From the particular connection of the Electorate of Hanover with the British Government, the above recited ordinance must be deemed peculiarly interefting, more especially at the present period. As fuch, I recommend it to the very serious perufal of your numerous readers; and, by way of affifting their reflection, I will prefent them with the following flattering portraiture of Ignorance, as drawn by the mafterly hand of Helvetius.

"In the Eaft, the beft titles to great fortune are ignorance and bafenefs. When an important place becomes vacant, the tyrant enters his anti-chamber-" Have not I here (he fays) fome valet, of whom I can make a Vizier?" All the flaves proftrate themselves before him: the most defpicable obtains the place. Can it then be wondered at that the conduct of the Vizier correfponds to the manner in which he is chosen ?"

When, when will man act up to the dignity of his nature? When shall he fill with credit the part allotted him by the Supreme Being? When will man difcharge the duties of man? When will he learn to do unto others as he would they should do unto him? I will answer in a few words-When he confiders virtue as happiness, and knowledge as the means of acquiring it. Satisfied as I am of the perfectibility with which the Almighty has endued his creatures, I cannot doubt of their being furnished with the means of attaining to it; and whatever temporary obftructions the progrefs of mankind to that perfection be liable to, the grand affociation of knowledge, virtue, and happinefs, is eternal, and their triumph certain. Before the power of the Diety, who wills the happiness of man, all obftacles muft fall: vain are the paltry endeavours to counteract the defigns of his Providence, who gave Reason to man as his bef gift, and the order to cultivate it as his first duty.

ARÍSTIDES,

THE

THE

BROKEN WINDOW AND PANNIERS;

A RECENT TALE.

BY GREGORY GRUNTER.

To famous CODDLETOWN—a furious Dame,

With Rofinante, DOLLY BUMPKIN came.
Her fteed a skeleton-" for here, and there,
"Making their way by force, his bones lay bare ;"
Stor'd with POTATOES-On his either fide,

A monftrous pannier did his carcafe hide.

Where a large window deck'd with various scenes
Of Dukes, and Lords, of Bishops, Kings, and Qeeens,
In ftubborn earneft, or in wicked jeft,

Upon the pavement Dolly drove the beast ;
And, whether train'd in fome SEDITIOUS SCHOOL,
Or that he wish'd for once to play the fool
With grander folks, I can't pretend to say,
But to dire mischief he found out the way,
And quick as thought rear'd up in trait'rous mood,
And seiz'd a mighty Monarch for his food.
His ftarboard pannier drove with shock fo great,
As forc'd the Prince of Cobourg to retreat;
Knock'd off the legs of the Apostle Paul,
And hurl'd the Devil 'gainst the further wall;
Nay drove, unable to support himself,
York's valiant Duke from off the window shelf.
But yet, as though this mischief not enough,
The window, made of very brittle stuff,
In twice ten thousand various pieces broke,
The rage and malice of the beast bespoke.

Alas! what godly men, no tongue can tell,
What faints-what heroes on the pavement fell!

Here

Here Calvin, Luther, Zidka-tumbling down,
Receive with Brunfwick, each, a broken crown;
Here Bunyan's hero, who did once engage
The ftrength, and fury of the Devil's rage,
To Rofinante's prowess forc'd to yield,

Now finds in vain his weapon, and his shield.
Here's no diftinction made-an equal fate
Awaits the Thief, and Minifter of State;
Tun-belly'd Vicars, with poor Curates lean,
Great Kings with Idiots here themselves demean;
Sham Patriots-Stock-Jobbers of the nation,
The friends and enemies of Reformation;

The Cidevant French Queen-the Common Whore,
In rude equality befpread the floor.

SONNET.

BY SYLVANUS AMICUS.

WHO loves his Country, and with-holds a figh,
Its wafted hamlets, ruined towns to fee;
Who meets, which way foe'er he turns his eye,
The various forms of Want and Mifery?

Who but must feel his indignation strong,

On Nature's honeft, broad, and gen'ral plan,
Against that head, that heart, that hand, that tongue,
Which makes mankind a foe to fellow-man ?

I hate ALL Wars, becaufe I love mankind,
And execrate that Wretch's odious name,
However dignified, who firft defign'd,

Or ftill protracts, the fanguinary game.

If man be form'd the image of his God,

Sure he who mars the stamp muft feel Heav'n's vengeful rod!

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 ftreet.

1795.

PRICE ONE PENNY.

AN ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC, From the SOCIETY FOR CONSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION, On its First Inftitution.

IN the venerable Conftitution handed down to us, through a

long fucceffion of ages, from our Saxon and British ancestors, this is the bafis and the vital principle-LAW, TO BIND ALL,

MUST BE ASSENTED TO BY ALL.

And it was their felicity to have made that "best discovery "of political wifdom," whereby this affent of all throughout the realm was to be collected and carried into execution, namely, a freely-chosen, a full and equal REPRESENTATION. But it was forefeen, that to delegate the power of enacting Laws to a fingle affembly of Representatives, or to a fingle council, or a fingle magiftrate, would be to establish at once a defpotism; and to devide it between Two only, would not provide a lafting fecurity against that evil; for that which fhould once acquire the afcendant, would neceffarily render itself abfolute. Hence it was wifely fettled that the Legislature

fhould

fhould confift of THREE diftinct powers, with different gradations of dignity, and consequently different individual interests; while the harmonizing of the whole fhould produce the good of the State: fo that by reafon of this diverfity of individual interefts, and the oppofing fentiments and paffions thence naturally excited, every matter proposed might be exhibited in all poffible lights, and undergo a full and free difcuffion; and nothing become LAW, but through the medium of mature deliberation, and mutual conceffions to that grand intereft which was common to all.

These three powers we call King, Lords, and Commons. It is on all hands agreed, that this inftitution of government is excellently adapted to the security of that FREEDOM which is our common inheritance. But this is only acknow ledged, fo long as each of these powers remains independent of either or both of the other two: for, if one of them should lofe its independence, it is evident that our government, notwithstanding outward appearances, would confift of only two powers; and if two should lose their independence, it is equally evident that our government, although three in form, would in effect confift of only one power.

The moment that either the Crown, the Lords, or the Commons lofe their independence, in that moment our Conftitution is violated, our Government is overturned, and our Liberty is endangered.

As every Englishman has an equal inheritance in this Liberty; and in those Laws and that Conftitution which have been provided. for its defence; it is therefore neceffary that every Englishman should know what that Conftitution is; when it is SAFE; and when ENDANGERED.

To diffuse this knowledge univerfally throughout the realm, to circulate it through every village and hamlet, and even to introduce it into the humble dwelling of the cottager, is the wish and the hope of this Society.

They truft it is a wifh that will be approved by all good men, and that it is a hope not ill founded, in a country whofe

love