ftate-trick and mystery, without difguft: for the inference to be drawn from it is, that mankind, to be governed, must be impofed upon, and deluded. And not to take notice of the infults which fuch fpectacles as every day obtrude themselves on our view, naturally offer to every man of common fenfe, is it not an over whelming reflection, that one of the fundamental principles of government fhould be, that it is effential to the existence of that government, that the people should be the victims of error, and of, the craft of those, whom chance has placed over them!

The tawdry luftre, which fhines around Kings, was well enough in days of ignorance, of fuperftition, and of mental darkness. It was well enough, when our Rulers were fuppofed to be God's anointed, and when they governed their subjects by God's appointment. But fince thefe doctrines are now out of fashion, and it is now known and understood, that Kings reign only for the benefit and the happiness of the People-in these enlightened days, it ought not to be endured. Every one ought to laugh at it, and put it, if its effrontery be to be fubdued, to the blufh. They ought not to gaze, and to gape at it as they would at some spectacle really worth their admiration, but they ought to treat the pompous proceffion to the Houfe of Parliament, as they would fome pompous puppetshow, or as fome fight of ridiculous entertainment.

To this court-trick, I fuppofe it is owing, that we see fuch idolatrous worship of Royalty. Can any thing be more absurd than this fpecies of fuperftition? For whom is it we thus worship (with so much humiliation to ourselves)? Is it a god? No. Is it a being fent here by God? No. Is it a man made of fuperior flesh and blood to ourselves? No. Is it a man of heavenly virtues? Not very often. Is it a man of foul crimes! Very frequently. So it appears, that this our idol, is neither a god, nor one whom God has employed to conduct for him, human affairs, nor one made of fuperior materials to those of which every other creature is formed, that he does not poffefs

greater

greater virtues than others, that he frequently is polluted with greater crimes than others. To fuch a being do we pay greater homage than we do even to the Divine Creator. Every time he paffes us, we are to ftand uncovered, at the expence perhaps of our health, if we comply, of our very lives if we do not comply-we are to bend the knee to fuch a being, we attribute to him all the perfections of the Divinity, we declare he can do no wrong-and all this in an age, and in a country that calleth themselves enlightened.

For myself, I reverence Kings only as the high fervants of the public. I love them when they are virtuous. When they are wicked, instead of having my loyalty, they are pursued with my execrations. It is not the employment repofed in them that challenges efteem, it is the manner in which that employment is difcharged. To the man of fenfe, there is no jewel in the crown that appears beautiful; there is no hue in the royal robe that fafcinates of themfelves. It is the virtues. of the man alone that gives the one a brilliancy, the other a pleafing and attracting colour. I love virtue wherever it is to be found. But from the higher fphere fhe deigns to defcend, the more lovely fhe appears. Kings, therefore, when they do their duty, muft challenge double admiration. They certainly have it in their power to do much good; and they ought to remember, that they were elevated to fuch an eminence above their equals only to do good. It is only by doing good, they can expect true loyalty—they may be dreaded, they cannot be beloved.

To those who reverence the King, rather than the man, the fplendour of his power rather than his virtues-to those let me apply the memorable words of Dr. PRIESTLEY to Mr. BURKE: "So different are men's feelings, from the difference, no "doubt, of our educations, and the different fentiments we 66 voluntarily cherish through life, that the fituation which "gives you the idea of pride, gives me that of meanness. "You are proud of what, in my opinion, you ought to be "afhamed,

1

"afhamed, the idolatry of a fellow-creature, and the abase"ment of yourself. It discovers a disposition from which no "manly fentiment, or heroic enterprise, can be expected. I "submit to a king, or to any other civil magistrate, because "the good order of fociety requires it; but I feel no pride in "that submission; and the fubordination of my heart I "referve for character only, not for ftation. As a citizen, "the object of my respect is the Nation, and the Laws. The "magiftrates, by whatever name they are called, I refpect "only as the confidential fervants of the nation, and the ad"ministration of the laws."

COMMON SENSE.

To the EDITOR of the PHILANTHROPIST.

CITIZEN EDITOR,

If the following thoughts are deferving a place in your useful Publication, by inferting them you will oblige a Lover of Peace, and

RUINED

A REPUBLICAN FROM PRINCIPLE.

UINED commerce, defolated lands, and the flaughtered lives of thousands, are the dreadful confequences of this WAR OF BLOOD! Defeat after defeat, reiterated loffes, both by sea and land, loudly proclaim the impoffibility of obtaining the original object—the conquest of France.

Britannia boafts of her victories no more,-no more the laurels of a Marlborough, or a Howard deck the temples of her fons. The unhappy nation ceases to rejoice in the extensive boundary of its commerce, or the flourishing ftate of its ma-nufactories.

Scenes of a different hue prefent themselves to our eyes.A defeated, diseased army, diminished to half its number, flying before a victorious enemy.-The lofs of whole countries -The

錄

The difaffection and desertion of allies-The rapid encreate of public debt-The poverty of the country-The personal infecurity of its inhabitants-The lofs of fhips of burden--and manufacturing towns ftarving, are events that arreft the attention, and demand the utmost exertions of individuals, as members of civil fociety, to counteract.

I am well aware, that there are many perfons who think they have no right to interfere in political difcuffions. They say "What have I to do with politics? Nothing. From this important queftion, my countrymen, fo weakly and wickedly anfwered, have arifen all evils which have afflicted England through a long fucceffion of ages. This is the fountain from which not only waters of bitterness, but rivers of blood, have flowed. Did you ever doubt what connection you had with morals and virtue? And yet what are politics, but that wide fyftem of duties which nation owes to nation? Politics are to nations, what morals are to individuals,"* and where knowledge is a duty, ignorance is a crime. †

FRIENDS AND CITIZENS,

Permit me to ask you-Does the diftreffes of the poor excite no fpark of commiferation in your breafts? Are you unmoved at the fight of thousands of your fellow creatures reduced to the greatest misery, by the high price of provifions, and the decay and ruin of trade? And tell me, Will you still support the cause from whence fprings fuch effects? Ye, who are fathers, can ye basely submit to bear the lofs of your fons, torn from your arms by the rude hand of defpotifm?-follow them to that aceldama, that field of blood, covered with the purple gore of the manufacturer and tradefman. View their distorted limbs in the agonies of death, pouring out their foul to fatiate the infernal pride and ambition of tyrants!

These are not the flights of a heated imagination: alas, hif tory and fatal experience prove the reality and justice of the de* Gerrald's Convention, page 2.

+ Ibid, page 4

scription.

fcription. Almost every Gazette announces the death of fome beloved member of a family. The noble youth who was the fole fupport of his parents in their declining years, pierced by the fword of the enemy, fighs out his last breath, in a foreign land; and leaves a wretched father, and weeping mother to lament his fate, but to feel his lofs.

(To be continued.)

***The Author of this Piece is requested to fend the continuation as foon as possible and any further communications will be thankfully received, and respectfully attended to.

AMONGST the many grievances which the greater body

of our fellow citizens endure, I fhall notice one which our prefent great Oracles of the Law gravely pronounce wife and falutary. It is that part of the law to prevent Conspiracies and Combinations, which is, to prevent mechanics from leaguing together, for the purpofe of raising the price of their labour. Although, as is the cafe at the present time, the common neceffaries of life have, with fuch rapidity, advanced to fuch high and exorbitant prices, in confequence of the entering into, and continuing the prefent unjust, and unnecessary war, the accelerating calamities of which will fhortly awaken the most lethargic of our Fellow Citizens, and rouse them to every legal exertion to put a period to the effufion of human blood, and obtain a redrefs of their accumulated oppreffion.

Citizen,