 
 admiration of the confutation of your government. It 
 was at that time the only one that had been drawn up 
 with deliberation by perfons appointed for that exprefs 
 purpofe, and folemnly accepted by the nation. Jt was 
 wholly founded on the rights of mem. and thefovereign- 
 ty oj the people. In other words it was purely republi- 
 can, every officer being chofen by the people, to fervc 
 them for a limited time, and afterwards accountable to 
 them for their conduct. There were no hereditary ho- 
 nours, or powers of any kind, and no form of religion 
 ^eftablifhed by law. The power of making peace or 
 war, and alfo that of regulating commerce with foreign 
 nations, as well as among yourfelves, was wifely placed 
 in the Congrefs, of which your immediate reprefenta- 
 tives (who are the mod intereiled in every thing of this 
 kind) are the mod effential part. Your country was 
 then open to all new comers without any reftriction; 
 and that great and neceffary guard of liberty the free- 
 dom of fpeech and of the prefs. was uncontrolled. Your 
 conftitution exprefsly fays that " the migration of fuch 
 61 perfons as any ftate then exifling fhould think pro- 
 " per to admit fhould not be prohibited by Congrefs 
 " till the year 1808 ; and that the Congrefs fhould make 
 
 " no 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 15 
 
 cc no law abridging the freedom of fpcech or of the 
 " prefs." 
 
 To my great furprize and mortification, however, 
 I now find that feveral of thefe articles, effential to a 
 truly free government, have been, in my opinion, on 
 one pretence or other, infringed. Or, if the prefent 
 Hate of things be really agreeable to the Conftitution, 
 it was not drawn up for the ufe of plain men, but of 
 veiy acute lawyers only. Certainly the comment does 
 not naturally flow from the text ; or there was in 
 the letter of the conftitution a latent ambiguity, which 
 defeats the profefled object of it. Thus becaufe your 
 Conftitution gives to the Prefident, and two thirds of 
 the Senate, the power of making treaties with foreign 
 powers, and treaties may relate to any fubjeQ: in which 
 different ftates may be concerned, they may make trea- 
 ties of alliance, ojfenji-ve and defenfive, and alib treaties 
 of commerce ; and by this means all interference of the 
 proper reprefentatives of the people either in the bufi- 
 nefs of commerce, or of peace and -war, in which they 
 are mod concerned, and in which they therefore ought 
 ^in reafon to have the mofl control, is effectually pre- 
 cluded. The treaty, fhackling their commerce, or in- 
 volving them in a war, is aftually made independently 
 of them, and all their objections to it have no effeft. 
 
 Since treaties become parts of the law, by which 
 the courts of juftice are bound, I do not fee but thatifc 
 is in the power of the Prefident and two thirds of the 
 fenate, that is I believe of twenty one men, to bind 
 the country in all cafes whatever. For what is there 
 that may not be introduced into fome treaty ? In this 
 way this country might have become a party in the trea- 
 ty of Pilnitz or of Pavia, and thus have been engaged, 
 tho' ever fo reluctantly, in the coalition againfl the li- 
 berties of France, and of Europe in general. 
 
 It is, moreover, contended by the friends, as they 
 are called, of government, that when, in confsquence 
 
 of 
 
16 To the Inhabitants 
 
 of any treaty, money is to be raifed to carry it intoef- 
 ik'l. the representatives of the nation, who give the mo- 
 Bey, muft aofolutely raife the (urn required, or as the 
 parafe is, make the. appropriations; having no other 
 choice than that of railing it in what they may think the 
 bed m. inner. 
 
 This is a power which even the parliament of Great 
 Britain has not yet been brought to furrender. There 
 the king has, indeed, the nominal power of making 
 peace and war, and alfo treaties of every kind. But if 
 money be neceflary to carry them into execution, the 
 treaties come under difcuffion in the Houfe of Com- 
 mons, and the people give or with-hold their money 
 as they think proper ; fo that they have a virtual ne- 
 gative on all the meafures of the court ; and certainly 
 it is highly reafonable that they mould have it. And 
 was not this intended by the framers of your conftitu- 
 tion too ? Could they give the Congrefs the power of 
 making peace and war, and alfo that of regulating com- 
 merce in one part of that inftrumtnt, and take it out 
 of their hands in another. Such manifefl inconfiflency 
 and deceit is not to be fuppofed. 
 
 It, therefore, appears moft clearly to me, who am 
 a flranger among you, that the real meaning and intent 
 of the conflitution in thefe two effential articles has 
 been perverted, that a moft important power has been 
 taken from the many, and transferred to the few, and 
 that the moft valuable interefts of the former have been 
 furrendered to the latter. If in this I reafon wrong, 
 I wifh to be fet right. But I p re fume that your con- 
 Jlitution was drawn up for the ufe of the citizens at large, 
 and in fuch language as it was thought they might un- 
 derftand; and this language being Englifh, I may be 
 fuppofed tounderftand it as well as yourfelves. Your 
 conftitution is not like that of the Engliih government. 
 to be looked for in remote hiftory, or collected from 
 the actual extrcife of it, like the principles of the com- 
 mon 
 
Of Northumberland, &c, 17 
 
 tnon law. It is committed to writing, and was made 
 in the memory of perfons now living ; To that the real 
 meaning of every article of it, and the reafons on which 
 they were founded, are well known. 
 
 So evident is it, in my opinion, that the alien and 
 f edition ath are unconftitutional, that I (hall not en- 
 Jarge on the proof of this. It is ("ufficient, I think, to 
 obferve withrefpeftto them, that the Congrefs have made 
 lav/s (if unconftitutional afts can be called laws) on 
 fubjefts with refpeft to which they were exprefsl y- forbid- 
 den by the conftitution to make any. I (hall, there- 
 fore, content myfelf with making fome obfervations en 
 the nature and tendency of them. 
 
 Laws calculated to reflrain the freedom of fpeech 
 and of the prefs, which have always been made on the 
 pretenfe of the afatfcof them, are of fo fufpicious a na- 
 ture in themfelves, and have been fo conftantly the 
 refort of arbitrary governments, that I was beyond 
 meafure aftonifhed to find them introduced here; and 
 yet in fome re fp efts the laws that have lately been 
 made by Con^refs are more fevere than thofe in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 While the prefs is open to the friends, as well as 
 the enemies, of thofe in power, I fee no good reafon 
 why they mould not be content to defend themfelves 
 with the fame weapons with which they are attacked. 
 Why mould any man fhelter himfelf behind penal laws 
 when he is attacked by argument, if it was in his pow- 
 er to defend himfelf in the fame way. Argument an- 
 Ivvers the purpofe fo much more effeftually than force, 
 that it is reafonable to conclude, that recourfe will ne- 
 ver be had to the latter, but when there is a failure of 
 the former. Why do we ufe a rod to children, but 
 becaufe they are incapable of hearing reafon ? In no 
 country will there ever be wanting men fufficiently 
 able, and willing, to defend the conduft of the govern- 
 ing powers. To this (landard men of genius are rea- 
 
 C dy 
 
1 8 To the Inhabitants 
 
 dv enough to run, from motives that do not need to b 
 pointed -Kit. 
 
 A vn*re opinions concerning the conduct of per- 
 fons in public offices ou^ht to be as free as any other 
 opinions concerning fubje&s that are intcrefting to 
 the community. In faft, it is no more than matters 
 cenfurin.j; the coniuctof their fervants. For every in- 
 dividual is a p irt of the great inafs, for the ufe of whom 
 all governments were instituted. But perfons in office, 
 which neceifrinly implies fervitudc, being ufually called 
 governors, are apt to arrogate to themfelves the prero- 
 gatives of mafters ; and their friends and flatterers call 
 almoft every cenfure on their conduct, every thing 
 that has in it more of freedom than they like, in fpeaking 
 or writing., f edition or treafon : whereas, in reafon, no- 
 thing ought to be fo termed, that does not immediately 
 affect the peace of the country. 
 
 The characters, or the lives, of perfons in office, 
 by whatever names they may be called, ought not to 
 be confidered in any other light than thofe of other 
 individuals, under the prote&ion of the fame laws. 
 An attempt to take the life of a king would ne- 
 ver have been confidered as high treafon in Europe, 
 if kings had not been confidered in a different light 
 from that of the fervanUof the Public. Not but that 
 ths lives of all public officers, civil or military, even that 
 of aconftable, being of great importance to the fociety, 
 the crime of taking them away is greater than that of 
 the murder of private perfons ; but Hill it is a different 
 thing from that of high treafon. But tho' it may be 
 proper to guard the lives of public officers by fevere 
 penal laws, there is no neceffity for fuch a defence of 
 their charafter^ or public conduct; becaufe they may 
 be defended by the fame means by which they are at- 
 tacked. When a life is taken the mifchief is without 
 remedy, but any injury done to a character may be re- 
 paired. 
 
 Governors 
 
Of Northumberland, G?c. 19 
 
 Governors vainly endeavour to ward off impend- 
 ing evils by impofing filence on their adverfaries. Hif- 
 tory mews that no government ever derived any per- 
 manent advantage from meafures of this kind. The 
 lefs men have the liberty tofpeak, the more they will 
 think; and they naturally fufpecl; that what they are 
 forbidden to examine will not bear examination. 
 
 In no country was there ever lefs liberty of print- 
 ing and pub -idling than in France before the 'revoluti- 
 on. When I was at Paris, in 1774, the tranflator of 
 the firfl volume of mv Experiments on Air could not 
 obtain leave to publifh the whole of my Preface, which 
 contained fome free fentiments concerning the general 
 extenfion of knowledge. The infpe&or of the prefs 
 defired a friend to inform me, that he had riot himfelf 
 any objection to the publication; but that the nature 
 of his office was fiich, that it would be too hazardous 
 for him to admit of it. 
 
 But did this iln&nefs prevent the revolution ? 
 The freeft publications were at the lame time circulated 
 with the greatffl induftry, and they were read with a- 
 vidity, and with tenfold tffe6l, in conlequence of it. 
 The fame will be the cafe in every other country in 
 which the fame meafures (hall be adopted ; fo that with- 
 out pretending to any extraordinary means of prying 
 into futurity, we may predict, that the caufe of monar- 
 chy in England, and that of fedcra lifm in this coun* 
 try, will be no gainers eventually by what their advo- 
 >*ates are doing in this way. 
 
 Jam, &c. 
 
 LETTER 
 
20 To the Inhabitants 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Gf the Laws relating to Aliens, and the Naturalization 
 of Foreigners. 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 ALL the laws refpecling Aliens, and 
 thofe thafe are calculated to throw difficulties in the way 
 oi naturalization, have been made fince my arrival in 
 the country, and I am far from feeing the wifdom of 
 them. Little did I then expect that, tho' I continued 
 an alien, I mould not have the right of a trial by jury, 
 which your conftitution expreisly gives to all perfons 
 without exception, if I mould be accuied of any crime ; 
 whereas I now find that, not only without the benefit 
 of a jury, but that even without a trial, or indeed any 
 forma! accufation, your Prefident may, of his own fuf- 
 picion only, fend mo out of the country. And in this 
 cafe perfect innocence is no fecunty ; fince the btft of 
 men are liable to prejudice, and open to falfe informa- 
 tion. 
 
 It is not denied that thofe laws were intended to 
 jexclude from this country the friends of liberty, oppro- 
 brioufly called Jacobins, Democrats, &c. emigrating 
 from Europe, a defcription of men in which I am proud 
 to rank my (elf. But confider the matter calmly, and 
 fay whether you can think the obj eel; worth fecuring by 
 this means. What does this country, I do not fay the 
 governors of it, but what does the country, what do y cur- 
 fdves, gain by it. You certainly do not now want peo- 
 ple from Europe. Your population increafes fail c- 
 nongh without this additional lource j -but you want the 
 cf Europeans, to clear your. caufctry, and culti- 
 vate 
 
Of Northumberland, f3c. 21 
 
 vate your lands, and you cannot expect the money 
 without the men. 
 
 Had thofs laws been made fix years ago, there 
 would not have been an Englifhman in this place ; but 
 tho' the makers and friends of the laws would not have 
 been lorry for this, can you lay the fame ? Have the pro- 
 prietors of lands and houfes, have your artizans, and 
 your labouring poor, derived no advantage from our re- 
 lidence among you ? Have you not been benefited by 
 the purchafes we have made, and the punctuality of 
 our payments ; and what is perhaps more than this, by 
 the example of our activity and induliry, which are ha* 
 bitual to Engliihmen ? 
 
 You fee, befidcs, that the dread of our politics, 
 which has been the caufe of all thefe harm laws, is al- 
 together chimerical. For the Engiilh of this place are 
 not more a-r-ctl on this fubjccl; than you are your- 
 felves. Several of us are as good federalifts as any of 
 you, and none of us more violently democratical tijan 
 others of you. And the generality are men who qui- 
 etly mind their bufmefs, without giving themfelves, or 
 you, any trouble on the fubjecl. Very far fhouid I 
 have been from writing thefe expoftulatory letters on 
 the f abject of Politics, if I could have been furrerqd 
 as quietly to follow the bufmefs of my library and 
 my laboratory, as they do that of their feveral profefli- 
 ons. But to be held out as I have been for feveral years 
 as a dangerous perfon, on whom it behoves the gover- 
 nors of the country to keep a watchful eye, and per- 
 haps to have been in a great rneafure the caufe of the 
 prevailing jealoufy of foreigners, and of the laws 
 that are calculated to exclude them, has at length, tho* 
 with much reluctance, led me to endeavour to unde- 
 ceive you. If I fucceed it will be to your advantage 
 as well as mine. Jf not, things will only remain as 
 they were before. 
 
 Admitting 
 
tt To the Inhabitants 
 
 Admitting the objeft of our adverfaries to be a 
 proper one, I do not fee that they gain any advantage 
 by rendering naturalization difficult. It is not a man's 
 being kept by force in the ftate of an alien that will 
 difpofe him to think better of any country ; nor, if his 
 difpofition be hoftile to it, and he be chagrined by this 
 fufpicion of him, will it be at all the lefs in his power 
 to do the mifchief that is apprehended from him. His 
 being an alien does not prevent his fpeaking or writing; 
 and by the ufeofhis tongue, and his pen, he has all 
 the influence that his talents and activity can give him. 
 All that you take from him is his capacity for enjoy- 
 in^ anv civil office, which a ftranger, tho' naturalized, 
 would not foon expect ; and his fingle vote for any 
 other perfon to gain it is of trifling confequence among 
 many thoufands. 
 
 If the grofs abufe from which I have never been 
 exempted ever fiuce my arrival in this country could 
 have rmde me an enemy to it (which it by no means 
 has done) was it not in my power to have written in 
 yonr newspapers, or to have publifhed political pam- 
 phlets, either anonyrnoufly, or otherwise, as I mould 
 h-ive thought moil prudent, and by that means have 
 don| as much mifchief as if I had been naturalized ? 
 
 Where, ti;on, is the wifdom of thefe meafures, 
 which prevent the corning of valuable emigrants, fuch 
 as you wifh to receive, and do not take from thofe that 
 you i' : tl k j their power of injuring you ? To make 
 thefe meafures of any real ufe to thofe who are advo- 
 cates for i hem, they ought to have been carried farther. 
 Aliens fhould not have been allowed the ufe of pen, 
 ink and paper; or whatever they wrote, fhould have 
 been lubjecl: to the infpe6lion of the officers of go- 
 vernment. They (hould alfo have feen no company but 
 in the prefence of the fame officers. This being un- 
 derftood, the end would be effe&ually gained, by the 
 voluntary retreat of all the aliens in the country, and the 
 
Of Northumberland, &c, t g 
 
 effe&ual prevention of the arrival of anv more. The 
 half meafures you now take are calculated to do you 
 more harm than good. 
 
 What you fee of Englifhmen in this place, you 
 may take for .granted is equally true of thofe that are 
 fettled in other parts of the continent. The generality 
 of them only wifh to be quiet; and if they were other- 
 wife difpofed, they are in no degree formidable, and 
 the country derives advantage from their capital and 
 their example, especially that of the Englifh farmers ; 
 and fuch men are of the greateft importance in this 
 agricultural country. 
 
 But to find in America the fame maxims of go- 
 vernment, and the fame proceedings, from which 
 many of us fled from Europe, and to be reproached 
 as difturbers of govenment there, and chiefly becaufc 
 we did what the court of England will never forgive in 
 favour of liberty here, is, we own, a great difappqintment 
 to us, especially as we cannot now return. Had Dr. Price 
 himfelf, the great friend of American liberty in Eng- 
 land, or Dr. Wren, with both of whom I zealoufly 
 acled in behalf of your prifoners, who mufl otherwise 
 have flarved, and in every other way in which we could 
 iafely ferve your caufe, becaufe we thought it the caufe 
 of liberty and juftice, againit tyranny and opprejfion ; 
 I fay, had either of thefe zealous, and aftive, and cer- 
 tainly, difenterefled, friends of America been now liv- 
 ing, they would not have been more welcome here 
 than myfelf ; and they would have held up their hands 
 with aftonifhment to fee many of the old tories, the 
 avowed enemies of your revolution, in greater favour 
 than themfelves. If in this you ad on the ehriftian 
 principle of forgiving and loving your enemies, for which, 
 if they repent, you are to be commended, you mould 
 not forget your obligations to old and Heady friends. 
 
 The emigrants you wifh to exclude are thofe who 
 might reafonabiy exped to be the beft received here, 
 
 as 
 
24 To the Inhabitants 
 
 as moft likely to be attached to your government ; be- 
 caufeit is free from every thing that they complain of 
 at home. Finding here no hereditary honours or pow- 
 ers, no church efrablifhment, few taxes, and thole laid 
 by the reprefentatives of the people, freely chofen, what 
 could lead to a fufpicion thatperfons flying fro-n what 
 was in all refpe&s the reverfe of this in Europe mould 
 not be the beft friends to the government here ? 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Of the Policy of America with Refpecl, to Foreign Na- 
 tions 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 Having taken the liberty in the pre- 
 ceding letters to arraign the wifdom of fome of the late 
 meafures of your government with refpect to your home 
 concerns, I mail proceed with the fame, I hope not of- 
 fenfive, freedom, to fay what I think of your conduct 
 to wards foreign nations-, and with refpecl; to them I am 
 of opinion that you have done what your interefl re- 
 quired you not to have done. 
 
 While an alliance fubfifted between this country 
 and France, which had given you material afliflance in 
 aliening your independence, a treaty of amity as well 
 as of commerce and navigation, fhould not, I think, 
 have been made with England without the knowledge, 
 if not the concurrence, of the French government. 
 And this being done while thofe countries were in a 
 
 (late 
 
Of Northumberland, G?c. 25 
 
 flate of war, could not fail to give umbrage to France, 
 efpecially as your ambaflador, who negotiated the trea- 
 ty, was oftenfibly fent for a very different purpofe, viz. 
 to demand fatisfaction for injuries received from En- 
 gland. In this proceeding I fee nothing of the fair- 
 nefs and opennefs that I ihould have expected from a 
 republican government. 
 
 The French government, however, refented this 
 conduct more than reafon and true policy required ; and 
 tho' it might be expecled that, if friendfhip was really in- 
 tended, a perfon fuppofed to be friendly to them would 
 have been fent to negotiate with them, they had no 
 right to rejecl; any perions in whom this country put 
 confidence. 
 
 The French government, alfo, following the ex- 
 ample of England, was much to be blamed for their 
 conduct to this country, and the neutral nations in 
 general. And when your coafls were infulted, and 
 your vefTels captured almoft in the mouth of your 
 harbours, you did right, I think, to protect your pro- 
 perty, and repel that violent aggreflion. But this might 
 have been done without making it a national quarrel, 
 by allowing the merchants, to defend their property, 
 which they would have done at no great expence ; and 
 this would have been defrayed in the bed manner by 
 an advance of the price of their goods. But to build 
 navies, and efpecially to raife (landing armies, on ac- 
 count of any apprehenfion you could reafonably have 
 from France, a country fo diflant, and which could 
 not have any imaginable motive for quarrelling .with 
 you, was, in my opinion, the wildefl policy, and put- 
 ting the country to a great expence for nothing, if not 
 worie than nothing. For one writer on the fide of 
 your government in the Philadelphia Gazette for Oc- 
 tober 19, fays that the army was intended to overaw, or 
 fupprefs, the democrats. If this be true (and this wri- 
 ter has better means of information than I have) it is a 
 
 D declaration 
 
s6 To tfie Inhabitants 
 
 declaration of war againfl thofc who difapprove the 
 late meafures.* 
 
 Tho' I honour your Prefident for his frank and 
 open conduft, the reverfe of that of the crafty politici- 
 an, which I confider as on- of the mod ietellible of 
 human charaftcrs, I could not approve of his unne- 
 celfary and inceilant, not to fay unjuft, invectivt-s a^a : :ift 
 the French government. It was in my opinion, un- 
 becoming a wife ftatefman. and rnuft render a recvn- 
 cileation with France which is certainly a very ddira- 
 ble object) more difficult than it would otherwise be, 
 during his prefidency ; unlefs the French directory 
 have more temper and prudence than we can reafona- 
 bly expect. 
 
 All this, you will fay, is nothing more than com- 
 mon place party politics. But if I have nothing bet- 
 ter, what muft I fay ? You wifh I fuppofe, to know 
 
 my 
 
 * The writer of this remarkable paper fays " Though 
 France or Rigaud mould not invade us, we h.ive, nevcrthelefs, 
 all the hoft of internal enemies to ktcj, down. What can do 
 it fo effectually as a good body of troops ? -- Jo keep thieves 
 off, have a gun or a fword at your bed fide To keep trai- 
 tors, united Iriihmen, and Frenchmen in awe, have fume 
 troops ready to repel the firft invaders, to crulh the firft ri- 
 fings and ftditions. An ounce of prevention is worth a tun 
 of remedy " 
 
 " Military force, they tell us, is fometimes abufed. What 
 power is not ? Civil power certainly is. But a military force 
 mor frequently turns agair.ft its employers than it betrays or 
 repreflcs liberty. That is, indeed, a ilrong argument againft 
 iifrig it. But remote dangers arc to be difregarded when 
 greater are imminent. Jacobins are to be kept out of the ar- 
 my , and militia. Government muft ufe its bcft courage and 
 vigilence.'' 
 
 " Plain truth, like this, is not to be expected from men in 
 Congrcfs, or general courts. Thit is no good reafon v. hy it 
 fhould not be told by other honcft men, nor why honeft men 
 foould reea it." 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 27 
 
 rny fentiments, and they are fuch as I have to offer on 
 a iu- jVct which has , imitated the minds of all the citi- 
 zens of the Uiud Slates. However, I fhall now 
 proceed to c.-blt Canons that are not fo very trite, and 
 indeed almoft pecmiar to fnyfelf. 
 
 If any country in the world was fo fituated as 
 to he capable of deriving advantage from all r.\n ns. and 
 of receiving injury from nonr ot them, it is lurely this. 
 The nan ve Indians being out of the qirrftion, as hav- 
 ing no power to hurt you. all (hat you can have in con- 
 templation are the feveral powers of Europe, generally, 
 and efpecially at this time, in a Rate of war with each 
 other. But as it is the ir.tereft of them all to be upon 
 good terms with this country, it is very ealy for this 
 country to be upon good terms with them, without 
 taking any part in their quarrels. 
 
 As this nation wants no territory belonging either 
 to France or England, the two great rival nations of 
 Europe, and they have novifihle intereft in coveting 
 any thing belonging to this, no natural caufe of hofti- 
 lity can exift with refpel to either of them. Every 
 poflible difference mufl relate to commercial inrer- 
 courfe. But if regard to profit and lofs be the leading 
 
 principle 
 
 I, as a democrat, and an enemy to /landing armies, *hank 
 the writer of this paper, and alfo the perfon who introduced 
 the extracts from ir into the Northumberland Gazttte of 
 Nov 9, for this frank communication. When perfons in of- 
 fice will not, as this writer fays, fpeak out, and tell their 
 whole meaning, we are o liged to their friends for doingitfor 
 them. I wi(h this paper may be copied into every Newfpa- 
 per in the United States j as I am confident it would do more 
 towards opening the eyes of the people with reipect to the late 
 meafures of the government, than all our writing. And if 
 this be done, there wiil be nothing to apprehend either from 
 fedition lawe, tr Handing armies- The ralifman will be bro- 
 ken, and the caftie, with all its terrific apparatus, will vanifh 
 at once. 
 
28 To the Inhabitants 
 
 principle in all tranfaftions of a commercial nature, 
 the protection of commerce can never be a juflifiable 
 caufe of war; becau.U-, whatever be the iffue of nation- 
 al iioftility, the lofs muft far/exceed the amount of all 
 th poffible gain. It is the part of wifdom, therefore, 
 to bear a fmalier lofs, rather than endeavour to repair it, 
 with the certainty of incurring a greater. 
 
 As to mere infults, there is r more dignity in dif- 
 pifing*than in refentmg them. No expreflion of con- 
 tempt can jufiify a war between nations, any more than 
 it will juftify duels between individuals. In both cafes 
 alike it is the conduct of men governed by paffion rather 
 than by reafon, by a principle of falfe honor, rather than 
 the true one. 
 
 All the intercourfe you can want with any foreign 
 nation is, as I have obierved, a commercial one ; and 
 the idea of commerce is very fimple. It ccnfiits in 
 nothing more than the exchange of one commodity for 
 another. If any thing that you have be of lefs value 
 to you th to a foreign nation, and any thing that 
 
 they have be of more value to you than it is to them, 
 it is for the benefit of both countries to exchange the 
 one for the other. But the means, or the mode, in 
 which this exchange is made is not the commerce. A 
 third nation might be the carrier of the different com- 
 modities from the one to the other. 
 
 If the merchants of either of the two countries un- 
 dertake this bufi.nels, it is foreign to what is properly 
 their own ; and if, in any fituation of national affairs, 
 there be peculiar hazard in this bufinefs, thofe who un- 
 dertake it ought to lay their account with that hazard be- 
 fore they engage in it, as perfons who undertake any o- 
 ther kind of bufinefs do with refpeft to theirs. And 
 whatever lofs is incurred by it, it will not fall upon them, 
 but upon their cuftomers. For in all cafes the confu- 
 mer is the pcrfon who pays every cxpence attending 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 29 
 
 the railing, or the tranfport, of the commodity that he 
 purchafes. 
 
 If any number of perfons enfure the fafety of mips 
 at fea, they expel to be gainers by that undertaking, 
 as well as the merchant by his, or the farmer by his ; 
 and the merchant will not fail to charge the price of the 
 infurance to his cuftomers. Is it not far better, then, to 
 let things go on in this natural train, in which the on- 
 ly inconvenience is that, during this flate of things, the 
 confumer will pay a little more than ufual for his com- 
 modity, than to defend this particular branch of bufi- 
 neis by involving the nation in a war ? 
 
 ^Exclufiveof all coniideration of the horrors of 
 war, to which flatcfmen in general give little attention, 
 it were far better, that is, far lefs expenfive, for the nati- 
 on to pay for all the lots by a direct tax ; but much bet- 
 ter (till, if the nfk of lofs be very great, to fufpend that 
 branch of bufinefs altogether. Others, who can do it 
 at a lefs nfk, will be ready enough to undertake it; and 
 the competition of nations, and ot merchants, is fuch, 
 that the country will be lerved as well, and as cheaply, 
 as the flate of things will bear. While the lea remains 
 open to all nations, we need not fear wanting anything 
 that other nations can fupply us with. Allowing this 
 to be an evil, or an undeiirable flate of things, it can- 
 not be of any long continuance. After this things will 
 return to their natural flate, and the merchants may un- 
 dertake the carrying trade, in addition to their proper 
 bufinefs, as before. 
 
 But if navies mufl be built and manned for the fake 
 of protecting this particular branch of bufinefs, and 
 what is a neceffary confequence, if hoflilities muft be 
 engaged in firfl at fea, and then by land ; and if ambafTa- 
 dors muft be maintained at foreign courts, which is ano- 
 ther confequence of the fame fyftem, for one dollar that 
 the former fyftem would require,[this will require a thou- 
 iand, to fay nothing of the intricacy of foreign politics, 
 
 and 
 
30 To the 'Inhabitants 
 
 and the lives that will be loft in war. The kingdom of 
 China acts upon the fyftern that I wifh to recommend. 
 That country has an extcnfive commerce with all the 
 world, but it employs few mips of its own, it has no re- 
 lident ambafTaclor at any foreign court, and it has no 
 wars on account of commerce. 
 
 The merchant, or rather the carrier of merchandize 
 from port to port, will fay, that as he follows a lawful 
 occupation, he ought to be protected in it. But then c- 
 very other perfon whofe occupation is lawful has the 
 fame plea for a reimburfement of his loffcs ; for exam- 
 ple the farmer, the manufaclurer, &c. Do they not all 
 lay their account with the accidents to which their feve- 
 ral profc-ffions are liable, and charge their cuftomers ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 It the farmer fhould apply to Congrefs for indem- 
 nification of his loffes by florins, drought, or infers, 
 would he not be told that he knew his undertaking to 
 be fubjecl to all thofe accidents, that it was his bufi- 
 aefs, and not theirs, to guard againft them as well as 
 he could, and that he might indemnify himfelf by the 
 advanced prices of fuch produces as he was able to 
 raife ? And mould not the fhipper of goods, and the 
 infurers, be content with a fimilar anfwer to their com- 
 plaints, whether of loffes by pirates, privateers of other 
 nations, &c. &c. as well as by fhipwrecks. All thefe 
 fhould be equally confidered as accidents, to which, in 
 a particular flate of things, they knew their undertak- 
 ing to be liable, as much as the farmer was apprized of 
 the danger of bad feafons. 
 
 They might farther be told, that it would be the ex- 
 treme of folly, and injuflice, in the rcprefentatives of 
 the nation, to involve it in a ftate of war, for the 
 recovery of any fum they could have lofl by the cer- 
 tain expenditure of a hundred times as much, befides 
 hazarding the fafety of the whole ftate. 
 
 A nation conducting its affairs on thefe maxims, 
 
 defending 
 
Of Northumberland, &c, $i 
 
 defending its territory by a well difciplined tniWi. re- 
 monflrating agairift injuries from other narior^ out 
 never revenging them, and withal acling jaliiy and 
 generoufly on ail occ*i(ions. could n<t tail t-> br ref- 
 pefted. and would not be fubjetl to many infuits. It 
 would inture the invaluable blelling of peace. It would 
 employ its hands, and its capital, in the improve m it 
 of the country, in making bridges, roads, and navi- 
 gable canals, in encouraging fcience, agriculture, and 
 manufactures. It would contract no debts, and have 
 occafion for few taxes; and therefore could not fail to 
 flurifh more than any country has ever yet done. 
 
 When I once took the liberty to throw out thefe 
 hints to the Preiident, to whom they were not new, he 
 quoted the authority of fome perfon which I do not re- 
 collecl;, who faid that " a nation that could aft on fuch 
 " maxims would command the world !" I doubt 
 not it foon would ; and there is a nation now under 
 the discipline of providence de (lined for this great 
 purpofe. It is to govern the world in peace, when 
 nation will no more rife up againjl nation, and when 
 they will learn war no more. This happy Hate of things 
 is difiinftly announced in the prophecies of fcripturc, 
 fo that no chriftian can have any doubt withrefpecl; to 
 it ; and the prefent appearance of things in the old 
 world is fuch as leads me to expect that it will take place 
 at no very great diflance of time. It is, however, accor- 
 ding to the fame prophecies, to bepieeeded by a feafon of 
 uncommon calamity fuch as there never was fines there 
 was a nation (Dan xii, i) andefpecially by the de- 
 finition ot men in war, which we now fee abundant- 
 ly verified, but the final iflue is to be moft glorious 
 and happy. It will be what is in the prophecies called 
 the kingdom of heaven, a ftate of right eoufnefs and peace. 
 With refpecl; to this, I faid fome years ago, what I 
 lhall repeat, and conclude with now. " May this king- 
 " dom of God, and of Chrift, that which I conceive 
 
 44 to 
 
02 To the Inhabitants 
 
 " to be intended in the Lord's prayer, fully come, tho' 
 " all the kingdoms of the world be removed to make 
 " way for it." 
 
 Hoping to have no occafion to trouble you with 
 any more Letters of this kind, I am, with my wifhes 
 and. prayers for your temporal and eternal welfare, 
 
 My Friends and Neighbours, 
 
 Yours fincerely, 
 
 J. PRIESTLEY, 
 
 P. S. Finding that it is generally reported among 
 thofe who call themfelves Federalijls, that Mr. Coo- 
 per writes as prompted, or fupported, by me, I think 
 it right to obferve, that they who believe this know no- 
 thing of Mr. Cooper, or of me. Every thing that he 
 has written has been wholly independent of me. He 
 is not a man that requires to be prompted, or fupport- 
 ed, by any perfon. Tho* I was frequently in his com- 
 pany during the publication of his Effays, I never faw 
 one of them, nor do I diftinftly recollect even hearing 
 him mention the fubje6t of any of them, before their 
 publication. 
 
 Maxims 
 
MAXIMS 
 
 O F 
 
 POLITICAL ARITHMETIC, 
 
 APPLIED TO THE CASE OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES of AMERICA. 
 
 Firft publijlied in the AURORA for FEBRUARY 26 
 and 27, 1798.* 
 
 (By a QUAKER in Politics.) 
 
 AN idea of the true interefls of any 
 country is perhaps molt eafily formed by fuppofing it 
 to be the property of one perfon, who would naturally 
 wifh to derive the greateft advantage from it, and who 
 would therefore, lay out his capital in fuch a manner 
 as to. make it .the moil productive to him. An atten- 
 tion to fcparate and difcordant interefls of different 
 claiTes of men, is apt to diftracl the mind: but when 
 all the people arp considered as members of one family, 
 who can bedifpofed of, and employed, as the head of it 
 ihall direct, for the common benefit, that caufe of em- 
 barraffrnent is removed. . 
 
 To derive the greateft advantage from any coun- 
 try it will be neceitary that attention be paid, in the 
 
 E firft 
 
 * ome of the leading lentiments in this paper are the fame 
 with thofe in the preceding Letters : but they could not well 
 J?e left out, and I think them of CuUicient importance to be re- 
 peated . 
 
34 To the Inhabitants 
 
 firft place, to the wants of nature, and to raife from it, 
 in the gre^tcR quantity and perfection, fuch produ6li- 
 ons as are neceifary to ferd and clothe the inhabitants, 
 and to provide them with habitations, in order to guard 
 them againft the inclemency of the weather, and after 
 this fuch as are of ufe to their more comfortable ac- 
 commodation, and the fupply of artificial wants. 
 
 If any country be completely infulated, or cut off 
 from all communication with other countries, it will 
 be necefiaiy to raife all thofe articles within itfelf ; but 
 when a communication is opened with other countries, 
 the proprietor will do well to give his whole attention 
 to thofe productions which !his own country can befl 
 yield, and exchange the furplus for fuch articles as o- 
 ther countries can better fupply him with. For by 
 that means, his labour will be employed to the moft 
 -advantage. If. for example, it would employ him a 
 month to go thro' all the proceifes which are necefTary 
 to make a piece of cloth, when the effecl: of the la- 
 bour of a week in his hufbandry would enable him to 
 purchafe that cloth, it will be better for him to confine 
 himfelf to his hufbandry, and buy his cloth ; befides 
 that,* not making it his fole bufmefs, he would not, with 
 any labour, make it fo well. And now that a com- 
 munication by fea with all pans of the world is fo well 
 eftabli (lied, that it may be depended upon that whate- 
 ver any country wants another can fupply it with, to 
 the advantage of both, this exchange may be made with 
 little interruption, even by war. 
 
 Commerce confifb in the exchange of the commo- 
 dities of one country for thofe of another; and as this, 
 like any other bufinefs, will be p^rform^d to the mofl 
 advantage by perfons who give their whole attention to 
 it, and who are called Merchants, it will be moil con- 
 venient, in general, that this be done by them, rather 
 than by thofe who employ themfelves in railing the 
 produce. The bufinefs of conveying the produce of 
 
 ne 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 35 
 
 on<* country to another is a different thing from mer- 
 c^an-s'ze. Thofe who employ fhips for this purpofe, 
 are pa/d for their trouble by the freight of their veffels, 
 while the merchant fublifls from what he gains by the 
 exchange of commodities. 
 
 What is generally termed a&ivc commerce is that 
 which is carried on by the natives of any country, in 
 fhips of their own, conveying their produce to other 
 countries, and bringing back theirs in return ; and that 
 is railed pajfi've commerce which is carried on at home, 
 people of other countries bringing their commodities, 
 and taking back what they want in exchange for them. 
 The quantity of proper commerce, or merchandize, is 
 the fame in both thefe cafes. All the difference confifts 
 in the employment given to the carriers, and the fhip- 
 ping of the different countries. 
 
 While the communication with other countries 
 by fea is open, it cannot be for the interefl of any 
 country, either ;o impofe duties on goods brought into 
 it, or to give bounties on thofe that are exported ; bc- 
 caufe, by both thefe means, the people UR made to 
 pay more than they otherwife would c:o for the fame 
 benefit. In both cafes the pnce of the goods muft be 
 advanced. He who pays the duty will be lefundcd at 
 lead, by the perfons \vho purchaft the commodity, and 
 the bounty to the vender mull be paid by a tax on all 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 It is, no doubt, the interefl of any particular clafs 
 of perfons to extend their bufmefs. and thereby in- 
 creafe their gains. But if their fellow citizens pay more 
 in the advanced price of what they purchafe than their 
 gain amounts to the community is a lofer j and if it 
 be equal, one dais is made to contribute to the main- 
 tenance of anofhtr, when all have an equal natural 
 ri^ht to the fruits of their own labour. 
 
 For the fame reafon, if, on any account, the con- 
 veyance of goods from one country to another be at- 
 tended 
 
36 To the Inhabitants 
 
 tended \vith more lofs than gain, the perfon in whofe 
 hands was the property of the whole would difconti- 
 nue that branch of bufinefs,, and employ his capital in 
 ibme c ther way, or rather let it remain unproductive 
 than employ itrto a certain lofs. 
 
 Thefe maxims appear to me to be incontroverti- 
 ble in the abftracl:. What, then, may be k-.. rut from 
 them with refpeft to this country, fituated as it now 
 is ? 
 
 Without enquiring into the canfe, which is no 
 part of my objecl, it is a fad, that the conveyance of 
 goods, or the carrying trade of this country, which 
 has generally been taken up by the merchants, though 
 it is no neceffary branch of their bufmefs, is peculiarly 
 hazardous, and of courfe, expenfive. This expence 
 the country at large muft pay, in the advanced price of 
 the goods purchafed. In this {late of things they 
 have alfo fjunci it neceifary to fend ambafladors to 
 diftant countries, in order to remove the fuppofcd 
 ca ufe of the difliculty, which is attended with another 
 expert. It has ];cwne been thought necdfary to 
 build fhips ofv.cn {or the purpofe of protecting this 
 carrying trade; and if this be done to any e fleet, it 
 mull be attended with much more expence. 
 
 I do not pretend to be able to calculate the expence 
 occafioned by any of thefe circumftances ; but the a- 
 mount of all three, viz. the additional price to the car- 
 rier to indemnify him for his rifque, the expence of 
 arnbafladors, and that of fitting out fhips of war; 
 I cannot help thinking mufl be much more than 
 all the profit that can be derived from the carrying 
 f rade; and if fo, a perfon who had the abfolute com- 
 mand of all the fhipping, and all the capital of the coun- 
 try, would fee it to be his intereft to lay up his fhips for 
 the prefent, and make fome other ule of his capital. 
 And as the greater! part of the country is as yet un- 
 cleared, and there is a great want of roads, bridges and 
 
 canals, 
 
Of Nor thumb er land, &c. 37 
 
 canals, the ufe of which would fufficiently repay him 
 for any fums laid out upon them, and they would not 
 fail to contribute to the iiwq|Jfpvement of the country, 
 which I fuppofe to behiseflate, he would naturaliv h-y 
 out his fuperfluous capita! on thefe great pbjecls. The 
 ex pence of building one man of war would fuffice to 
 make a bridge over a river of a conudtrable ext-.nt, a>- } 
 (which ought to be a feriouf. confide ration) the mor^ 
 labourers are much better preferred than thofe of f- .1- 
 men ; and efpecially thofe of foldiers. 
 
 Another great advantage attending this comiucl is, 
 that the country would be in no danger of quarn II - 
 with any of its mi^M'Ours, and thereby the bazrtn f 
 war, which is necefTarily attended with incaJculable evi^, 
 phyfical and moral, would be avoided. To make tH.s 
 cafe eaiier to myfelf, I would coniider injuries done >>y 
 other natons, in the fame light as iolfes by hurricanes 
 or earthquakes : and without indulging any refentrru i t, 
 I would repair the damage as well as I could. I would 
 not be angry where anger could anfwer no good end. 
 If one nation affront another, the people would do beft 
 to take it patiently, and content tbemfelv.es with making 
 remoijftrances. There is the truefl dignity in this con- 
 ,duct ; and unprovoked injuries would not often b<? re- 
 peated, as the injurious nation would foon find that it 
 gamed neither credit nor advantage, by fuch behaviour. 
 
 This is the cafe with independent individuals, and 
 why fhould it be otherwifc with independent nations ? 
 Rafh and hafty men. Handing on what they fancy to be 
 honour, are ever quarrelling, and doing thcmfelves, as 
 well as others, infinitely more mifchief than could pof- 
 fibly arife from behaving with chriflian meekneis and 
 forbearance. In facl, they at like children, who have 
 no command of their paflions, and not like men, gov- 
 erned by reafon. In this calculation, peace ot mind, 
 which is prcferved by the meek, and iofl by the quar- 
 jelfome, is a very important article. 
 
 It 
 
38 To the Inhabitants 
 
 It will be faid. that merchants, having no other 
 occupation than that of fending goods to foreign coun- 
 tres, by which then own is benefited, have a right 
 to the protection of their country. But what is the rule 
 of right in this, or any other cafe ? It muft be regula- 
 ted by a regard to the ^ood of the whole ; and if the 
 country receive more injury than benefit by any branch 
 of bufinefs, it ought to be discontinued ; and thofe who 
 engage in any bulinefs. fhould lay their account with 
 the rifque to which it is expofed, as much as the far- 
 mer with the rifque of bad feafons, for which his coun- 
 try makes him no indemnification, though his employ- 
 ment is as beneficial to it as that of the merchant. 
 
 If, therefore, in thefe circumftances of extraor- 
 dinary hazard, any perfon will fend his goods lo fea., 
 it fhould beut his own rifque ; and the country, which 
 receives more injury than advantage from it, and whofe 
 peace is endangered by it, fhould not indemnify him for 
 any iofs. Let him, however, be fully apprized of this; 
 and if he will perfift in doing as he has done, the con- 
 fequence is to himfelf, and his country is not implicated 
 in it. 
 
 This is a country which wants nothning but peace, 
 and an attention to its natural advantages, to make it 
 mo ft flou riming and refpc&able ; and wanting the ma- 
 nufactures of other countries, its friendfhip will becourt- 
 ed by them all, on account of the advantage they will 
 dc-n\ e from an intercourse with it. Other countries 
 being fully peopled, the inhabitants muft apply to ma- 
 nuf.-iclures ; and where can they find fuch a market as 
 this mutt neceffarily be ? And on account of the rival- 
 fhip and competition which there will be among them, 
 the people of this country cannot fail to be ferved in the 
 cheapen manner by them all. This will be indepen- 
 dent of all their politics, with which this country has 
 nothing to do. But, if by endeavouring to rival any 
 of them in naval power (which will only refemble the 
 
 frog 
 
Of Nor thuiftber land, &c, 29 
 
 frog in the fable endeavouring to fwell itfelf to the 
 fizc of the ox) it excites their jealoufy, and this country 
 fliould join any one of them a^aiuft any other, it will cer- 
 tainly no? only lofe the advantage it might derive from 
 the trade of that country, but pay dearly for its folly, 
 by the evils of a (late of warfare. 
 
 What feems to be more particularly impolitic in 
 this country, as ill fairing the ftate of it, is the duty on 
 the importation of books, which are fo much wanted, 
 and which even great encouragement could not produce 
 here. Is it at all probable that furh works as the Greek 
 and Latin dallies, thofe of the chnftian Fathers, the 
 Polyglott Bible, the Philofophical Transitions, or rhe 
 Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, &c. &c. wii.1, 
 in the time of our great grand children be printed in 
 the United States ? and yet there is a heavy duty on 
 their importation ; and for every printer, or mak. r of 
 paper for printing, there are, no doubt, leveral thou- 
 fand purchafers of books, all of whom are taxed for 
 their advantage. In thefe circum (lances, it were fure- 
 ly better to have more cultivators of the ground, and 
 fewer printers. 
 
 When I fee at what expence ambaffadors are fcnt 
 to foreign and diftant countries, with which this coun- 
 try has little or no intercourfe ; and when it is very 
 problematical whether in any cafe, they have not done 
 more harm than good, and think what folid advantage, 
 might be derived from half the expence in fending out 
 men of fcience for the purpofe of purchaling works of 
 literature and philofophical inftruments, of which all 
 the univerfities and colleges of this country are moil 
 difgracefullydeftitute ; and that the expence of one of 
 the three frigates would have fupplied all of them with 
 telefcopes equal to that of Dr. Herfchell, ani other 
 philofophical inftruments in the lame great ilyle, to 
 the immortal honour of any adrninftration, I lament 
 that the progrefs of national wilctom ihould be fo flow, 
 
 and 
 
40 To the Inhabitants 
 
 and that our country profits To little by the experience 
 and the follv of others. The Chiiufe never had reli- 
 dfiit ambaffadors m any country, and what country 
 has flour: ih -d more than China ? 
 
 A foreigner travelling in the interior part of this 
 covinrry. and finding the want of roads, bridges and 
 inns, won icrs that things of fuch mariifeft utility mould 
 nor h.-ive ruJ more attention paid to them, wir- 1 ru? Tees 
 th r in at fums are raifed and expended on objects, the 
 ule of which is at beft very doubtful. And men of letters 
 c m ,, to re fide here, find their hands tied up. Books 
 </ .torture are not to be had, and philofophical in- 
 i. i :its can neither be made nor purchafcd. Every 
 thing of the kind muft be had from Europe, and pay 
 a duty on importation. 
 
 Bat all this may be fhort fighted fpeculation; and 
 it may be, nay I doubt not it is, better for the world at 
 large, that its progrefs mould not be fo rapid ; that 
 longftate of infancy, childhood and folly, mould precede 
 that of manhood and true wifdom ; and that vices, 
 which will fp ring up in all countries, are better check- 
 ed by the calamities of war than by reafon and philo- 
 fophy. 
 
 It may be the wife plan of Provideace, by means 
 of the folly of man, to involve this country in the vor- 
 tex of European politics, and the mifery of European 
 wars ; and to prevent the importation of the means of 
 knowledge till a better ufe would be made of them. 
 Nations make flower advances in wifdom than indi- 
 vidual men, in fome 'proportion to their longer du- 
 ration. But what they acquire at a greater expence, 
 they retain better; fo that, I doubt not, there is much 
 wifdom in that part of the general conftitution of things. 
 A ilranger is apt to wonder-that political animofi- 
 ty mould have got to fo great a height in this country, 
 when all were fo lately united in their contefl with a 
 common enemy ; and that their enmity, which cannot 
 
 be 
 
Of Northumberland, &c. 41 
 
 be of long (landing, fhould be as inveterate as in the old- 
 eft countries, where parties have fubfifted time imme- 
 morial. But it may be the delign of Providence, by 
 this means, to divide this widely extended country into 
 fmaller States, which mail be at war with each other, 
 that by their common fufferings their common vices may 
 be corrected, and thus lay a foundation for ihe folid ac- 
 quifition of wifdom ; which will be more valued in con- 
 fequerice of having been more dearly bought, in iome 
 future age. 
 
 Divided as the people of this country are, fome in 
 favour of France, and others of England, I fhould not 
 much wonder, if the decifion of the government in fa- 
 vour of either of them fhould be the caufe of a civil 
 war. But even this, the moft calamitous of all events, 
 would promote a greater agitation of men's minds, and 
 be a more effectual check to the progrefs of luxury, vice, 
 and folly, than any other mode of difcipline, and at 
 the fame time that it will evince the folly of man, may 
 difplay the wifdom of Him that ruleth in the kingdoms 
 of men, arid who appoints for all nations fuch govern- 
 ments, and fuch governors, as their ftate, and that of 
 other countries connected with them, really requires. 
 Pharaoh occupied as important a flation in the plan of 
 Divine Providence, as king David, though called a man 
 after God's own heart. For his wife and excellent pur- 
 pofes, one was as neceffary as the other. 
 
 Many lives, no doubt, will be loft in war, civil or 
 foreign ; but men muft die ; and if the deftruclion of 
 one generation be the means of producing another which 
 fhall be wifer and better, the good will exceed the evil, 
 great as it may be, and greatly to be deplored as all e- 
 vils ought to be. 
 
 A ftranger naturally expe&s to find a greater fim- 
 plicity of manners, and more virtue, in this new coun- 
 try, as it is called, than in the old ones. But a nearer 
 acquaintance with it, will convince him, that confider- 
 
 ing 
 
42 To the Inhabitants ?f Northumberland, (3c, 
 
 ing how eafily fubfiftence is procured here, and confc- 
 cj'it :nt!y how few incitements there are to the vices of 
 th loi r claims efpecially, there is lefs virtue as well as 
 ) k'nb jojge, than in moft of the countries of Eu- 
 rope. In many parts of the United States there is al- 
 fo leis religion, at leaft of a rational and ufeful kind. 
 A' 1 tfbere there is no fenfe of religion, no fear of God, 
 or refpecl to a future ftate, there will be no good morals 
 that can he depended upon. Laws may reftrain the 
 exec fles ot vice, but they cannot impart the principles 
 of virtue. 
 
 Infidelity has made great progrefs in France, 
 through all the continent of Europe, and alfo in En- 
 gland ; but I much queftion whether it be not as great in 
 America ; and the want of information in the people at 
 large, makes thoufands of them the dupes of fuch mal- 
 low writings as thofe of Mr. Paine, and the French un- 
 believers, feveral of which are tranflated and publifhed 
 here, and either through want of knowledge, or of zeal, 
 little or nothing is done by the friends of Revelation, to 
 flop the baneful torrent. 
 
 All this, however, I doubt not, will appear to 
 have been ultimately for the befl. Let temperate and 
 wife men forwarn the country of its danger, and. as they 
 are in duty bound, endeavour to prevent, or alleviate, 
 evils of every kind. Their conduct will meet the ap- 
 probation of the great Governor of the univerfe; and, 
 in all events, He, whofe will no foreign power can con- 
 trol, being the true and benevolent parent of all the hu- 
 man race, will provide for the happinefs of his offspring 
 in the moft effectual manner, though, to our imperfect 
 imderftanding, the fteps which lead to it be incompre- 
 henfible. We mud not do evil that good may come, 
 becaufe our understanding is finite, and therefore we 
 cannot be fure that the good we intend will come. But 
 the Divine Being, whofe fore fight is unerring, continual- 
 ly acts upon that maxim, and, as we fee ? to the great- 
 efl advantage. 
 
The CONTENTS, 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Of the Innocence and Advantage of the free Difcuf- 
 fion of all Political Subjt&s. Page 3 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Of Improvements in the- Conjlitution of the United 
 States. - - 8 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Of Infringements of the Conjlitution ly the atts of 
 Congrefs tffpefting the Regulation of Commerce, 
 
 the Pcwfr /' making Peace and War, and Ref- 
 trifiions of the Freedom of Speech and of the Prefs. j 4 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Of the Laws relating to Aliens, and the Naturaliza- 
 tion of Foreigners. 20 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Of the Policy of America with Refpett to Foreign 
 Nations. 2 
 
 Maxims of Political Arithmetic, applied to the cafe 
 of the United States of Am-erica. ' Firfl publijh- 
 ed in the Aurora, for February 26 and 27, 1798. 33 
 
M180811 
 
 33 
 
 B 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY