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The people have got a diforder,

The fame which they call discontent; And perhaps you may meet a rewarder,

If you thus force them all to keep Lent. The war has fo bleft this whole nation, That nothing we by it can get; Excepting ftarvation, taxation,

And a few dozen millions in debt.. But this is fo fmall to compare Sir,

To your eafe, your enjoyment and guzzle; That whoever to fpeak of it dare Sir,

Their blafphemous fnouts you will muzzle.

But this laft little bit of oppreffion,
Has made fuch a terrible bother;
That upon my moft honeft confeffion,
You'd better not think of another.
We're not quite fo loft to all thinking,
Nor yet fo forgot to be brave;
But that when our dear country is finking,
Our country we boldly will fave.
Then hear me in true English measure,
Although your infernals are past,
It is juft in the people's own pleasure,
How long, or how fhort they fhall last.
Beware how you exercife power,

Beware how you dare to opprefs;

Nor forget that there may come an hour, When the people their wrongs will redrefs.

No. 39.

THE PHILANTHROPIST:

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28.

LONDON.

Printed for and fold by DANIEL ISAAC EATON, Printer and Bookfeller to the Supreme Majefty of the People, at the Cock and SWINE, No. 74, Newgate street.

1795.

PRICE ONE PENNY.

For the PHILANTHROPIST.

REASONS

WHY THE PEOPLE ARE THE BEST KEEPERS OF THEIR OWN LIBERTIES.

(Continued from our last.)

A SEVENTH reason why a people qualified with a due

and orderly fucceffion of their fupreme affemblies, are the best keepers of their own liberties, is because, as in other forms, thofe perfons only have access to government, who are apt to serve the luft and will of the prince, or else are parties or compliers with fome powerful faction: fo in this form of government by the people, the door of dignity ftands open to all (without exception) that afcend thither by the fteps of worth and virtue the confideration whereof hath this noble effect in free ftates, that it edges mens fpirits with an active emulation, and raiseth them to a lofty pitch of design and action.

The

The truth of this is very obfervable in the Roman ftate; for during the vassalage of that people under kings, we read not of any notable exploits, but find them confined within a narrow compass, oppreffed at home, and ever and anon ready to be swallowed up by their enemies. After this government of kings was abolished, you know that of grandees in a standing fenate was next erected; under which form they made shift to enlarge their bounds a little: but the most they could then do, was only to fecure themselves from the attempts of the banifhed Tarquins, and thofe petty neighbours that envied the fmall increase of their dominion. But at length, when the ftate was made free indeed, and the people admitted into a share and intereft in the government, as well as the great ones; then it was, and never till then, that their thoughts and power began to exceed the bounds of Italy, and aspire towards that prodigious empire. For, while the road of preferment lay plain to every man, no public work was done, nor any conqueft made; but every man thought he did and conquered all for himself, as long as he remained valiant and virtuous: it was not alliance; nor friendship, nor faction, nor riches, that could advance men; but knowledge, valour, and virtuous poverty, was preferred above them all.

For the confirmation whereof, we find in the fame ftory, how that many of their brave patriots and conquerors were men of the meaneft fortune, and of fo rare a temper of fpirit, that they little cared to improve them, or enrich themselves by their public employment, fo that when they died, they were fain to be buried at the public charge. We find Cincinnatus, a man of mean fortune, fetch'd from the plough, to the dignity of a dictator: for he had no more than four acres of land, which he tilled with his own hands. Yet so it happened that when the Roman conful with his whole army was in great peril, being circumvented and ftraitned by the Equuns, and the city of Rome itself in a trembling condition; then, with confent, they pitched upon Cincinnatus, as the fitteft

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man for their deliverance: and he behaved himself fo well, with so much magnanimity, integrity, and wisdom, that he relieved the conful, routed and utterly fubdued the enemy, and gave as it were a new life to his country's liberties: which work being over, he with willingness quitted his authority, and returned to the condition of a painful private life.

This example might seem strange, but that we know it was ordinary in that ftate, till it grew corrupt again; for we read alfo, how Lucius Tarquin, (not of the tyrant's family) a man of mean fortune, yet of great worth, was chofen general of the horse, and drawn to it out of the country, in which place he furpaffed all the Roman youth for gallant behaviour. Such another plain country-fellow was Attilius Regulus, the fcourge of Carthage in his time; of whom many eminent points of bravery were recorded: as were also most of those heroic fpirits that fucceeded, down to the times of Lucius Paulus. Emilius, by whofe conquefts, the first charms and inchantments of luxury were brought out of Afia to Rome, and there they foon swallowed up the remainders of primitive integrity and fimplicity. And yet it is very obferveable also, that so much of the ancient feverity was remaining ftill even in the time of this Paulus, the famous general, that a filver dish, that was part of the spoil, being given to a fon in-law of his, who had fought ftoutly in that war, it was thought a great reward; and obferved by the hiftorian, to be the first piece of plate that was ever seen in the family.

This obfervation then arifes from this difcourfe, that as Rome never thrived till it was settled in a freedom of the people fo that freedom was preferved, and that intereft beft advanced when all places of honour and truft were expofed to men of merit, without distinction; which happiness could never be obtained, until the people were inftated in a capacity of preferring whom they thought worthy, by a freedom of electing men fucceffively into their fupreme offices and affemblies. So long as this custom continued, and merit took place, the peo

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ple made shift to keep and encrease their liberties: but when it lay neglected, and the stream of preferment began to run along with the favour and pleasure of particular powerful men, then vice and compliance making way for advancement, the people could keep their liberties no longer; but both their liberties and themselves were made the price of every man's ambition and luxury.

The eighth reason, why the people in their affemblies are the best keepers of their liberty, is, because it is they only that are concerned in the point of liberty: for whereas in other forms the main interest and concernment both of kings and grandees, lies either in keeping the people in utter ignorance what liberty is, or elfe in allowing and pleafing them only with the name and shadow of liberty instead of the substance; so in free-ftates the people being fenfible of their past condition in former times, under the power of great ones, and comparing it with the poffibilities and enjoyments of the prefent, become immediately inftructed, that their main interest and concernment confifts in liberty; and are taught by common fenfe, that the only way to fecure it from the reach of great ones, is, to place it in the people's hands, adorned with all the prerogatives and rights of fupremacy. it is, the interest of freedom is a virgin that every one seeks to deflour; and like a virgin; it must be kept from any other form, or elfe, (fo great is the luft of mankind after dominion) there follows a rope upon the first opportunity.

The truth of

This being confidered, it will easily be granted, that liberties muft needs lie more fecure in the people's than in any other's hands, because they are moft concerned in it: and the careful eyeing of this concernment, is that which makes them both jealous and zealous; so that nothing will fatisfy, but the keeping of a conftant guard against the attempts and incroachments of any powerful or crafty underminers.

Hence it is, that the people having once tafted the sweets of freedom, are so extremely affected with it, that if they difco

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