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No. 11.

THE PHILANTHROPIST.

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 1795.

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!

1

ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.

[Continued]

:

The fhades are indeed dark and dreadful; but the refemblance is too ftrong to be mistaken and it is no longer time to be cheated with the deceitful colourings of hope and adulation. Whatever ills our present fituation offers to our view, whatever diftreffes the fad perfpective of future years may threaten, it is neceffary to behold them with a steady eye. For thus alone can we make a proper use of the resources which yet remain, in order to procraftinate our country's fate; or, if fortitude and prudence are infufficient to avert the impending ruin, it is better to perish like men that have exerted themselves to the laft, than to be fwept away like helpless animals, entangled in the toil, and flaughtered without refiftance. And here we shall not fcruple to apply the principles which we established at the beginning, and to affert, that such a`descent from the pinnacle of greatness, to the lowest abyfs of shame, could

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could never have enfued, without a correspondent change in the principles and adminiftration of the English government. It has been long remarked, that there is a tide in human things, which is never fo near an ebb, as when it is lifted beyond its bounds, and feems to fwell the higheft. This circumstance, which is attributed by the ignorant to fome mysterious power and denominated fortune, is eafily refolved by keener and more penetrating understandings, into the neceffary agency of moral causes. If the very hairs of our head are numbered, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without the permiffion of Providence, ftill lefs can we fuppofe that mighty empires, which involve the deftiny of millions, are detached from the general chain of caufes, and left to fluctuate at random.

But as an attentive obferver might have predicted the future fate of Rome, at the very inftant when the exulted over the fall of her aspiring rival; thus would an English patriot have trembled for his country's fafety, when she had reached that point of glory which admitted no farther augmentation: and while he beheld her inveterate enemies humbled at her feet, her empire extended to the oppofite limits of the earth, her fleets returning with every wind, and loaded with the luxuries of every climate, he would have feared the fure contagion which has ever accompanied exceffive profperity. That contagion has long been circulating in fecret through this devoted land, tainting the fources of national happinefs, and corroding the vitals of the conftitution. Among the people it has produced an headlong rage for trifling and dangerous pleafures, a contempt for the virtuous fimplicity of ancient manners, and an oblivion of their most important rights; among the great, a luxury which knows no bounds, an indifference to the public good, and a dif pofition to facrifice the dignity of birth, the duties of rank, and the hope of future fame, to the low enjoyments of the prefent

moment.

Could fuch difpofitions have long fubfifted in a nation with fafety to their liberties, it would have been the first exception of the kind within the annals of humanity. It would have im

plied

plied a degree of wifdem, virtue, and moderation in their rulers, which no established government has yet been able to boaft. We have therefore no reafon to be surprised, that every poffible advantage has been taken of the general fupineness, and that a malignant influence has increased in filence, till it is almoft too mighty for oppofition: and by undermining every fupport of the conftitution, threatens the entire deftruction of the pile.

The stability of that constitution has, through many fuceeding ages, depended upon the public virtue and integrity of our Parliaments. Tne neceffity of a mutual co-operation between the king and the reprefentatives of the people gave the nation every fecurity for their rights, which they could then think neceffary. Whatever grievances had been introduced during the intermiffion of parliaments were fure to be forcibly represented, and their redress demanded, before the exigencies of the fovereign were fupplied. Men that confidered themselves as the immediate agents of their fellow citizens, felected for the particular purpose of tranfacting public bufinefs in their names, fhortly to be mingled with the common mafs, and to share in all the confequences of their own conduct, could not eafily be induced to impofe burdens which would oppress themfelves, or to furrender rights which were eilential to their own. fafety. Nor were thofe modern refinements yet invented, thofe generous indemnifications which a grateful minifter beftows upon the deputies of the people, to reward them for their patriotifm and loyalty. Nor was it yet understood that a small number of individuals, frequently deftitute alike of fortune, virtue, and abilities, introduced against the consent of the ple voting in oppofition to their opinions, and lavishing their property without their confent, had a right to disfranchise their electors, and bereave them of thofe very powers to which they owed their own existence. Such contradictions and abfurdities are the offspring of modern times, as well as that political leger-de-main which can concentrate the effence of a populous county, or a commercial city, in a ruined fheepfold; and

peo

which

which, while it gives the laborious occupier an equal share in the legislature with an hundred thousand refpectable citizens, can, if neceffary, annihilate the political exiftence of millions, make an House of Commons spring up seven, or seven hundred fucceffive times from its own afhes, and veft the virtual representation of an immenfe continent in the corporation of a Cornish borough. It cannot be imagined that fuch doctrines can have been propagated, without giving the juftest alarm to the real friends of their country. They have therefore repeatedly endeavoured to ftem the torrent of corruption, to expel the minions of a court from the temple of public freedom, to restore our parliaments to their original purity, and the people to their hereditary rights; and had they fucceeded in their attempts, there is every reason to believe, that we should have escaped the weight of misfortune, which is now from evey quarter burfting upon our heads; nor have added to the many past examples of ambitious phrenzy, the fpectacle we now afford of finking greatnefs, and a shattered empire.

But it is the common failing of human beings to be more disposed to lament the preffure of misfortunes, than to take precautions against their approach, or even to exert themselves for a cure. States, like individuals, frequently become wearied with the practice of thofe virtues which have produced their exaltation; and in a fudden accefs of delirium throw away the advantages which it had coft them ages to acquire. In vain do the few unprejudiced patriots, who with more penetrating eyes look into futurity, endeavour to awaken them from their delufion, and point out the chains which are scarcely perceivable under wreaths of flowers: their fagacity is defpifed, their predictions flighted, their fuperior virtues hated, till the hour of vengeance is arrived, which difpels the short-lived dream of pleasure and fecurity, and roufes the miferable victims to real flavery and fubftantial ruin.

This has been long the cafe with our own nation, and we are now paying the fevere penalties of former folly. What repeated warnings have we received of the increafing venàlity of our

reprefentatives;

reprefentatives; and how often have we neglected the opportunity of placing the public liberty upon a permanent bafis! But fo long as there could be a doubt concerning the extent of the contagion, fo long as they condescended to spread the flightest veil over their infidelity, we acquifced in the deceit, and chose to expect that relief from time, which is only attainable by virtue: as if univerfal experience had not fhewn, that the first infringement of national rights, which is permitted with impunity, is the introduction of every evil; that the attempts of ambition never finish but with the patience of mankind; and that there is no medium between oppofing the leaft encroachment, and fubmitting to the greateft. But with our deluded countrymen every pretext, however futile and ridiculous, has been alternately fufficient to quiet their fears, and lull their jealoufies. Sometimes their liberties have been invaded to de fend them the-better against the attacks of tyranny, fometimes because a patriot king enjoyed the throne; fometimes they were perfuaded to forego redrefs, becaufe the minifter was embar→ raffed with war; fometimes because he dared not interrupt the public peace; fometimes for fear of excluding the people's real friends from power; fometimes because the people's real friends had obtained the power they fought, and mufi not hazard its lofs. Wretched nation, that has been induced to make the disease inveterate in expectation of a cure, and that did not understand, that it was a matter of o confequence in what name, or by what party they were cnslaved!

But there is a certain degree of provocation, which it is unfafe to offer even to flaves. We had feen with tranquility our treasures wasted, and our blood poured out in quarrels which did not intereft the nation; a multiplicity of laws, contrary to the principles of a free government, enacted; the national property lavished upon the nation's inveterate foes, and perpetual impofitions eftablished, as odious in their nature as oppreffive in their operation. We have beheld the facred influence of the laws fometimes perverted to opprefs innocence, fometimes evaded to confer impunity upon the blackeft crimes. Mercenary

troops

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