Proofs of a conspiracy, against Christianity, and the government of the United States;

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OOFS

O F A

CONSPIRACY,

AGAINST CHRISTIANITY, AND THE GOVERN-
MENT OF THE UNITED STATES ;

EXHIBITED

IN SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE UNION OF CHURCH AND
U STATE IN

NEW^ENGLAND.

By ABRAHAM BISHOP.

2|o^n O^aBcoc^, printer, il?artfc.ri3»

1^

CONTENTS.

2St PART. — FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF CHURCH AND
STATE UNION.

2d CONSPIRACY OF CHURCH AND STATE AGAINST CHRIS-
TIANITY.

^d CONSPIRACY OF CHURCH AND STATE AGAINST THE

GOVERNMENT OP THE UNITED STATES.

PREFACE,

ROFESSOR ROBISON undertook the gigantic
talk of proving a confpiracy againft all the religions and gov-
ernments in the world : I am contented with a fmall fedion
of his fubje£b.

My aim will be, to place the charge of infidel confpiracy,
where it ought to rell, in compaffing which I (liall pafs ra-
pidly, and without much ceremony, through the folemn
forms ^ in which religion is prefented, in order to arrive at
the fubftance ; and in examining this (hall occafionally, and
without much fenfibility, advert to the paffions and arts op-
pofed to my procefs ; and after fixing the character of
federal religion, fhall follow it through the political courfe,
which it has taken from the infancy of our government to
the day of the date of thefe prefents — fhall with much cool-
nefs call fome clafles of men hypocrites, who have pafled
for faints — and fhall fhew that whether republicanifm means
fomething or nothing ; yet that the allufions and diftant
hints of republicans about the exiftence of an hypocritical
northern phalanx meant fomething. — And from premifes
thus conflruded fhall attempt to prove, that chriftianity and
the government of the United States have a conftant, pow-
erful, and efficient enemy in the New-England union of
Church and State.

This union forms completely one political party in our
country, but the real illuminatifts of this order are not con-
fined exactly to New-England. Every trufly hearts of oak
man bears the light with him acrofs the Atlantic : It irradi-
ates the northern parts of the (late of New-York, and guides
the Miffionaries' path •, it twinkles in Jerfey, is a dark Ian-
thorn in Pennfylvania, glimmers like an expiring taper in

IV

Delaware, is a fullen light in Maryland, and is extinguifhed
at the feat of government. Thofe, who have heretofore
ferved this light have been well paid for their fervice, and
(ince they hav€ taken the popular ground of religion to fuf-
tain themfelvcs and to humble us, we cannot take better
ground than by charging them with hypocrify and by rely-
ing for proof on their lives, their public means, and certain
ends of action.

We find this ftandard in the gofpel, which they profefs
to revere, and we offer to refign every thing into their hands,
whenever their lives fhall confute our pofitions. They can
overwhelm us with proteftations ; but to the law and the
teflimonles, if they preach not, and if they praclife not ac-
cording to th^fe, there is no light in them.

Living in the midfl of men whom my fubjefl contem-
plates, it has occurred to me that their fteady habits and
good profefTions have brought them fuflicient profits^, and
that our pious anceftors have been bought and fold often
enough ; therefore that fome man, who has paid his propor-
tion for thefe habits, fhould take it in charge to put an end
to the traffic, and to place the dealers in a way of laying in
a new (lock of their own manufacture.

This fubjeCt is like a new country : he, who firft enters
into it mufh encounter fome briers and fome ferpents ; but a
fucceffion of laborers, working with their axes at the roots,
will open a way through the wildernefs, and hereafter the
folitary place will be glad for them, and the defert will re-
joice.

Many are for retaining the old order of things, becaufe
it is a quiet one ; fo are death and the grave ; but are men
willing to arrive at thcfe, ftript of civil and religious lib-
erty, merely for the fake of peace .'* But peace can never be
long preferved, if the public mind is fuffered to lleep. The
dreadful convulfions in Europe were preceded by ftupors
and deadly calms. The parties in this country differ not in
mcafures only, but in fyflems. DifcufTion is favorable to
the caufe of truth, and *' a war of opinions will fave a war
of blood,"

PROOFS

OF A

CONSPIRACY.

FIRST PART.

••<•"<••■<■<••<>•■>••>••>">■■

FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF CHURCH
AND STATE UNION.

NO. I

LitrcduBory view of Church and State ReUgian in New-
Efig/and.

W:

ERE man to live through feveral centuries, he might
aSbrd to employ one, at leaft, in experiments on theology and
politics, and enlift all his pafiions in battle royal againfl thofe, who
would not fubfcribe to his -theories ; but in a fliortlife, having every
thing to learn, no infallible teacher nor ftandard ; honor, wealth
and pleafure to gain, and yet to fecure an immortality of happinefs ;
to keep in favor with the great, and hold friendfliips with elevated
bafenefs ; yet to m.aintain principles inconflftent with fuch favor
and friendlhips, is too complicated a taflc : V/hen half-finiflied,
the operator dies and leaves a laboratory of ufelefs empty crucibles.

Ta fimplify this complex fituation and to find a fafe courfe for
man, as refpefts both worlds, is worth a life of diligence; then
infinitely deferving an hour's critical attention.

To rear empires in the old world, has been the tailv of conquer-
ors ; to maintain them, the province of monarchs ; to deftrcjy
them, the weight of their own fyftems ; thefe fyfiems raifed by
curious workmen in politics, theology and the arts : all fink and
decay, becaufe the foundation and fuperitru^lure are wholly hu-
inian. Duration, perpetual improvement and eternity diflinguifh
the works of God, and if we can follow his plans, we fhall do
bed 'for ourfelyes and lay up a lading treafure for future genera-
tionso <j^jv^-

An infant knows nothing. Arrived at maturity, he buftlcs
about independence of thought and of fpeaking and writing nat«-
urally, of abflra^t ideas and (irft principles : yet he has learnt aii
which he knows ; forgetting from whom he iearnt it, he confiders
it as his own, and through mere defedl of memory, claims the
credit of originality. — A thoufand men, born in different parts
of the world, will have pafTed a thoufand modes of being, and
yet each will avow infallible ideas of religion, government and
the concerns of life.

In this advanced flate of the world, human fyftems are fo
wrought, that it is eafier to adopt them than to invent new ones,
and if the father worfhipped the apis, or adored the crocodile, or
bowed at the foot of an emperor's throne, or kifTed the pope's
flipper, (o mud the fon, and the fon's fon, to the lateft generation ;
and he, who followeth n&t the eftaolifhed habit, is denounced by
implicit followers, and the fyflrem-mongers all join to fay, * Let

* him be accurfed, for he deflroyeth the ancient land-mark, he

* breaketh up the foundation of many generations' — and their fol-
lowers are obliged to refpond, * Let him be accurfed' — but a new
order of things has emboldened many to rifque exorcifms, to look
into the mylferious antiquities, to rend the unconfecrated veil, to
fhew the people that the holy of holies is not local, and that the
day has palled by, when he, who touched the mountain, fhould
be (loned. Among thefe I have afTumed the taHc of fpeaking to
you definitely of the union of church and (late in our country.

For diftindl perceptions of this fubje^t we are much indebted to
the prudence, candor and franknefs of our opponents. Federal
riters have been prudent in publifhing the grofTeft falfehoods under
ctitious names ; for otherwife they would long fince have been
publicly convidted of their bafenefs, and the caufe which theu at-
tempted to efpoufe, would have been checked, before 'its demrmi-
ties were apparent. Federal orators have been candid in expofing
all the anti-republican tendencies of their party, and in threatening
what they would do, if they had power. C'srical politicians have
(hewn a degree of franknefs, (hardly reconcileable with their real
characters, ) in boldly laying the crofs at the feet of Pinckney,
Hamilton, fedition law and new judiciary. We find no fault that
our adverfaries have placed their features in a light, where we can
truly take them.

The great events of a fev/ pad years have gradually introduced
the light neccfTary to this portraiture. The pafTions, engendered in
darknefs, and which feck concealment till they can come for-
ward with efFeft, have flowly and unfufpe(^lingly met this light, not
aware that fome were watching the moment, when they could be
diftindly feen.

New-England federallfm appeared to be protejianty and to willi
the downfal of hierarchies, till the church of Rome began to
tetter : then it began to pray for her re-eftablifhment, ardently as
faints for rebuilding the walls of Jerufalem. The French, who till
that time had been our good friends and allies, were called a fet
oi atheifts and anarchifts. No curfes were too fevere to implore
on them for abolifliing hierarchies and for fufpending the obfervance
of that day, which had been before devoted to the diflionor of God,
and the ruin of man. No pity for opprefTed humanity reihained
the rage of our church and ftate men. No cries afcended to heav-
en for relief of freemen. With joy the combined troops of the
throne and the altar were announced as hurhng their thunders on
devoted France. The paflions were gradually raifed. The cries
of infidelity and modern philofophy were founded through the
country, and the rage of holy church and ftate men was direded
againrt infidel France. Even the royalift Barruel, a papift, be-
came a favorite, although at the expence of our proteftant ancef-
tors, the Albigenfes and Waldenfes, he criminated France. Every
little fubjed of a political prelate took in charge the caufe of God
and fettled in his narrow mind a queftion mighty enough for the
greateft talents of two contending worlds. A little cumberer of
the ground, a miferable portion of dufi and afhes, to which the
worms are heirs apparent, decides on the counfels of his Maker, and
decrees in his behalf that the holy father had been wrongfully dif-
turbed — that the king of France fhould be reftored — that the thr(jne
and the altar fliould be more clofely united, and that the old order
of things fhould be revived. To exprefs thefe mighty decrees a
new vocabulary is invented to abufe the friends of civil and religious
liberty, and to compliment the tyrants and murderers of the world.
' — —Was this the fpirit of chriflianity, or of church and flate ?

New-England federalifm appeared to be ckrijllan, till by irrita-
tion of the public mind, and falfe alarms, federal power was able to
raife an army and navy, and to create extenfive eflablirnments of
wealth and grandeur, perfectly confiflent with church and date
union, but actually armaments and batteries againfl the peaceable
kingdom of a humble Redeemer.

New-England federalifm appeared to ht federal, till a change of
adminiftration defiroyed the grand objed of church and flate,
v/hich always was, pov/er to the leaders, delufion to the followers,
and ruin to oppofition. Then this federalifm cried out for dif-
memberment of the (lates-— the death of federalifm.

Hypocrify is not chargeable on our federal leaders in church
and flate, nor their humble organs, the orators and editors, becaufe
they have publiflied the fads, on which thefe views are formed.
Their hypocrify confifls in profefTmg to love liberty, chriftianity
and federalifm ; yet in the name of thefe, purfuing meafures hoftile
to them ail, and concealing from the people the fupieme objeft,

8

their own confequence, which can be compafTed only in the def-

trudion of thefe blcflings : for none of thefe can be cherifhed fin-
cerely in any heart without facrificing the luft of power, which is
their main-fpring of a(5lion.

The infidious arts, by which this procefs has been effefted, fur-
nifii a fubje<5t too extenfive for ample difcuflion in the propofed
compafs ; but this will be accepted as my blow at the root of
church and (late union^

NO. 11.

Vitw of the origin cf Church and State Union in New^

England,

I

AM not about to prefent a new charader of religion
under the fun ; it is one, which has prevailed in every nation,
where the throne and the altar have been in alliance, and in every
heart where this alliance is approved. It is a charader, to which
every religion has tended with as much certainty as bodies tend to
the centre. Mankind have been always difpofed to appropriate
heaven to earthly purpofes.

The Jews received a perfe<5l law under the theocracy ; but find-
ing the obfervance of it inconfiftent with their lufts, their clergy
and council by degrees changed it to a religion well adapted to hu-
man pride, and built altars to this pride. The humble votaries,
grateful to their new lawgivers, bent the knee to the builders of the
altar, and forgot the God of heaven. The pried took his ftand
within the holy of holies ; the counfellor ftood without to attend
the incerife of the fat of rams and the oblations of rivers of oil.
Religion became a profitable, contemptible pageantry, yet it retain-
ed fo much earthly power that when the fon of David appeared
andexpofcd this ftate of things, Pilate could not offer to the peo-
ple a more acceptable fubjevH: of crucifixion.

To this new religion the proud unioniits of Jewifh church and
flate did not fubmit. Tiie great, who had formed powerful con-
nexions, or purchafed edates, were bidden, but did not attend : the
feaft was fliared by the obfcure. Many faid. Lord, Lord, but did
rot what he commanded : many wore fad countenances to be feen
of men : maAy prefaced their alms by found of trumpet, and chofe
confpicuous places for their devotions ; yet the humble publican, the
poor widow, the meek and defpifed, compofed the retinue of the

Saviour. While buffetings and perfecutions were the lot of chrif-
tians, the knowing ones avoided profeflion ; but when it was dif-
covered that this religion could be made an engine of ftate, and that
civilians and ecclefiaftics could fuftain each other, it became fafli-
ionable to profefs. The first union of church and state
IN Christendom was the corner stone on which satan
WAS tobuilp his fabric of infidelity. High priefts pray-
ed for kings ; kings furnifhed laws to fupport religion ; the Sav-
iour's promife to fuflain his church was forgotten, or his power to
fulfil the promife was doubted. His pi<aure decorated the walls
of churches ; but the knee was bent and the eye lifted to his ho-
linefs, the fountain of all fpiritual power, and to his majefty, who
kept that fountain overflowing with the wealth of a fubjugated
world.

This magnificent union having for centuries overfpread Chrif-
tendom, and having humbled by perfecutions and cruelties every
fucceeding clafs of real chriftians, was at length abridged by the
reformation. In the courfe of a (ingle century, among the churches,
called reformed, that of England became moft confpicuous for the
fame union, which in its turn was abridged by the puritans, who
firfl: fettled this country, and New-England can claim the uninter-
rupted fucceflion of this church and flate power.

The exiftence and deteftable charader of three of thefe unions will
never be doubted. It is my province to confider the fourth, and as the
piety of our anceftors has formed the bafis of our church and flate
union, and fmce much of paflion, falfehood and fuperftition have
been improved in the hiftory and application of this piety, I fhall
proceed in the next number to fpeak of our anceftors in fach terms
as my fubjed requires, and with the exprefs intent of Ihewing that
our church and ftate unionifts, who claim to be heirs of the b'efiing,
have a<flually inherited fome conftituent parts of their religlonj an4
that this religion is not chriftianity.

.VO. III.

View of the Religion of our Anceflors

M

EN have been taught to look into antiquity with as
much dread as children into a haunted room, and this fubjedt has
been fo artfully obfcured that the elucidation of it requires a per-
fectly new procefs.

I vyould bow with all reverence before the generation which
firft died in this country, with lefs to the next, and would diminifh

B

lO

in refpedl till I came to the prefent, and would then hold all my co-
temporaries in total contempt ; would kneel before illuftrious

fhades and defpife living men, could I find any juft authority for it :
but who will give me furety that in confideration of this homage
the people of the next century will as thoroughly venerate the prefent
generation ? Did our anceftors wifh that we fhould ufe their, char-
afters as engines of torture for our neighbours ? and were they defi-
rous that one half of their defcendants fhould in their names abufe
the other half? If fo, they merit no reverence for fuch difpofitions.

If the charafter of the prefent generation mufl: be facrificcd, let
it rather be done to the fmiling infants and rifing hopes of future
generations, than to the infenfible duft and afhes of the paft. If
any benefit is gained by faying that every generation grows worfe,
that experience and example have tended to debafe human nature,
and that thefe are peculiarly evil times, let this benefit defcend to
our children, whofe chance of rifing, after defcending from fuch
parents, mufl be wretched indeed.

Thofe preachers and moraiifls, who rife on the ruins of human
nature, and thrive on the growth of depravity may, if they under-
ilandthe human heart, look into their own and find that the m&ik
felfifh paiTions impel them to their work. He, who is conflantly
convincing me of my fins, of his own righteoufnefs, and of that
judgment, which is to give him an everlafling afcendency over me,
is employed in a very proud calling. He, who talks about ancef-
tors, is fuppofed to be very knowing about antiquity, and it is much
more glorious to be fcientific about things of no confequence, the
proof of which is obfcure, than to know thofe important things,
which are d^ily pafiing before us. — He, who is fevere on the
paganifm and immorality of remote antiquity, fhews his abhorrence
of evil, and hurts the feelings of no man, becaufe none can trace his
kjndred fo far back. He, who praifes and compliments my ancef-
tors, touches fome fine fibres of a felfifh heart, and prepares me to
believe that the befl of principles and motives mufi influence one,
" who charms fo wifely." He, who caufes the thunders of heav-
en to roll at a diftance over my head, produces in me a complacent
ferenity ; but he awakens every fcnfe of joy, when he direfts the
bolts upon my political adverfaries. He, who ncgleds his mafter's
work to attend to mine, fecures my zeal to fcreen him from merit-
ed reproach and punifhment.

If diflTerent beings had been employed in making man, they
would doubtlefs have differed extremely in their workmanfhip, and
ingenuity might have been employed in tracing the relative capacity
of the artlfls : but as one infinite Creator has made all men, it is
probable that there are no differences of charafter between thofe
of one and another century, except what have been produced by
the different degrees of light, which he has been pleafed to reveal
to them. The increafe of moral knowledge hr^^ increjfe^^ men's per-

II

ceptlons of moral light. Civilization has brought in its train vir-
tues axid vices : Seafons of danger have exhibited courage — feafons
of want, temperance — and feafons of luxury have given ©ccafional
checks to moral practice. The depravity of man has difcovered
itfelf in different forms : Superftition marks one century, hypocrify
the next : Parfimony charaderizes the father, profufion thefon. —
The occupants of each century have generally taken good care to
call themfelves worfe than thole before them, andthofe of the next
have been obliged to exalt the virtues of their anceftors, and to
humble themfelves under a fenfe of their inferiority, and this (late
of things will probably laft, till fome curious operator (hall find a
mode to extrad felfilhnefs from the human heart, or till the arts of
trafHcking with our pious anceftors fhall ceafe to be fuccefsful.

Having glanced at the motives of our church and ftate men, I
proceed to remark that their firft advance towards taking pofleffion
of the piety of our anceftors, is by exciting a great portion of fenfi-
bility in their favor. Indeed their leaving their native country to
fettle in this wildernefs, and eftablifhlng themfelves in the m.idft of
want and hardfiilps againft favage tribes, is well calculated for the
opening of fuch a work : but will you compare all this v/lth the
fuffcrings of the natives, flying in every direftion, or by whole vil-
lages buried under the burning ruins of their once peaceful dv/ell-
ings ? Here gratitude is artfully called up to balance the account
in favor of our anceftors, and the luxuriance of our fields is fum-
moned to witnefs their claim to all our homage. The tawny' war-
rior has left no hlftorian to record his virtues, no rich defcendants
to emblazon his name, no ftone to record the place from which he
and his wife and children too fuddenly ftarted for eternity !

It is extremely popular to excite fenfibility and to exprefs grati-
tude, efpecially when the exercife of them cofts nothing. Had
not our anceftors come here, we might have been born in England,
and been fubje<5t to funding fyftems, ftamp acts, fedition laws — to
the enormous indebtednefs and dlftrefiSng policy of that nation : or
we might have been born in Scotland, and under an infamous alien
adl, been tranfported to Botany Bay with Muir, Skirviag, Mar-
garet, and fuch reftlefs fpirits : or we might have been born in Ire-
land, and been implicated in all its treafons and rebellions againft a
moft gracious fovereign, who in the fupremacy of his condefcen-
fion, would have fent over powerful armxies to form an inland nav-
igation, to be fupplied by ftreams from our veins. In what wild,
barbarous regions of frozen Finland, or defpotic Ruliia, might not
our anceftors have placed us ?

Are we then to blefs anceftors for placing us in an eligible coun-
try or to curfe them for placing us in a wretched country ? The
conception is abfurd : merit is always connected with motives, and
our anceftors came herewith motives, perfedlly their own. It is
a relief to men, while in ardent purfuit of wealth, enduring cold>

12

hunger and ha.rdlliips, to fay, * All this is for pofterity,' The
niifer has not always the fortitude to fay, * I love gold fo well that
rather than part with it, I will fee all my neighborhood wretched ;'
no, he fays, * I mufl lay up fomething for my children.' The
man, who does cruel things in the courfe of bufinefs, will never
own the hardnefs of his heart and the indomitable power of gold ;
no, he fays, * Juftice to myfelf and family requires me to do fo.*
We mufl indulge thefe weak natures in fome occafional evafions ;
but vjhzn fyjiems of evaiion are adopted, we muft combat them.

A general regard to the interefts of pofterity is confident with
the beftinterefts of the prefentday. It extends the views, and en-
ables a man to think that he fees what he does not fee, and that he
fetls, what he never felt ; but the man, who prates much about
pofterity and anceftry, generally does it to conceal what he is. —
Our anceftors never conceived of us : had they lived to the prefent
moment, we fhould have been too diftant from them in kindred to
hiave engaged their cares or affeftions, and we fliould have cared
as little for them. Curiofity might have drawn us to fee the man,
who firft fet foot on American ground, who fiiot the firfi: native,
who fet fire to the firft village, or who diftinguiflicd himfelf in the
early ads of taking poftefTion of this country ; but there would have
been an end of the bufinefs.

Let me nov/ call you to look at our anceftors juft as you would
at a clafs of men, coming here at this time and condudling as they
did. Did they fly from perfecution, becaufe they hated it in prin-
ciple, or was it becaufe it was dire6led againft them ? At their firft
eftablifhment here, they perfecuted with more violence than they
had fuffered. Did they leave their homes to find a little retired
fpot in the wildernefs, where they might enjoy the little, which
man wants here below, and from which might afcend daily, and un-
interrupted afpirations to heaven ' Their firft obje^Sl was extent of
territory, and they combated for it with a zeal and perfeverance
worthy of a better caufe. Did they love humanity and peace ?
But they were in conftant wars with their tawny brethren^ children
of the fame univerfal Father. Did they love toleration ? But they
denied it to Quakers and Adamites, v/ho like them had fled to the
fame country. If they loved civil and religious liberty, why was
every exertion made to deftroy them ? Exprefsly becaufe they
were fubject to paflions, like to thofe men, whom they had left.
They fought, quarrelled, finned and puniflied, as often in proportion
to their numbers as their pofterity,* except that the vices, which
arife from luxury, could not attach to them.

* Sec the bhie laws and Trumbull's hiftory for fa<5^sto futlaln this num-
ber •, a recital of the cruelty of their wars, the bittcrncfs of their difputeis,
the multitude and fcverity of their punifliments, thcdcfedtion of their zealots,
&c. would be tedious. It is natural, in turning thofe pages, leaf by leaf, t»
obfcrvs how rapidly the paflions gained againft the religion of tha^ age, and

^ ^3

I do not fpeak of Lord Say and Seal, and Sir Edmond An-
drus, and other barons and knights, who came here. Such men
are ahke throughout the world ; the odium of their memories
ought not to defcend to any : but ourj{>/<?.v.r anceftors were the very
men who exhibited the chara(5ter which I have defcribed, and
they fucceeded in laying the foundation of a church and date
union.

The policy and earthly advantages of this union were perfe(5tly
underftood in the country of their birth. A very little imagina-
tion could form a ftriking allegory between the children of Ifrael
and our anceftors. Egypt and Britain — the Red Sea and the ocean
— the ancient and modern wildernefs — the Amorites and the
Indian tribes. — What more fultable, after fuch apt copulatives, than
the jundion of Mofes and Aaron ? A few things were wanting
to complete the refemblance, fuch as the pillar of a cloud and the
pillar of fire, and a divine command to drive out the heathen :
but the pallions of man will eafily accomplifli what his imagination
cannot, and hence we find that while one clafs of our anceftors
were engaged in war,, the others were bufy in forming civil
government (as they termed it according to the mind and will of
God.)

This was the fitteft feafon on earth to have feparated church
and ftate, whofe union had fo long been difgraceful. Now was the
time to have laid folid foundations of humanity, toleration, vita!
religion, and rational government ; but the luxuries of Egypt had
more temptations than the manna of the wildernefs, the old path
was beaten, the profits of the old order of things were too tempt-
ing— our fathers yielded to it. In gathering churches, any num-
ber of perfons, declaring themfelves faints, were to be deemed
fuch ; thefe formed a church, with a right to admit to communion
fuch as (liould thereafter profefs, fo as to perfuade l/jem that they
were fincere. Thefe faints afllimed all earthly dominion, excluded
from their order as they pleafed, held from office all but them-
felves, denied baptifm to all but the children of communicants,
excommunicated Quakers and Antinomians — decided on creeds and
herefies, and chole preachers for themfelves and the finners.
Thus an immenfe power was lodged in thefe people, and an im-
menfe patronage conneded with it ; and all this having no other
foundation than their own declarations. All power, inftead of
being derived from the people, was derived from the clergy.
Every thing was made to bend to holy church. Spiritual tyranny
was eftablifhed, and the rights of man were, in terms and in fadt,
treated with total contempt. Religion was fald to be the whole

how thefe paflions burfl forth with an impetuofity, proportioned to the
reflraint. Thofe, who wifh to eilablifti the fuperior piety of our ancef-
tors, muft guard all accefs to their hiftory effc dually, as Eden was guarded,
*fter the expullbn of Adam.

bufinefs of man, and the main bufinefs of religion was civil gov-
ernment.

This ftate of intolerance and ufurpatlon lafted till (as the
adulators of our anceftors fay) a generation rofe up, who had not
the fpirit of their fathers ; but in fa6t, a generation rofe up, who
were refolved that religion and liberty fhould not deftroy each
other. They faw in the whole of this fyftem, the paffions of man
operating, as they always had done, and that in a change of coun-
tries they had only changed madevs. This produced difputes
about qualifications of admiilion to the ordinances and a great va»
riety of dodrinal points, which were fometimes agitated before
councils of clergy, and fometimes before legiflatures. The mind
and will of God was made to depend on the occafional majorities of
popular affemblies, and to crown the farce, his majefly fent over a
decree, enjoining that the churches fliould renounce their rigid and
intolerant habits : Which decree, we are told, was confidered as
an infringement of the rights of confcience. I have the fame ref-
ped for this kind of confcience, which the Qu^akers and Adamites
muft have had, who were banifhed for exercife of it, or as the
Anabaptifts and Antinomians had, when they felt the force of pun-
ifhment for claiming their rights.

It is not my province to confider how much of piety was in all
this bufinefs ; it is enough that there was much of paflion, pride, and
zeal for earthly dominion, and little of that humble ardent devotion
which characterizes the pure in fpirit. The really pious men of the
world feldom find a place in hiftory ; the noifelefs tenor of their
way offers no lure to the fycophant of a fucceeding age. High
crimes, pov/erful artifices, daring achievements fwell thehidorian's
page, and higheft in the favor and applaufes of our church and ftate
men are the chara(5lers of thofe, who have confpicuoufly aided the
fyftem of governing earth in the name of heaven.

If our anceftors really pOifefTed in this country the good principles,
which they profefied in their owe, if they pra6tifed faithfully on
thofe principles,if they rejeded the temptations of wealth andpov/er,
then they did not found a church and ftate union, then all hiftory
about them is faife, and they are gone to a world of rewards where
neither praifes nor cenfures can affed them. It is enough for me
to have prefented thofe leading traits in their characters, which ftiew
their refemblance to other men when full of power. The firft
chriftians were virtuous ; bat when the chriftian name became pow-
erful the character was loft. Our anceftors fet out from England
with virtuous profefiions : but when they found the pov/er in them-
felves, they became lordly and intolerant. This is the courfe of
nature : when the firft ardors even of virtuous imprellions are ex-
pended, the glory of the day is gone. This tru;h opens the ruin
of all human greatnefs : providence has provided that it (hall ruin
itfelf, and the church and ftate union, fo carefully nourifhed by our

is_^

anceftors, contained in itfelf the feeds of its now approaching diffo-
lution. The appearance of extreme piety was necefTary at firft. —
This abated by degrees, and at length the unionifts have difpenfed
with every thing but the profits and honors of their profefEon.

NO. IF.

View and revieiv.

w

ILL any one a(k, fuppofing that our anceftors were
pious or impious, of what confequence is this to-the prefent genera-
ation ? Such enquirer has never known the policy of this northern
world. Our leading federal politicians form a religious trading
houfe on principles not unHke to thofe of the church of Rome. This
laft deals in relics of faints, images, and whatever can intereft the eye.
Ours deal in anceftors, rare legends, profefiions, and' whatever may
intereft the ear. Both are fond of dodrines, miracles, and myf-
teries ; but treat real, pra(flical piety and humility as the tithing of
mint, annife and cummin. Our unionifts feize, with great greedi-
nefs, the //>/)? of our anceflors. This they claim as their indefeafible
eftate. They next claim and really own a great part of the
v/ealth of the country. They claim the houfes of worfliip, and their
priefts minifter at the altar. They next claim the ordinances and the
feats of juftice, and the right of making laws, and the fources of
public information and the feminaries of fcience : infa(5t, as right heirs
at law, they claim and hold nearly every thing, and withal, the right
of denouncing thofe who will not acknowledge them to be in right-
ful poffeffion. They have a fortrefs on every high hill, troops well
difciplined, wealth and honors enough to difpenfe, and in this proud
attitude bid defiance'to the fcattered, untrained men, who are oppo-
fed to them. They have well ferved parks of artillery, and on the
lead irritation difcharge powerfully from their colleges, pulpits and
prefTes. All this ferves thefe unionifts as an immenfe eftate. All
are admitted to participate, who will own their power : no pradice
or even profeffion of religion is neceffary for admiflion into church
and ftate union ; even a preacher of this order can devote the fabbath
to his party and be cannonized alive for his fan<5tity. A pra<5lical
infidel can take high rank among them, and the cry of religion is in
danger is the war-whoop of the party.

Church and ftate courts earthly greatnefs, thrives in the midft of
wealth and honors, delights in war, and purfues with zeal whatever
vhriftianity forbid?. lo the midft of eternal flu(5tuation3 of conduct,

i6

the zeal of church and ftate for earthly power and dominion is in-
variable. We fled from the perlecution, oppreflion and tyranny
of a hierarchy abroad, and inftantly eftablifhed one here. We
crouched humbly and meanly to Britain till we gained ftrength ; then
the civilian, who found our offices filled with foreign court favorites,
and fome of our clergy, who faw the weight of government in the
fcale againft them, profeffed to be whigs, declared for the rights of
man, and planned a revolution, which real whigs achieved. What
was our late Prefident in 1774 ? ^" ^^^ view of our enemies deferving
an halter. What in i8oc? In the fame view, meriting a crown.
What were our clergy, when praying againft Britifh fleets and armies ^
Rebels. What were thofe of them, who in 1800 advocated what
they had prayed againft? Saints. In 1630 our anceftors detefted
Britain — in 1670 co-operated with, and loved them — in 1776 we
warred againft them and cheriflied France — in 1796 loved Britain
again and hated France, but were truly federal ; and in 1 8ci, cried
loudly to difiblve the union. Thefe are the fteady habits of church
and ftate.

The leaders, true as weathercock to the wind, have been the firft
to announce and the earlieft to availthemfelvesof any change of weath-
er ; hence they have been in power, though they have changed prin-
ciples often as exprefles change poft-horfes : yet, as an exprefc,
though changing, keeps in view the place from which he came, and
that to which he is going ; fo they remember that church and ftate
was their ftarting ground, and human glory the end of their career. —
But in the midft of all fluftuations, they are true as needle to the
pole in animofity againft their opponents, and fidelity to their adhe-
rents ; fo that if one leaves them through difguft, no vengeance is con-
fidered too exemplary to deter others from defertion : but he who
is faithful may draw pay to the day of his death. If he falls, they
will furely raife him, and from this policy they keep many attached
to them, juft as Britain, though infinitely bankrupt in that which is
the true bafis of credit, retains the confidence of creditors by a con-
ftant pun(5tuaiity fultained by new loans.

Thefe are real illuminatifts. They have their illuminatlfm from
the Jews, the Catholics, the Britons, and their own anceftors ; they
inherit and pra^ife all the artifice and intrigue of their predeceffors.,
and purfue precifely the fame objed. Here are no Rcbifon and
Barruel fi<5tions, no heavy Gertnan quotations, no long lifts of men,
<who were never horriy no forty-five degrees of mafonry : but folid
modern philofophifm pra^^lfed by men, who are daily to be feen,
and who may be known by the following figns : The clergy of this
order pray and preach politics, and profefs their right fo to do.
They teach a religion extremely like that of the Jews, confifting of
an o{>tentatious difplay of tenets. They perfecute, and blefs not.
They pray for the downfal of their enemies, and affume the reverfe
of what the Saviour recommended on the mount. They admit

honorary members Into the church : man pofleflfed of church and
fiate religion, but who have no prctenfions to the grace of the gof-
pel. Their chofen companions and affociates are the mighty of the
earth, and they vote pubHcly and in prefence of all the people/c/r
fome meUi who are reputed and knoiun 'infidels. Though the found of
the rights of man brought them to their proud fituation, yet that
found is now grating to their ears. Unconfcious of that patience,
which endures their outrages againft their profeffions, they can-
not bear to hear the humble cry of toleration from thofe out of
power. So far from preaching and pradifmg chrifHanity, they
preach a religion of this world, pradlife a life of pride, and equip
their followers in the armour of earth to combat againft the caufe of
heaven.

A preacher of this order calculates on profelytes in theology,
as he does on profelytes in pohtics. He compliments highly thofe
of his own party, claims for them all the miracles, prophecies, gifts
and promlfes ; drefTes them in white robes, affigns to them the puri-
ty of the holy patriarchs, prophets and apoftles, and initates them in
all the rents and profits of anceftral piety — then he abufes all unbe-
lievers, mifquotes their writings, mifreprefents their arguments and
lives, loads on each the lins of all others, colledls all conceivable
depravity and charges it on them, and then triumphantly afl« his
hearers which fide they will join ? The firft is v/ell underftood to be
the federal fide, the lad the republican. His hearers conclude
with great fignificance to prefer the fide of federal chrifiianlty to re-
publican infidelity. —

Is all this fair dealing ? Has God fent fuch men to preach his
gofpei ? If it be true that all holy and heavenly beings are in favor
of a federal adminiftration, and oppofed to republicanifm ; if
the election of grace has any connedion with ele6tions to office ;
if celeftial glory and earthly honors have any affinity, thefe are
very faithful preachers ; otherwlfe, they are impoftors. — Let me
ailc, has any clafs of men avowed their preference for immorality
and anarchy ? Has any clafs aiTumed upon themfelves, and faith-
fully promifed to maintain, and circulate, the dreams of Condorcet,
or the abfurditles of Godwin i* If fo, let evidence of the fadt be
produced. — Has any clafs of men appointed thefe preachers to
abufe them ? or is the love of God fo abundantly Ihed abroad in
the hearts of thefe political levites, that they are conftrained by it
to vilify and criminate three fourths of his creation ? Alas ! all
fuch preachers are not only pra6llcal infidels, but the propagators
of all the theoretic infidelity which they denounce. Hume,
Voltaire and Bolingbroke would never have been deifts, if chrif-
tianity had (hewn itfelf uniformly in the lives of its moft confpic-
uous profefiors. Thomas Payne probably learnt his infidelity
from church and ftate union. He had lived in the midft of men,
who profefied much religion, but who converted the whole to their
own benefit. C

i8

Are fuch clergy as I,have defcribed fit paftors of a holy flock ?
Are they teaching the humble dodrines of the gofpel ? Is the
heavenly world to be crouded by men, boafting that they fwayed
fceptres, and exhaufted the wealth of mlUlons, or that they com-
manded navies and armies, and guided the llorm in the day of
{laughter, or that they cheated a nation of its rights ; and will the
background be Hlled with their humble fycophants, recounting the
deeds which they, in connection with kings, dukes, generals,
and courtiers performed ? Think you that the (treets of the New-
Jerufalem will be graced by a proccffion of popes, cardinals,
prelates, and our northern political clergy, glorying in the addrefs,
with which they managed earth in the name of heaven ?

The gofpel prefents you another heaven, fardiftant, far different
from this, where the meek, humble expe(5lants of mercy will arrive,
not in purple robes, nor in the fplendid attire of courtiers ; but na-
ked and ready to be clothed with the robes of faints ; not vaunt-
ing, but humbly confelTmg their unworthinefs ; not glorying in
the impoftures which they pradifed on man in this world, but
deeply lamenting that they were ever left even to fmaller adls of
diffimulation. And if that book informs us that fuch will be the
other world, why are preachers fulTered by their hearers to do,
in the certain prefence of their Maker here, thofe things, which
repeated or even known hereafter, will unk them to (hame and
everlafting contempt ?

It has always been heretical to fpcak thus of the dignified clergy ;
but unfortunately for them, it has always been fpoken with truth.
As the particular exhibition of the hypocrify of thefe men will be
referved to a future number, I pafs to the figns by which you may
know the civilians of church and ilate.

As federalifm here has refolved itfclf wholly into church and
fliite union, in order to make this its lad defperate fland, I might
point you diredly to our men in place, to thofe in nomination for
places, and to the expectants of nomination : for thefe are to re-
ceive the firft profits of partnerfliip ; but at prefent your attention
is invited to traits of character. The leading of thefe is inherited
from pious anceftors, viz. a total averfion to the principles, power
and practices of Britain, and thereafter a burning zeal for the fame
national charafler ; at firfl friends to toleration, and equal rights,
then bitter enemies of both ; adoring the will of the majority, while
it kept them in place, then contemning that will, when it oppofed
their ambition. Selfjihnefs would burft througli v/alls of l3rafs,
could it find no other opening for aiSlion, What can a man do,
who finds in himfelf inordinate ambition, and invincible zeal to
govern mankind ? Shall he grovel among the vulgar herd, have
but 2iftngle fhare in a divifion of rights, take his place in the ranks,
plough for his bread, and walle his life in obfcurity ? Ordinary
means v/ill not raifc him rapidly enough — the perception of our

'9

great world is too flow for his pride. He fees the multitude
crouding to the Tanduary. — He knows that in every country reli-
gion has fleered the muhitude regularly, " as rudder docs the
** fhip, and that prieft like helmfman holds them at his mercy ;"
he approaches the altar, embraces the miniflering fervant, and awes
the multitude to reverence. He becomes fcientific ia the exteriors
of religion, and takes the high road to promotion.

If you can find one ambitious ftatefman, deaUngthus in religion,
and you really believe him fmcere, give to the public his name, let
the world fee him. Does he love the Saviour better than houfes and
lands, better than riches and honors ? Stop the coftly colledions
of mufeums. — Tiiis is a curiofity worth them all ! — Alas ! on
ciofe examination you lind him an habitual religionift, entrenched
in forms and votes, believed in by men, who hope to follow him in
all things, wherein he has followed his worldly intereft. — Away
with fuch curiofities, oar country is full of them. The clergy and
civilians, whom I have defcribed as of this union, are precifely
known to their followers as hypocrites ; yet they contrive to keep
up the ranks of their leaders and followers by arts, the develope-
meat of which v/ill occupy a few facceeding numbers.

NO. V.

View of the iriducemertts of amhitious youth to join the Church
and State Uniofu

B

RELIEVING fully that human nature is no better than
it has been — and that felfifhnefs will impel men now as formerly,
to the means beft adapted to their ends, it is the province of thefe
pages to prefent you a religion, growing as naturally out of the
human pallions, as vegetation fprings from the earth ; a religion as
variant from pure proteftant chriftianity, as judaifm in its worft
eftate was from the law of God given by Mofes — or popery from
the primitive cimrch. The objedl of this number is to Ihew that
the moft feliilh of pallions furnilh a fucceffion of leaders in church
and (late union.

Every country is divided into two clafles of men — one which
lives by the labor of the head, and the other by the labor of the
hands : each claims, that its fervices are the hardeft and moft im-
portant ; the firft profeffes great zeal for public good, and means
nothing by it ; the laft does his days work, makes no profeffions,
but brings his produce to the bctl market. The firll: always gov-

20

cms the lad either by deceit or force. Deceit Is the milded way,
but it requires great labor and management ; force is the fureft.
The tranfition from deceit to force has been made in all former
nations, and at the commencement of the pafl: year, we were juft
croffing the line. The Arabian tales, which had been pra6tifed
for years, had begun to lofe their effe<St — tub plots and ocean maf-
facres had ceafed to be articles of faith, and there were ftrong fa^-
picions that holy church was playing a very worldly game. Church
and ftate for once lift up its voice without effect. A fyftem of
deceit is f© deteftable, that its agents manage it with great fecrecy
— when detected, there is no refuge from infamy, but in a fyftem
of force : when that fails, refort is had openly to church and ftate,
and when that proves infuiticient, when the right owners of na-
tional property take poiTelTion, thofe who have tried all thefe vaia
experiments, muft expe(ft to have their conduj^: explored with a
freedom, which a reign of terror would not admit.

To gain the fide of thofe men, who do not fight, but who plan
engagements — ^"of thofe who do not labor, but who enjoy in luxury,
the fruits of labor, is confidered here a great point gained. Parents
are ambitious to place their fons in the way to attain this. Col-
Jeges are the fortrelTes, which command the entrance into this land
of promife, and thefe have been mofliy officered by church and
ftate men from their inftitution. Perhaps in other fituations, as
much might be learnt ; but there is the fame difference in chance
for promotion between a youth privately, and one publicly educat-
ed, as there is between officers of a militia, and thofe of a (landing
army : the laft are well known to be in the line. It is a fact that
the youth are fent there in order to prepare for fuccefs in this world,
and even ^iffwj- parents confider an education given to a fon, equal
to a farm, or a trade, given to his brethren, and really, if the edu-
cated fon fucceeds, he will enter into the public field, which is in
better cultivation, than the fields of his brethren. It will not be
denied, that thefe colleges are now totally oppofed to the general
government, and that thence have ifTued the mofl virulent attacks
on the officers of it. It will not be denied, that officers of church,
and officers of the flate, are afTociated at the head of them, and
that thefe have been careful to fupport in(lru6tors, hoftile to our
prefent government. Under fuch aufpices, a young man, without
any appeal to his palfions, is very likely to follow the track of his
iuperiors. To him they appear to be men of the firft magnitude,
becaufe in the narrow compafs of his vifion, none are greater.
!fle imputes their elevation to the fylhm which they have adopted.
This fires his ambition. He fees thefe men connected with other
great men in church and flatc — and that all the promotions, and
honors of life are in their gift.

While his inilruaor is teaching him the abflra<St nonfenfe, that
there is no heat in fire, and no cold in ice, and that our fenfes are

2f

traitors, he is looking forward to tho^Qfypms of ckceH, by which
multitudes rife to eminence. The delk and the bar, open the
great obje<5ts of purfult. The profeffion of medicine is not in the
line of church and flate promotion. If he choofes the profeffion
of preaching, he enters into a great inheritance of refpedt, and may
expe<5t the higheft feat at feafts, and to be called of men. Rabbi.
The law offers him the dire(5t road to weahh and public honors.
All the machinery of a felfifh heart is put in rapid motion. He
calculates on the relative chances of chefe accurately as the grazier
does on a market. His pafhons are in high ilimulus :«his inftruc-
tors, the newfpapers which he reads, the fphere in which he moves,
every thing about him — tends to infufe into his mind rays of that
illurainatifm, which is to guide him through life. Does any friend
feize this wavering moment to point him to the decay of real reli-
gion, and to the importance of devoting his talents to drive away
that ftate religion, which pafTes for chriftianity ? Does any one in-
ftrud him in the principles of our revolution and in the total perver-
fion of thofe principles, and does he fee that the powers of the ftate
are as fully in the hands of the enemies of civil liberty, as thofe of
the church are in the hands of the enemies of toleration, and that
he ought to join the ranks of thofe, who are declaring indepen-
dence of the proud ufurpers of church and ftate ? No ! his paf-
fions and intereft are hand in hand : He feafonably makes a pro-
feffion of faith, enlifts under the banners of the feaarian of the
day — and after a fliort procefs announces himfelf to be an embaf-
fador of heaven, becomes a political zealot, preaches, as other fuch
faints have preached before him, calls the minority of his flock
infidels — gives timely alarms that the church is to be attacked,
and then devotes feveral fabbaths to fhewing his hearers, how
bravely he will defend it, when the enemy are in (Ight, and after
the elecftion is over, to ferve nvh'ich the alarm luas giveuy it is found
to have been a falfe alarm ; but the conclufion is, that fuch alarms
ure ufeful, becaufe they keep the faints in readinefs. Or if he
choofes the profeffion of the law, another procefs is necefiary : he
muft feafonably quarter himfelf out upon fome congregation^ be In fa-
vor with the clergy y hate the right ^ of man, and he acil'ue in fecuring
to others the honors, ivhich he experts foon to enjoy.

At our colleges are formed the cancers whofe fibres extend
throughevery part of our religious and political fyftems — andthrough
this caufe our religion is in the hands of fuch men as formerly ru-
ined it, and our civil interefts in the hands of fuch men, as have
always been enemies to them ; and with every advantage in their
hands, they exhibit an annual, or femi-annual, triumph in the vi<flo-
ries, which they gain over men, who have nothing to promife to
their adherents.

An event, which occurred at the moment of my writing this, en-
ables me to exemplify thef« remarks. The harbingers of the public

21

eletflion here* were, ifl:. Greenes newfpaper, containing two grofs
falfehoods — viz. that congrefs had augmented the falaries of the
pubhc officers, and that the French nation had demanded of our
government a loan of fix milHons. The pradice of ufhering ia
fuch days by falfehoods has been common with the church and
ftate unioniih ; but they had been generally contented with poif-
oning the public mind by the newfpapers ; on this occafion,
however the moderator of the meeting (Mr. Daggett) and one of
the candidates for office (Mr. Goodrich) had taken particular
pains to ciroilatc thefe. Had thefe men faid, that congrefs gave no
more than what had been paid for three years paft, and no more than
what had been voted by the federalifts under the adminiftration of
Mr. Adams; and had they faid, that a report had been circulated
about a requifition of a loan, but that it had been publicly contra-
dicted, that It was a mere eledtioneering ftory, and that they believed
nothing of it, there would have been fome dignity and fairnefs in all
this : but it feems that any means are good enough to humble
heretics.

The fecond harbinger was a political fermon from the Rev. Dr.
Dana on the preceding fabbath. The third, an admiflion of two
men to the freedom of the ftate, who had no claim to it by law.—
Thefe were a tutor and butler from college, and there was no pretence
that they had the legal qualifications : but it was dated by Mr,
Daggett and Mr. Goodrich, that it had been the practice in the ftate
to admit fuch. How far violations of the law in other parts of the
ftate, or fimilar violations here on former occafions, could form a
precedent to fandlion a breach of truft in the officers, who admitted
thefe, may be a queftion for church and ftate cafuifts. If man may
decide that a diploma is equal to 140 dollars in the lift, or real
eftate worth 7 dollars per annum f,they may decide that three years
education is equal to it — indeed feveral of the fenior clafs did apply
to one of the feledtmen ; but there was no occafion for a new
precedent this year. If thefe men would decide that a good trade
was equal to a diploma, we would (hew them mechanics enough to
put an end to all their future decifions; but the revolutionary do<5lrine,
that taxation ivithout reprefentatlon is the ejfence of tyranny ^ had become
^abfolete, and fome thoufands of men in the ftate are taxed and yet
are not fuffered to be reprefented. — But the fourth harbinger was a
new eiedlion law. It had been found that church and ftate could
not fully control votes given fecretly, and that the numbers of
republican votes increafed ; the new law was therefore calculated
to bring this control into vifible operation, and to produce a direct
bias on the mind contrary to the freedom of fufFrage.;];,

• New-Haven.

f Thefe are the only legal qualifications in Connedlicut.
\ This law enaded that iiiftcad of baliots fecretly put into a box, the voters
fliould rife and be counted.

n

I'vvo clafles af men compofed the meeting — The one wholly op-
pofed to, and the other in favor of the adminiftration of the Uni-
ted States. The £rft confifted of the Prefident of the college. Dr.
Dwight, who had circulated Robifon and Barruel, and who had
never ceafed to reprobate in the fevereft terms the republicans : The
Rev. Dr. Dana, who preaches /oAV/Va/fermons, and the Rev. Mr.
Hubbard, an epifcopal clergym.an — thirteen lawyers — the officers of
College, and a great number of diplomatic freeman, who had been
at this and former occafions admitted — the body of merchants — ■
the diredors of the bank and infurance companies — the civil authof-
ity, feledmen and other officers of the town^^the aldermen, com-
mon-council and other officers of the city, all truly federal : — Beiide
thefe, Noah Webfter, jun. Efq. and Stephen Twining, Efq.
Thefe might have been clafTed under fome of the other heads, but
they deferve particular notice, as the fir<i is the confervator of Mr.
Jefferfon in politics, and fupervifor of— nouns and pronouns ;* and
thelaft a defender of the faith, and recording fecretary of the acad-
emy of arts and fciences !

Having mentioned this federal group, my fubjecH: will be benefit-
ed by a view of the correal motives of each. Chridianity can never
fail, but church and ftate religion is ruined if republicanifm pre-
vails ; lawyers can never be a privileged order in a republic. Com-
merce flourifhes moft in the neighbourhood of wooden walls, which
are of monarchical conftruflion. Republicanifm places on a po-
litical level the rich banker and the poor laborer, leaving to the
firfl: no other pre-eminence than what his wealth will command :
a condition of equal rights would reduce to the ranks fome men,
who hold offices, becaufe they hold in contempt the body of thofe
who have them in their gift: and as to feif-created confervators
and academicians, they would never rife to the rank of privates in a
republic.

Will any page in hiftory prefent fuch a group of figures afTociated
for the good of man. Is it not vifible that no tie can bind them
but their feveral private interefts, all uniting in one point. Were
the aufpices, under which they met, indicative of honefl: zeal for
the public good I Did they meet to do honor to the conftitutiona?
voice of the country ? or was it to offer the moft pointed affroiit to
the adminiftration ? the fequei will (hew.

The republicans, oppofed to this phalanx could not fay to any of
their friends, you are a proper candidate to fucceed Samuel Bifhop,
Efq. as a juftice of the peace, bring your brothers and uncle to vote
with us. They could not promife them any town or city offices..
They could not command a new eledion law — nor a political
fermon — nor a number of illegal voters, nor a brace of mifrepre-
fentations in their favor : nor could they fay to the freemen, it is

* See his letter to Mr. JefFerfon on his adrainiftration, and bis letter tc
the Prefidcnts of colleges on the corruptions of the Engliih language.

24

all the fafliionto be on our fide : our great men will fmile, when
they fee you rife. None could be brought to join them, but men
who felt the enormity of impofition, and who would dare to rife in
prefence of a privileged majority, and who could bear the fneers of
two clergymen^) to he repeated on every naming of their candidates.

Elizur Goodrich, Efq. was the firlt reprefentative. His vo-
tino more than thirty times againrt: the appointment of Mr. Jeffer-
fon, and his uniform hoftility to the republican caufe, were the on-
ly arguments againfl: him with one fide, and the moft prevaiHng
ones in his favor with the other. Noah Webfter, Efq. was the
fecond reprefentative ! ! The governor, lieut. governor, treafurer,
fecretary, counfellors and nomination for congrefs,* fuftained by
the majority, were church and ftate men, all oppofed to the admia-
iftration of our general government.

In the gallery of the houfe were the young gentlemen of college,
and let me aflc, what impreflfions muft hav^been made on their
minds ? Would they not naturally choofe the fide of power and of
favor ? It will reft in future views of this fubjeft, to (hev/ that fach
choice would lead them to join in the deftiudion of civil and reli-
gious liberty.

NO. VL

View and revieiv.

o

N fuch a fubjefl, it Is ufeful occafionally to look back-
ward, forward, and about us, as the weary man does, who is travel-
ling through a wildernefs, thronged with beafts of prey, and venom-
ous reptiles ; for we travel in the midft of the oldeft, moft fubtle
and ferocious of the human pallions.

Men, who imagine that they have pafTed adroitly through life,
in the indulgence of every paffion, and that they are juft on the bor-
ders of heaven, hear with great impatience that they have taken a

* Jonathan Trumbull, John Treadwell, Andrew Kingfbury, Samuel
Wyllys, William Williams, Oliver Eilfworth, Joleph P. Cook, William
Hillhoufe, Roger Newberry, Thomas Seymour, Aaron Auftin, David Dag-
gett, Jonathan Brace, Nathaniel Smith, John Allen, Chauncey Goodrich, John
C. Smith, Simton Baldwin, Roger Grifwold, Benjamin Talmadgc, Elias
Perkins, Samuel W. Dana, Calvin Goddard, John Davenport, jun. Timothy
Pitkin, jun. Jonathan O. Mofeley, Epaphroditus Champion, Lewis B. Stur-
S:es, Theodore Dwight, John Caldwell, William Hart, Nathaniel Rofleter,
Sylvefter Gilbert, Samuel B. Sherwood.

^5

wrong road, and are on the confines of a very different country.
Men, who have profefTed much religion, and yet poffefs none, are
highly enraged at having this fad fpread before the public. Men,
found wandering wide of their duty, and charged publicly with this
wandering, prefer refentment to contrition. All thofe who under
felfifh motives profefs great zeal for public good, are diilreffed at
detedlion, and a difclofure of tke means bv which the few govern
the many, is high treafon againft the craftfmen. Under thefe im-
preffions, I am aware that the lafl number will be denominated an
outrage of all decency ; but it was high time that the world ihould
have a little fpecimen of that liberty and equality, which have been
fo much reprobated. Thefe place men on a political level, and
embolden the humbleft citizen to fpeak freely of dignities, if they
deferve it.

Will any one aflc me, is this the return, which I make for ail the
tendernefs, fmcerity and afFedion, with which I have been treated
by the clergy and civilians ? Let me fcreen myff if from any impu-
tation of ingratitude under the importance of my fubjed, which
demands me to name the men and fa<5ts to which I refer, in order
to fecure attention.

Have I faid that our colleges cultivate hoftility againft the gov-
ernment of our country, and that the padions of our youth are fedu-
loufly enlifted againft republicanifm ? Have I ftated two falfe-
hoods, one political fermon, two freemen admitted contrary to
law, and a new eledion ad, as intended unduly to bias the pub-
lic mind ? Have I faid that one clergyman circulated Robifon and
Barruel, and that another preached political fermons ? and have
I prefented the enemies of our revolution, combined with the ene-
mies of our civil policy, to fhew contempt for the conflituted author-
ity of our country ? and have I proved by their works the intent
of the combination ? No one is likely to difpute my ftatement —
the fads are confpicuoufly known ; but my dired or implied con-
clufions are wholly diftincl from the fads. Thefe conclufions
were defigned to give fuch a complexion to the fads, as they ap-
peared to merit. But fuppofe that a bafe infidel is at the head of
our government, and a noted dancing-mafter* at the head of our
treafury, and illuminatifm advancing through the country, as the
forerunner of anarchy — popery arriving by the way of Louifiana,
the people dsftrcfTed by a redudion of taxes — lawfuits diminilhed
by repeal of the midnight law, and univerfal calamity over-
fpreading the country. — Shall not the fcholar quit his books, and
the clergyman his bible, and piety, wealth and power unite to pre-
vent the cataftrophe ? Shall the niceties of truth and lanv be at-
tended to in fuch a convuUion, and men be fuffered to ad their own
opinions, when thofe opinions will be in favor of infidelity and an-

* See Webfi er's Spedator, fpeaking of Mr. JcfiVrfon and Mr. Gallatin,
under date of September, 179!?.

D

26

arcliy ? Thefe are federal fuppofitions^ and we reply to them—
fuppofe that there is no truth in all this, and in further advance of
the fubje^, we (hall fhew not only that they cannot be true ; but
that a certain fet of fads refpeding thefe leaders exifts, which,
compared with other hiftoricai fafts, will (hew that they are fyf-
tematically purfuing objeds, hoftile to the real wiihes, and true in-
terefts of the great body of our people.

Unwilling to offend the great men, whom I have named, it be-
comes me to fay, th2it perhaps , they believe in all thefe fuppofitions,
and are therefore honeft ; though I have no idea that this is the cafe.
This balances my account with them ; but it may be well to enable
the reader to regard great men more on the principles of liberty
and equality, than he has been accuftomed to do, and for this pur-
pofe, I will drip them of Vv'hatimpofes on the public mind.

Is a great man poffeffed of fuperior talents, and is he therefore
haughty ? Give the credit to the beflower of his talents, and render
to him your complaint, that they have been worfe than buried in
the earth. Is he endowed with a great fund of knowledge, refult-
ingfrom advantages of education, which you have not enjoyed ?
and does he for this claim to lord it over you ? Examine who af-
forded him thefe advantages, who endowed the inftitution which
he enjoyed, who labored in the fieM to fupport him at (ludy ; and
?ik yourfelves whetlier all thefe' ought to fink and be humbled
before him ? Does he command an army ? Examine who lights,
bleeds and dies, to win his lauy'els, and then refolve in yourfelves,
whether the trade of war has fuperior claims to the veneration of
humanity ? Does he preach to you the gofpel, and does he claim
your earthly homage, and the guidance of your political faith ?
Examine the hiftory of him, whom he calls his mafter. Does he
promife you public favors, if you will aid him in promotion ? See
that from yourfelves he gained the power of promifing, and that he
is placing you an almoner on the bounty, which you furnifl-ied.
Does he wear a crown, recolle<5i: how many humble men, like
yourfelves, were paid, as the price of it.

The humiliation with which men have regarded the wealth and
power which have been infidioufly drawn from them, has been a
leading caufe of all the flavery on earth. You naturally venerate
religion and government. The minilters of each apply this vene-
ration to themfelves. You fit down content with the appropriation,
and thereafter worfuip the man in power, as the papift worfliips
{he image, each profefling that a vifible objed enlivens his devo-
tions : Hence is the habitual idea, that if you remove the man, or
the image, you remove the lubitance. Liberty and religion can
i^ever confili with fuch fenfelefs idolatry.

By thefe plain remarks I have no intention of diverting you from
what will be termed the impudence of my laft number, in fuggefHng
a want of piety and political integrity in fome of the clergy and

^_ Jl^ ^

civilians. Let me iipologize to thofe, who may be offended at thi.-:,
by declaring that I do not believe in the piety of the one, nor the
integrity of the other. It might be fjfficient to fay that they have
never furnifhed evidence in their favor ; but I apprehend that an
ample ftatement of the caufes, which have produced my unbehef
in thefe men, will difpofe of a valuable part of this fubject. The
very firft afpect is deadening to the pretenfions of thefe men—
that Hamilton, Bayard, Governeur Morris, Henderfon, Rut-
ledge, Dana, Grifwold, and fuch men, fhould be affociated with
certain clergymen under the name and firm of religion, and Co. to
defend chrilUanity againfl infidels, liberty againil the body of
mankind, and to lave the people from their worft enemies, them"
fehes s that thefe men have evidences of their ov/n honefl zeal
within their own breafls, which force them often to exclaim,
* O how honed, O how pious we are !' and yet that this evidence
fhould never appear in their a<flions, fo as to perfiade the people,
are ftrong facfts ; but they are not new fa6ts — t/je liberttes of ma7i'
kind ivere never dejiroyed by any other clafs of men. In the private
walks of life, temptations are not potent enough to call men to
rifque reputation on duplicity ; but the temptations of wealth,
dignity and power, juft within reach of one additional effort, will
affociate and bind together men of very incongruous profefliohs,
whofe union appears to be diflradlion, till you look forward and fee
that the fame felfifh objed engroffes the affections of them all.

The fa6l of clergy ^s aiTociating with known infddsy in order to
lupport chriltianity, and the fad: of thefe infidels availing them-
feives of the profeffional reputation of thefe clergy, to compafs their
political ends, induces fufpicions on each ; yet thefe fads have ex-
ifted fo vifibly as to caufe an exprellion of thefe fufpicions through-
out the continent. Have the clergy, whom I have named, or any
of their brethren, endeavoured to excite the public hatred againfi:
more than one half of the people of the United States, by char-
ging them with iiluminatifm andafpirit of infidelity, anarchy or
atheifm ? have any of them diftorted the obvious meaning of Mr.
jefferfon's Notes, in order to prove on \\\m thefe charges ? have
any proftituted fabbaths to political ledures I Yes, thefe men have
done all this, and in doing it, have lod irretrievably that reputa-
tion for fandity, fincerity and truth, which otherwife they might
have enjoyed, and this failure they denominate a decay of religion.
There was a time when the entire clefgy of two churches, (the
Jewifli and the Romifh) were falfe to their religions — yet men con-
tinued to revere them, afcer their power was gone. — We rightful-
■?y charged the higher orders of the Englifh epifcopacy with fimi-
iar tendencies to impoflure at afeafon, when thoufands flood ready

for worldly ends, to attefl their fandity. Within our memories

one ciafsof our clergy charged another with herefy, pharifaifm and
;mpoflure, v/hen the denounced clafs ftood high in the confidenc?;

23

ef their followers. Now all ecclefiaftical difcord is hufned, and

the pailions which fuftained them are directed againfl: France, Jef-
ferfon, toieratioa and republicanifm. Thefe fads lead us to be-
lieve it poinble that all is not right in our Zion, and when clergy-
men are at the head of a party in oppofition to our government, they
embolden us to fay that fuch clergymen are not pious chriftians.

This country affords as high fcafoned food for ambition as any
before it, and as gready appetites to devour it. A pretence of
religion is now as profitable to the politician, as it ever has been :
this profit he can never gain, unlefs the key-keepers of the people's
confciences and honeft confidence vyill affilt him in gaining it, and
the imagination of man cannot prefent to him any fet of fa6ts more
indicative of this (hte of things, than the fet, which is already
furnifhed by the diffeminators of Robifon and Barruel and the
preachers of e]e<fl:ioneering fermons. If to have faved appearances,
thofe clergy, who affeEt to believe that infidelity is growing with the
growth of republicanifm, had gathered about them men of unquef-
tionable fan6lity, had carefully guarded their own lives, had fuffer-
ed no evil and bitter words to efcape their lips, and had driven far
from them thofe, who were following them merely for the profits
of their influence, they would have rifen far above ourreprehenfions :
but they have defcended to the level of equalit}^, by admitting not
only the privileged orders of decent manners and hereditary impor-
tance, but the mo ft indecent of partizans, back-biters, inventors of
evil things — the implacable, the unmerciful, and the whole catalogue
recorded in the firft chapter of Romans, to afiift them in alarming
the world for the fafety of the church. This v/as pufliing their
influence too far, and the confequence to them will be the fame,
Tvhich has happened to their predeccfix)rs in former ages and coun-
tries. Men have fuffered and bled too much to fuffer again tamely
an union of church and ftate.

But a long lift of ponderous: names is introduced to heighten the
charge of impudence on my laft number and to paralize my doubts
about integrity and the public is haughtily queftioned, * Are not
theie really great men V Suppofe they are great men by nature, and
education ; it has been the pleafure of God to fuffer great men to
be the fcourges of the feveral countries where they exhibited their
greatnefs, and we have no evidence that he is likely to change the
order of his government. The courts &f Great-Britain, Germany
and Ruflia, are thronged with fuch great men — and they always
will be in abundance, where power and wealth are to be had, and
they will put in their claims for thefe with a confidence impofing
on the multitude. What is the great employ of thefe great men ?
is it to adjuft the politics of this little ftate, which contains one
fourth as many inhabitants as the city of London ? Separate from
jobbmg about militia officers and juftices, and making and fupply-
ing vacancies, abridging the right of i'affrage — trimming, riding

of hobby horfes, and contriving ways and means to abufe the gen-
eral government, what mighty concerns has this ftate for, the
talents of thefe great men ?* I know that they have great concerns
and objeds of their own ; but thefe are fzf diftant from the inter-
efts of the people : therefore they keep them cautioufly within
their own lodges.

Has any man difcovered that laws will be moft accurately made
by men, whd live and thrive in proportion to the inaccuracy and
uncertainty of laws ? Are thefe men tenderly concerned for an
equality of rights ? Then they differ from all other great men before
them. Is it the caufe and kingdom of Chriil, which requires
their great talents ? But the Saviour never chofe fuch men as his
champions — he placed no confidence in them, they never did him
any good ; they have in all ages and nations been the leaders of his
enemies, and have eftablifhed a kingdom, where the lufts of the
fiefh, the lufts of the eye, and the pride of life, have been predomi-
nant. Are federal lawyers anxioufly concerned for the welfare of
community, and for fecuring to induftry the bread, which it has
earned.? if fo, when did they leave the fteady habits of their pro-
feffion, and become advocates for equal rights ? If my ideas ref-
peding thefe great men are wrong, then God has made a new
world, reverfing the order of the old, has made the body of man-
kind the worft enemies of themfelves, and has appointed thofe,
who ufed to be their worft enemies, their confervators ; but your
experience, if you dare ufe it, will confirm my impreffions. Stop
the cry of* religion is in danger,' drive the political clergy either inta
or out of their pulpits, break the league between church and ftate,
which firft fubjugates your confciences, then treating your under-
ftandings as galley-flaves, robs you of religious and civil liberty,
then aflcs fneeringly what you have loft — break thefe liliputian ties,
and thefe great human glories would be like the ruins of ancient
cities.

But how arrives it that thefe great men, fome of whom are really-
great, and fome very moderate, fliould all trade under the firm of.
Great men and Co ? Does the circumftance of thefe laft, having
ferviiely crept into the favor of the firft, and having been prayed
for, and preached for, and recommended by the political muftis —
entitle them to be called great ? Are Elias Perkins, Benjamia
Talmadge, Theodore Dwight, Timothy Pitkin, jun. and Syl-
vefter Gilbert, great men ?f If fo, ye little men, rejoice that yoa

* On this fubjedl I am obliged to exemplify my remarks, moftly from
names and fadts within the very limited region of this (late ; but the forma-
tion of this union is fimiiar throughout New-England.

f Thefe men fufFer their names to be given to the public, as enemies to the
general government, and if any word oracftion Ibould bring into queftion this
comity, they would lofe all chance of promotion. — It would feem natural
that a people of republican habits, Ciouid choole men of the fame habits, to-

belong to another clafs : but in the language of churcli and (late,
thefe are great men — and your legiHators have made laws, whicli
will induce every timid man to join the phalanx of church and ftate,
in declaring them to be great men, and there is a common law in
force for reg^ding as friends of order and good government, all who
thu3 arrive at greatnefs.

If thefe were really the great men, which they are reprefented to
be, you have no concerns of fufficient magnitude for their talents. —
Your religion is really in danger ; but the danger is from thefe
great men. Your rights may be invaded : but thefe great men
will be the invaders. Your property may be in hazard : but there
are ten chances oFyour houfes and lands being fet off on executions
to thefe great m.en, to one of their being feized by a foreign power.
The interefts of yo^r colleges may be neglected : bat thefe great
men have already enlifted thofe intereds againfl: the general gov-
ernment— and one of the profefTors of our college, (Mr. Marlh)
declared, " that Mr. Jefferfon's meafures would bring on a mon-
archy, and he was glad of it, for it was the beft: form of govern-
ment.*'* Here is a fentiment for the fons of the heroes of 1776.
Peace may be violated ; but thefe great men have declared for
war — the union of the ftates may be diffolved ; but their wilh to do
this has been announced. The v/ant of integrity in thefe great
men, confifts in their having confined the fecrets of their politics
to the few, who are to agitate the people, and in their having con-
cealed from their electors the true prelTure of the times — pretend-
ing to love ixjhat they hate, and thus fecuring to themfelves the pow-
er of feizing into their own hands, thofe religious and civil privileges,
which fuch a clafs of men never left for any long time unviolated.
Thefe allegations open the ground, which will be taken in a future
number, and fliew the points of danger to be apprehended.

If thefe great men pretend that thefe are chimeras, let them
change their ground : — Let the laws be repealed, which fecure their
places : let the old dodrine of reprefentat'ion and taxation wfepara-
hie be revived, let all who contribute to the public burdens, be ad-
mitted to a vote : let the young men, who labor, that others may
eat, and who muft fight in cafe of war, be raifed to a level with thofe
young men, who never labor, and tuho nvill never fight : Then let
the owners of thefe ponderous names throw them into commoa
flock, and the refult would be conclufive proof that, though every
thing elfe has been reprefented, yet that the voice of the people has
not been heard in congrefs or council. Till our revolution, tiic

rfprefent them ; but the people know and do very little on this fubjecft. /■*
nomination is made out, moftly of lawyers, by lawyers, and this is commi;.'i;-
cated to their clerical afibciates, and if all the men in it are of church ano.
ftate, they will fucceed, fo long as religion is fuffered to be fubordinate ta
political promotion.

* The idea is retained, the' the words may vary. Capt. Riley is my witael.

31

dillina voice of the people had not been heard for a century in any
quarter of the globe. For a feafon it was neceffary, to call our
people fovereign — to raife their paffions, to ex^cite their courage,
and to pay them for fatigues, expences and hazards, in, promifes of
a golden age : but the tinfel of that day has worn off. Men have
been gradually brought back to the old order of things ; — the badg-
es of flavery have been worn as ornaments — the fervices of the old
foldier are forgotten — the name of liberty defpifed — the lords of
our new world cry, ' follow us, and we will lead you to wealth and
glory ;' and the multitude are awed to obedience by arts, which
will occupy the three next numbers. -

NO. VIL

View of the arts, by which Church afid State unionijls hep up
the ranks of their followers.

IN EW England has always taken to it/elf the credit of a
great ftock of piety, hereditary and acquired, and many of its citi-
zens have been extremely gratified in a belief that the world acquief-
ed in this credit ; but if any fuch citizen wifhes to know the truth,
and will take the trouble to crofs Byram river, and make enquiry, he
will find himfelf in a grofs miftake, and that the whole of this buz
about piety is confined within our own boundaries. Since the fate of
the Gore and Sufquehannah, and the fale of our Referve, our feder-
alifts muft be content with complimenting each other on this fub-
jea:.' Republicans defire to be excufed from any devotion to this
fpecies of flattery, and freely rclinquiib all claim to the profits
of it.

In all feafons, there have been men, who for trifling offices and
advantages would appear to be v/hat they were not ; but, generally
fpeaking, g>eat and extenfive influence, high and commanding
offices, weie necefTary to induce a confpicuous finner to be a
thorough-going hypocrite. Formerly fuch oflices were not abund-
ant. Church and ftate v/as in a fmall way of trafiic, making flow
and fure gains, with a fair profped, however, of future wealth. The
light of the prefs was like a glow-worm— men read what they were
aflowed to read, and believed as they were told : there was enough
of public learning, but little of that fubftantial knowledge, which
rcfults from correal: information and un reft rifled refledlion. It
was the happieit feafon for pretences of piety to ufurp dominion.
Church andftatc lofl no ground, it plied men v/ith ofHces, fuitf-d

32

to their capacities, accepted profeflion in lieu of praftice from
weak finners, multiplied forms of devotion, and took pofleffion of
the fears, hopes ambition, all the paffions — and thus prepared,
drove on the revolution, which appeared to promife unlimited
power to its union. Providence fuffered church and ftate to fall
into this ambufcade for the exprefs purpofe of its diflblution. In
the fcenes of the war they loft men and artillery : many of their
devotees, joining the caufe of their country in arms, joined its
interefts in their hearts, and only waited the moment, when this
formidable union, expofed in front and rear, might be completely
routed. Under the new government, there has been a temporary
appearance, that church and ftate had regained its ground ; but this
will prove deceitful as the firft. At the prefent moment, more
than 30,000 freemen of New-England hold a decided attitude
againft this union : more than an equal number, whom the unionifts
deprive of voting, becaufe they are not rich or learned enough^ are
ready to join them. A faithful underftanding of the arts, by
which the followers are held, would render ineffective any future
alarms about the danger of religion.

At the outfet thefe leaders have the fame advantages as the
leading Jews had over the firft chriftians. Thofe could fn^eer at
the preachers of a new religion, becaufe they had neither purfe nor
fcrip, and becaufe their leader was poor. They could fay to the
multitude, " we have Abraham for our father, we are ancient ; to
*' us the lav/ was given, and to us the interpretation of it : ours are
** the fynagogues — and the feats of juftice. The leader of this
** new fe(5l threatened to deftroy our temple, his followers are fet-
" ters forth of ftrange doftrines." The language of our leaders is
the fame in fubftance, and nearly the fame in terms. Men worfiiip
elevation without regarding the fteps vs/hich led to it ; and he,
who plays earth againft heaven, calculates with a good fhare of
v/orldly wifdom, becaufe fuch players have been generally fuccefsful.
* Ours is the road to heaven^'' has been the language of all the rich,
proud, boafting leaders in the world, and yet it is a road, which
chriftianity has never taken ; at the fame time a road, which every
man with us has been obliged to take, or to lofe all chance of
political promotion. It may feem at firft, that confidering the
few tempting offices, which church and ftate has in its gift, this
impreftion could not be cxtenfive ; but we are to recollect, that
a mole-hill is a kingdom to an ant, and that church and ftate has
in its gift, feveral thoufands of oftices, which are diftributed with
a liberality equalled only by the fidelity, with which they are paid
for. A man of- real religion, would not facrifice it for the domin-
ion of a continent ; but he, who lias none, 'may pretend to have it,
for the office of a grand-juror or tythlngman. Be it that thefe are
fmall things, yet the main fpring of a watch is fufficient to move
the machine in which it is p'aqed.

5:}

Tills operation does not indeed extend to the whole body of
our people : fome have fears of public oppreflion — fome of inva-
fion ; but the great rnafs is moved by confiderations of religion.
Here is a field of adion, in which our unionifts move with fuc-
cefs — real chriftianity would not anfwer their purpofes ; but fome-
thing called by this name was indifpen fable. If this religion had
been founded by fuch a MefFiah as the Jews expedled ; if his fol-
lowers had been the chief priefts and counfellors : if it had en-
couraged every fpecies of deceit and foftered every paffion, it would
have been highly popular : our unionifts would have been eminent
pra(5litioners in it ; but it was oppofed to fuch men and all their
obje<5l:5 : they faw this, and openly warred againft it, crucified its
author, fcattered his followers, and proudly calculated on its over-
throw. As the Egyptians were overwhelmed in purfuing their
anceftors, fo they were overwhelmed in purfuing the chriltians :
but judaifm was a name, which defignd.ttd a Jyjiem of pajjions ;
therefore, though the fynagogue-enemies of chri(tianity were dii-
perfed, its cathedral enemies arofe in abundance, and followingr
another example, profeffed great reverence for the Saviour, and in
the adl: of betraying him with a kifs, aimed a dagger at his caufe.
This was found the fafeft mode of confpiring againil this religion ;
for the multitude faw the devotions but the dagger was concealed.
Working on this fyftem, which long experience has proved to be
certain, our preaching politicians, with their aflbciated civilians,
have fairly doubled the cape, and come round to the people with
a religion of their own fabrication, a religion often fuflained by ,..>
founded al((^ms, tending to public offices — always headed by world-
lings : not comely as Jerufalem by reafon of its moral charms,
nor terrible as an army with banners through the force of its pre-
cepts ; but odious through the expreflion of the moll: malignant
paffions, and terrible only, becaufe thefe paflions are vomited forth
in every frightful form upon thofe v/ho deny It to be chrif-
tianity.

Though he only, who hath the key of David, can grant entrance
into heaven ; yet in the character of key-keepers of that world,
have men claimed to hold the honors and emoluments of this. Re-
fledling men never believed that tl:e popes and cardinals, and bench
of bilhops, were pious chridians : their rank, pomp and power, bar
fuch behef. Such men do not believe, that our prelates, who are
handing about their political ware, with a hep this fide up, are pious
chriftians ; yet all thefe men are powerful : humble, fincere
preachers are obliged to gain their favor in order to admiffion, and
they dare not offend them. No refleding man believes that chrif-
tianity is committed to the holy keeping of twenty or thirty men,
and that it would decline, if they fhould drop out of our nomina-
tion ; yet a procefs of operating through interefted men, upor
the honef^, credulous, unthinking nart of community, has b?-a

E

34

invented by our unionids, which completely blinds thofe eyes,
whofe vifion would detedt, and whofe fincerity would expofe their
hypocrify.

The fird part of this procefs is to declare, that all thefe preach-
ers are ambafladors from God. Tkis is precifely falfe, provided
by this it ie meant to exhibit them as coming from the court of
heaven with a knowledge of the will and interefts of that court,
and with full power to treat v/ith man on the terms of the gofpel.
If this were a fact, they would all come with the fame errand, and
dwell often and powerfully on thofe important duties, the practice
of which makes men wifer and better. Were they ambafladors,
they would find enough to do in their mafter's work, and would
never intermeddle with the politics of this world. If by this it is
meant that, after receiving their education, they chofe this pro-
feflion, that they know no more about it, than what they have learnt
-—and that if it fails them as a means of fupport, they expeft to
turn to fome other employment, an abundance of facls is at hand to
fliew all this to be true ; but the old dod:rine of fucceffion, which
has been claimed by every divifion and fed in Chridendom, is
denied to be true by three fourths of profeiTing chriftians, as refpcdls
all but themfelves. Who will acknowledge that Dr. Prieftly
and Mr. Murray, have been divinely fent to preach Unitarianifm
and univerfal falvation ? or will thefe preachers acknowledge that
others oppofed to them are on a divine miffion ? Can the Calvinift
agree, that the Arminian preacher is an ambaffador of heaven, or
can the protedant agree, that the Catholics are the heralds of
truth ? Each clafs muft acknov/ledge his own variance from the
truth of God, before he can fit down with a belief that he, who
preaches in oppofition to hini came from God. If at the end of
eighteen centuries, mankind are move divided in their religious
opinions than they were at the end of ten centuries, ate we to ex-
pect that a little being is to rife up at the prefent day, and by the
energies of his own mind to redeem the whole from obfcurity, and
to eltabiifli a (tandard of faith fo clear that he can pronounce decided
damnation on him who doubts it ? The man who attempts this, ought
indeed to come from God with teftimonials of divine million, not
inferior to thole of his mafter. If a man, by this claim of being
an arabaifador, means nothing, only to give confequence to what
he may fay, tliis is bad enough : If he intends by it, asfome Cath-
olics have done, that he can work miracles, and that he cannot err,
it is intolerable. In fadt, if any thing is intended by it equal to the
obvious meaning of the term, the object is to impofe on the people :
for the flightefl: obfervation teaches that it cannot poflibly be ttiie —
and that though all ecclefiaftics fliould agree to addrefs men in
this charadler, yet they never would bear it, in one inftance as ad-
drcfled to themfelves by a clergyman of oppofite tenets.

6b

But this irapofing attitude of the clergy gains immediate fupport
from the fervices attached to their office. He who baptizes your
children, who admits you to communion, and who follows the
remains of yo«r friends to the grave, has great advantages of im-
prefling you. In the middling fcenes of life, the affe»5tions are
neutralized ; but he who attends the moil joyful and mod melan-
choly fcenes, is mofl: likely to fecure your good opinion and confi-
dence. He who wifhes for your hearts, muft be with you, either
when you rejoice or when you weep : but the fable drefs — the
ftudied manners, apt exprellions of concern for fouls, and the eleva»
tion ot fubjeift, are all calculated to aid the work of impreffion.

fs his voice heard on that day, when every thing elfe is ftili, and
does he fpeak of heaven ? Is his voice folemn ? Does he fpeak v/ith
pathos ? Does he weep ? All this may be fincere ; but nature never
learnt one of her children to whine — to tone, to ftand like a
ftatue, or fpeak* as when a lion roareth. The preacher has no
news to tell you ; the hS.s and doctrines, of which he fpeaks, have
been in the world long before him. The condiuon of man is no new
calamity, and if he imagines in his clofet that he has made fome
great difcovery, let him ponder well on what the world already
knows, before he comes forward with the ufual parade of an in-
venting machinift. The preacher may ufefully illuftrate and apply
ancient truths, and his fincere belief of them will always diflate a
manner of addrefs, equally diftant from that of a (larched prelate
on a fejftival, and a ranting preacher in the fields. Agues and
fevers are prejudicial to foundnefs in religion as in the human con-
ilitution..

It is as impoffible for us to be really affefled at what we have
heard and read a thoufand times, as it is for grafs to fpring up in a
path conftantly beaten. It is natural to be impreffed by impor-
tant truths, delivered in a manner indicative of their proceeding
from the heart. Does your preacher fpend any fabbaths in polit-
ical harangues ? Does he find texts in the old and new-tefta-
ments, which lead him to abufe the general government ? Set down
his folemnity, his pathos and his tears, for impofture. He is not
a chriftian. A (rage-player might out-adt him. But is he gifted
in prayer ? Tofs that in with the reft. Such gifts are eafily acqui-
red by reference to Henry and Haweis, a decent tafte for felec-
tion, and a good memory. Does he compofe good fermons ?
Thefealfo belong to the fame flock. If he is a pious man, proof
of that rauft be m his life, Thefe externals amount to no more
than evidence that he has taken the trouble to acquire them, and
they may be pradifed with equal eafe by the hypocrite and the
faint.

Church and flate always works by human means, and as its mofl:
powerful engine is the influence of the political clergy upon the
pafBons of the people, the eftablifliment of this influence has been

0.6

the firft point of attention. The claim of diyine milTion is care-
fully wrapt up in a multiplicity of impreflive exteriors, and the
people are prepared to believe a religion, the details of which will
occupy the next number.

NO. Fin.

View cf tie foUoimrs of Church and State, in fyrnu and
profrffiom.

T

HE variety of matter, which this number prefents, will
oblige me to make as rapid tranfitions as may confifl: with my
touching thofe points, which may lead to a diflinft perception of
the religion of church and ftate, as dKHnguirtied from chrlftianity. —
The unionifl: would gain nothing by fecuting that portion of man-
kind, who are willing to be religious on the terras of the gofpel ;
they would not be half fufficient to fecure an election. It is his
policy to difpofe of heaven on ealier terms. A view of thefe
terms forms my prefent fubjedl:.

It will be readily agreed that the clergy and meeting-houfes,
prayers and fermons, are not religion any more than a machine is
iabor ; yet the habit of regarding them as fuch has deftroyed one
half the religion of our country. It will be alfo agreed, that the
belief of every truth without pradlice is of no avail ; yet the habit
of regarding a good creed as the moft important part of religion has
weakened the other half. Again, the idea of fome men, that
they can purfiie this v/orid with all their might and ftrength through
week-days, andiieaven on fundays, and gain both, is well connect-
ed with the other two, and as external devotion, at feafons when
we have nothing elfe to do, is a cheap depofit for glory, and as be-
lieving is lefs ccllly than alms-giving, the worldling takes up this
bulinels in all its confifbnt parts, and quarrels bitterly with any
man, who utters a belief that he loves this world better than the
other, and that his fan edification is merely outvv'ard.

Arriving at this point of dtfinition, the habitual followers of
church and (tate will be ready to exclaim, " They, who difturb
the world, lo they have come hither, and they will deflroy our
temples and our altars, and will take away the veflels of our fandu-
ary ;" and in order to excite the multitude In their favor, will fay.
Have we not communed ? Have we not prayed ? Have we not
faid, Lord, Lord ? All this you have doubtlcfs done, and fo did
men anciently, whofe chance was quite inferior to that of the in-
habitants of Tyre and Sydon.

37

But if an obfervance of days and forms, and an abundant creed,
conneded with a prevailing love of the world, are not true religion,
fo the nioji perfeSi fanBity of face^ and moji obfequious reverence of
the clergy, are not religion ; yet when a wealthy, powerful man
afTociates all thefe, and attends public worfhip, our very charitable
world is too apt to confider that he renders great honor to the
Saviour, by fitting gravely in a well furniihed pew to hear about
the gofpel.

Juftice cannot be done to this fubjeifl without looking beyond
thefe forms, and in doing this, we rnuft give up the old cant, ' that
furely we will not be fo uncharitable as to doubt man's profeffions.'
Why are we not as candid on other fubjeds ? Plainly becaufe we
Ihould be cheated and lofe money ; but in religion it is cheap,
handy change. — * Do you believe me (incere, and I will believe
you fo, and we will confound any who doubt us.' This game is
played fo regularly, that probably every reader may knov/ of in-
ilances, where profeffing brethren are in the exercife of this chari-
ty, and yet would not truft each other to the amount of a dollar,
merely from a want of confidence in each, that the other has in-
tegrity.

Let ds confider to what this profeffion amounts in a private
chrillian. " Gbd has chofen me from the millions of men to be
" aveffel of mercy, has infufed into me his grace, and with it the
" beft of moral principles, and has made himfelf an objedt of my
*' fupreme affeftion, and me in return an obje6t of his complacency.*'
Now in courts we never take a man's evidence in favor of a fingle
point in his own character, and if in private life one was to profefs
half as much about himfelf, we fiiouid diftruft him ; but in reli-
gion, profeffion is to pafs for full evidence, and habit has fo im-
prefTed this idea, that if fuch a profefTor is difhoneft, or other wife
immoral, our very charitable world is ready to fay, ' there are re-
mainders of corruption in the bed, or the chriflian graces are noi
always in exercife ;' and wrapped in fuch mantles of charity, the
profefibr bids defiance to a fcore of non-profeffing finners, and
very devoutly joins in that fatirical clofe of prayer, fo cu.ftomary on
facramental fundays, * Lord have mercy on thofe, who have not
publicly taken on themfelves the bonds of this covenant,' meaning
thereby \.ha.t this public taking is a divine ordinance, and that it is
good evidence of grace ; whereas God never ordained it, and the
life only can be an evidence of grace. Let us look at this again.
This PUBLIC TAKING certainly is not a divine ordinance, for it is
not found in the fcriptures, and as to evidence, when a man has
every inducement to teftify, and the teftimony cannot be impeach-
ed, and the refult will be very honorable and beneficial, we ihould
look cautioufly at fuch teftimony ; it it be followed by any confid-
erable exhibition of remainders of corruption, and if the man's life
proves that he loves the creature more than the Creator, his pro-

38

fellions will not gain credit with any, but his hypocritical brethren,
who wifii for a fimilar credit in return.

I do not fuggeft a word againft the ordinance, nor againft
the profefHons of faith and promifes of reformation, which confti-
tute this public taking. If a man honeftly profefTes to believe what
he does believe, aiid promifes to do what he intends to perform,
furely he is no worfe for all this. It is his duty to believe the
truth and to condudl well. This public taking is a mere recogni-
tion of this duty, and his life is to be the tejl of his fmcerity : but if
he believes and performs without any pablic promife, his fervices
will be doubtlefs accepted. His public taking is a human inftitu-
tion — not of ancient origin in the church : It is a form of religion,
which deferves precifely as much refpedl as the lives of profjfors
can gain for it. Habit has attached great folemnity to this form,
and made it paramount to a life of piety : whereas it is a mere
drefs, which may be put on as eafily by the fmner as the faint :
Call it if you pleafe, a contrad made with God in prefence of man,
yet it is only a contra<5i: ; every thing depends on faithful perfor-
mance.— Without this it is mockery : yet the reader muft know
that mankind are lead to think otherwife of it, and that hence a
train of worldly confiderations leads up fome infmcere profeflbrs
who, from the importance of keeping up the credit of profeflions,
have drawn as great profits as could have beei derived from fmceri-
ty and truth ; political promotion has been often among the firft
fruits of the profeflbr's harveft.

At this point the civilian has a right to attack thefe profeflions.
When a man claims earthly honors and profits for his profeflions,
we ought to turn him round to his religion and fay, * there is your
•reward' — and if his heart does not inftantly feel the force of the
reprimand, he is an hypocrite ; he never made his profeflion from
religious motives. Men have doubtlefs a right to commemorate as
they pleafe the fufferings or triumphs of one whom they profefs to
revere ; but if their laeighbors are to be called pagans or atheifts for
not joining them in their mode, the fcene fliifts — a war of opinions;
enfues, and the event proves that the pretext of honoring an abfent
friend was ufed in order to difgrace and vilify a prefent opponent.

When any form of religion like this, has been prefented to
mankind, as religion itfelf and when men have been told, that a.
public profeflbr is under greater obligations to love God and fervt
his neighbor, than another man — that baptifm does not admit non-
profefl'ors within the pale of the church, there is fo much theoiogy
about ail this, that they become awed, and begin to confider it impi-
ous even to lock into the propofition, left it fliould feem to imply
doubt. — Pious men are not forward to exhibit their affedtions b?-
fore the world ; but the defigning man is in hafte to avail himltit
of this flavifh flate of the public mind, and to come forward with
profeflions, which bring fuch an uiftant credit.

We are apt to blend religion and man together, and to give the
credit to profeffors, which is due only to their religion. Man is
frail in his origin, acceffible by a thoufand improper^ motives, full
of felf, governed by paffion naturally oppofed to religion, becaufe,
tho* it feeks his beft good, yet it does this in modes hoftile to all
his propenfities. Man has no pre-difpofition to vital religion, yet
he has ftrong propenfities to the earthly profits of it. Sicknefs,
loffes, exceffive fear, or powerful addreffes to his paflions, may oc-
cafion him earneftly to wi(h for heaven and to dread hell for a fea-
fon ; yet when the exciting caufe ceafes, the effea: often ceafes
with it. If we confider the nature of man, and the earthly ad-
vantages of profeflion, we may form fome eftimate of the propor-
tion between the fincere andinfmcere profeffors, and of the credit
due to mere profeflion. ^ j j
When religion is confidered as a connexion between God and
man, and is ftript of allthofe forms, which make it impofing on
mankind, and very profitable to the profeffor, it pafTes above the
region of church and ftate, is never heard on the houfe-tops, or
at the corners of the ftreets— never interpofes with political con-
cerns never preaches ocean fermons — never prates about illumi-

natifm ; but bettering the heart, regulating the affedions, morali-
zing the life, flows out in love to man, and love to God, and looks
through good anions, proceeding from the beft of motives, filent-
ly to that heaven, where the humble fhall be exalted, the fincere
rewarded, and the foul perfedly blefTed.

In the early ages of the church, it required courage and iincer-
ity to confefs Chrift before men, becaufe ftripes and contempt were
the confequence; but when our anceftors bid the bounties of
ofSceto profeffors, and declared that none but church members
Jhould be free burgejes, it required neither of thefe : and furely m
the prefent day, the importance given to thefe profefEons, the
patronage attached to them, and the eafe of gaining heaven, when
one half of the work is done with the tongue, has given to church
and ftate a great hoft of followers, without adding to the number
of real chriftians ; for thefe have a promife, that even their molt
fecret good fervices fliall be openly rewarded. Religious profef-
pons are worth too much in New-England. OJientatkus obfervan-
ces of facraments are profitable fervices of church and ftate re-
ligion.

NO. IX,

View cf the folkwers of Church and Shte in myjleries and
do5irines.

r.

HIS number advances me to the ground, where all
your prejudices have taken deep root, and nurtured by your paf-
iions, have grown and flourifhed like weeds in a neglected foil.
Here church and (late ftand ftrong. It is the chofen ground of the
enemies of chriftiaraity. Here the heavenly gardener never wrought
with fuccefs — and hence flies every chriftian, as foon as he dif-
covers where he is.*

In a vail of myfteries the Jewifh leaders wrapt up the law given
to Mofes ; and thefe had fo completely enveloped the true religion
at the coming ^ the Saviour, that it had nearly ceafed to be a
commerce between God and man, and had become a mere bufi-
nefs of barter between man and man, in which each leader gain-
ed profits according to his portion of cunning — and each follower
fuffered lofs in proportion to his credulity. The ceremonial law
had nearly expelled the eternal duties of love to God and love to
our neighbors. Oftentation had taken place of humility. The
Jews, having failed of enjoying literally a long life in the land of
Canaan, had long fince dKlrufted the promifes of heaven, and were
in thtjieady habit of taking their change for profelTion, and myf-
terious fervices of religion in tlie good things of this life. Bad
as their religion was, yet it was all which they had, and was all
at ftake. This raifed their fury again ft the Saviour and his fol-
lowers, and the fermon on the mount, which expofed their hy-
pocrify, cut them deeper towards the heart than any claim which
the preacher of it made to be the fon of God. He might have
healed their fick and fed their poor, and even claimed divine hon-
ors to the prefent day unmoleded, if he h.id occafionally paid
homage to the chief pricfts, (thofe trufty Croats of the counfellors)
.Ttnd had left unexpofed the mummeries of a religion, fraught
with forms, profefFions and myfteries, of human invention : they
would freely have given up the character of their Maker, could
tliey have faved their own. The Saviour laid an axe at the root
o^ this church and (late religion : it trembled to the top and fell

* T would attempt to cjrplain thcfe introduftorv remnrlcs, were it not that
f.ne other contents of this number will perform that fervice. To avoid the
raptioufiiefs of unionifts is inipoffihle. The candid man will not find here or
in any other page, a finglc rcni:\ik intended to derogate from the truth of
fVilation. My fubjcd pledges me to a diifcrctit couiic. ^^

4t

to the earth. He fpoke often in parables, but took care to open
the minds of his hearers to a perception of their application.
This application always led to moral pra6tice ; never to the ftate
of politics. He taught the divine purpofe in refped to man, the
economy of the moral government, the dodrines of refurre(5lioft
and immortality, and revealed precifely all upon thefe fubje£ls,
which man has ever known. Myftery was indeed involved in the
mode of the divine operation in thefe things, as it is in refped to
the fmalleft feed or leaf: But that portion of his religion, which
was intended for the pradtice of man, and without which all the
reft was as founding brafs, was revealed in the plaineft terms.

The Catholic church, finding that trading in myfteries had
been profitable to the great worldly church which preceded them
and that plain work would place too nearly on a leVel the prelate
and the peafant, fet up a more extenfive fcheme of myfteries, and
even called in the aid of pretended miracles to affift their impreflion.
Thefe myfteries and miracles compofed the main body of their
religion •: There were fome detached doctrines an^ duties, which
were treated as of little avail, where the myfteries wad taken good
hold of the patients. Thefe myfteries were very convenient in
furnifhing pretences to facrifice heretics and to embroil the world
in wars. If a cloud preceded the deluge, thick and dreadful in
proportion to the length of the ftorm ; yet that was not half fo
portentous and black, as the cloud with which this myfterious
church overfpread, for centuries, the civilized world.

It is impoflible that a religion of humble faith, pure morals and
fincere repentance fhould be relifhed by the leaders of the worlds
If they profefs to revere it, yet they cannot feel its power and
love its authority. The elements of chriftianity and thofe of hu-
man paflions can never mix. — This religion joins with univerfal
obfervation in teaching us, that the body of mankind do not love
its duties nor pradlife its morals. The fad, which leads up this
obfervation is equally ancient and ftriking : When Mofes delayed
to come down from Mount Sinai, the people, forgetful of the
evident demonftrationsof a divine objed of worfhip, applied to
Aaron to make them gods to go before them, and Aaron readiljf
undertook the fervice and faid, break off the golden ear-rings
which are on the ears of your wives, of your fons and your daugh-
ters, and bring them unto me — and the people did fo, and Aaroa
adually made them a molten calf, and he built an altar unto it, and
appointed a feaft ; and when Mofes defcended from the mount,
his wrath waxed hot, and he brake the tables of teftimony, writ-
ten with the finger of God — and Aaron faid to Mofes, let not the
anger of my lord wax hot ; thou knoweft the people, that they are
fet on mifchief ; for they faid unto me, make us gods, which fhall
go before us — and I iaid unto them, whofo hath any gold, let him
break it off ; fo they give it me and I caft it into the fire, and there

F

42

came out this calf. Then Mofes called, who is on the Lord's
fide, and all the fons of Levi gathered themfelves urito him, and
he faid, " Thus faith the Lord God of Ifrael, put every man his
fword by his fide, and flay every man his brother, and every man
his companion, and every man his neighbor — and the children of
Levi did fo — and there fell of the people that day 3000 men.**

In like manner, in every age, mankind have been zealous to
have gods of their own making, and there have always been Aarons
'at hand to make them golden calves, and the people, at fight of the
calves, have been ready to build altars, and to fliout, thefe be the
gods, which lead us.

Of this temper the leaders of church and ftate have always
availed, with this difference only, that they have fet themfelves up
as the gods to ^ad the people, and have taken to their own ufe
the ear-rings of your wives, your fons and your daughters.

This idolatrous fpirit in man, is deadly 10 true religion — it hum-
bles him, and prepares for every fpecies oi fervitudt. If you
wifh to reduce apy man or number of men to complete flavery, the
fured mode is jjrfl: to enflave the mind.

Thefe remarks are not made as new. Church and (late has un-
derftood all this bufinefscenturies before Robilon's illuminatifts had
exigence in his brain. The proteflant -world waited no longer
after the reformation, than Mofes delayed on the mount, in order
to bring forward their gods to lead the people. We have feen
■with what hafte our anceftors got up their idols. The humble
minority of profeflbrs confiding of fincere worfhippers, in every
age have been dillrefled at this abufe of chriftianity : but the ma-
jority is always impetuous to have gods of their own to lead them,
and thefe gods have been very tenacious of myfteries. Thus it
arrives, that if in this or any other country, you look to the major-
ity of profeffors and to their gods, you look beyond the true religion.
The body of mankind and their leaders are not employed in a way,
which juftifies your belief that pure chriftianity is their fuprcme
object.

As thefe remarks point you drongly to a perception of the New-
England federal charadter in refped: to religion, fo here they will
find their application. See a frail mortal, no more thaa man at
befl-, come forward to the world, without any claims to the illumi-
nation or powerful ligns of the firft preachers, but inverted with
forms and appearing in a chara6ter 'variant from the faEl^ aflumed
under the tacit confent of mankind that fuch chara<::ter is bed for
impreflion, perhaps a good man, perhaps likely as Aaron to make
molten images for the people, and to join them in fiiouting, * thefe
are our gods.* Thus far you have gained no point. He is jull
fo fit for his place as his future condu<5t Ihall prove him to refem-
ble his mafter. He cannot heal the fick, but he can he^il divifions,
he cannot work miracles, but he can go about doing good. If

to fuch things he is dlfinclined, he is one who is to gather in, not
the heirs of falvation, but the followers of church and ftate. Not
content with the rank of a private chriftian, he profefles to have
been ch©fen as an ambafTador of truth and divine knowledge, and
of courfe takes inrtant rank with thofe who give him credence
above all the ambafTadors of the earth. Certainly profeflions un-
der fuch ftrong temptations ought to be fcrupuloufly watched.
Hadnoinrtances occurred, where thefe profeflions both in the pri-
vate chriftian and public teacher had proved deceitful, lefs caufe
fhould we have to be on the look-out ; but the fad having often
happened, fhews that there is no want of charity in confidering it
pofFible, and often aauai. We are not to wondej that multitudes
of fuch men yield to the temptation of joining the rich and great,
and prefer their fociety and patronage to that of the powerleis,
humble fuccefTors of the firft chrifUans. Thofe men do not hefi-
tate tc explore your motives of a(51:ion : it is your duty to afcer-
tain their's. Do they artfully draw religion from the plain, pradi-
cai ground on which the Saviour placed it ? Do theyfeek a religion
of myfterious dodrines ? Do they place great (trefs on theories
and dodrinal points ? They are building from the top ;— they have
laid no foundation. Their followers may fiiout their praifes ; but
fuch preachers never brought the people out of Egypt, and will
never conduct them to the promifed land.

Their firft procefs is to feize on all the myfteries of revelation,
and thefe furnifh ample fubjeft for their early fermons. They
delight in attempting to explain thofe very things, into which angels
will defire forever to look without being able fully to comprehend.
Let me aflc, has any new light come into our world within feven-
teen centuries, to iiluftrate myfteries ? Was it intended that men
ihould know more about them than is revealed ? If fo, who is to
add to this knowledge ? Is the language of revelation fo defedive
that it needs fome one to add to it ? If fo, who is the man ? I
have never conceived that God left his work imperfed and ap-
pointed any of his imperfea creatures to finifli it. The mode of
his operating in the natural, is to men myfterious, as his mode of
operating in the fpiritual world : yet we know enough of his
works for all our purpofes ; we generally difcover their properties
and ufes. Men furely know that to fpeak with the tongues of an-
gels — to have the gift of prophecy — to underftand ail myfteries —
and to have faith, fo as to remove mountains, is nothing without
the charity and fubftantial morality of the gofpel : yet the preach-
ing of myfteries is charming, becaufe it plays round the head and
comes not to the heart ; it raifes the fcience of the hearer without
Teaching his life : It is exadly adapted to church and ftate pur-
pofes.

The common procefs of enforcing and explaining myfteries, and
douV.fal theories h to rely on the precife words, in which the fad

44

of their exigence is revealed ; yet whatever aflent is gained muft
depend on the confiftency of the explanation with truths previouf-
ly within our knowledge : in fa<5t, when a man has known any
thing with certainty, he can never ceafe to know it, nor believe con-
trary to it, by the aid of any myfteries whatever. The Catholic
profefTes and believes that the confecrated wafer ufed in the facra-
ment is the real body and blood of the Saviour, becaufe the book
fays fo ; but the proteftant knows that it is not, and all the logic
and charity in the world will not purfuade him that the Catholic
believes a v/ord about it. Whenever any thing appears to be in-
tended in the fcriptures, and yet we knoiv that it does not exift,
we do better to acknowledge that we do not underftand the import
ii£ the book, than to twifl: and turn it to the total facrifice of thofe
underftandings, which God gave us for rational ufe. Man will
never be condemned becaufe he does not underftand grammar, or
becaufe he is unable to feparate thofe fecret things, which belong
to God, from t|i»^fe clearly revealed ones, which belong to him and
his children. Rito fix hundred fedls has Chriftendom been di-
vided, becaufe each would obftinately perfift in its own ideas of
grammar. Churches have been rent afunder becaufe the preacher
would explain predeftination and free agency; The myfteries
about whole covenant and half covenant have divided nearly one
continent, after diftrefling the other for centuries. All the heathen
world and infants have been fent to eternal perdition, becaufe
the clergyman could not on any other terms fettle with his gram-
mar. Heretics have been burnt at the ftake by thoufands, merely
for difputes about v/ords ; and yet in the midft of all thefe myfte-
rious obfcurities was (hining in full effulgence the fun of righteouf-
nefs on thofe cardinal and indifputable points of duty, Love God
AND LOVE THY NEIGHBOR. How has our poor finful world
groaned with the contention, whether there were two or three or-
ders of officers in the church, whether prayers fhould be extempore
or in forms, and with what rage and bitternefs have baptifts and
anabaptifts clamoured againft each other, about a great number
of theologic points, which if revealed diredlly from heaven would
not have made one man wifer, nor one hair whiter throughout the
univerfe. How have difputes about words fevered congregations
in our towns, and Unitarians againft Trinitarians — Calvinifts againft
Arminians, difputed with the fiercenefs of tygers about the' mind
and will of that being, whofe counfels are in the mighty deep ;
but who has revealed every thing necellary to man in terms,
which the moft (imple can underftand. The fcriptures, which
each fed declares to be perfe<5^1y intelligible, have in the numerous
feds fix hundred irrefragable proofs that many parts of them are
hard to be underftood.

To this fame zeal for grammatical precifion, are we to afcribe
the jarring ideas and pradices of different churches ou the fubjed

45

of qaalifkations for admiffion ; and the one, which is profefTed
and relied on by church and (late, is as manifedly variant from the
faft as the CathoHc dodlrine of tranfubftantiation. Heaven takes
charge that thofe, ivhom it divinely illumines^ Jhall Jhoiv their ne'io
light in lives of new obedience. It does not enjoin men to let their
tongues perform all the fervices of their religion ; but * let your
light fo fhine before men, that others feeing your good works may
glorify your father in heaven.' When church and ftate unionifts,
thofe dealers in myfteries, profefs that they have new hopes and
refolutions, and whereas they have done wickedly, they will do fo
no more, all the world will wifh them God fpeed j for the world
is in great want of experienced praditioners in holinefs and mor-
als : but no well founded hopes can be entertained of thefe men.
Are they preachers of myfteries ? They know no more about them,
than the humbleft of their hearers. Are they artful civilians ?
They value myfteries only as they forward their views. Are tkey
followers of church and ftate ? They may fafely releafe all claim
to the heirfhip of the kingdom, their portion in the fcriptures is
found in a narrow compafs — '* If the blind lead the blind, they
both fall into the ditch."

It is diftrefling that our world, full enough of unavoidable na-
tural and moral evil, fhould yet be ten times as full of a fort of
artificial evil, made up partly of profeflions and denunciations
againft non-profeffors ; partly of men, afTuming divine power to
teach, when every day and fermon prove their power quite human ;
and partly of dreadful threatenings of wrath, iftued for the pur^
pofe of defending favorite tenets, exhibiting human parade, and
eftablifliing a fyftem of terror, which always gives a temporary
fignificance to the being, who excites it.

Be it 'remembered, from this day forward, that both leader and
follower are equally in the dark refpedling thofe points which oc-
cupy moft of their time ; perfedly in the light refpeding thofe
important truths, of which they fay little or nothing ; and that in
the fix hundred roads to heaven, man ioWovfmg praBical piety will
never err : but indulging in theories he has but one chance in fix
hundred of finding the right path ; and yet each proud adventurer
is thanking God for the fuperior light of his mind and fed, and
praying that others may come into the fame. —

Thofe, who maintain that thefe myfteries are very plain, muft
render fome new account of the volumes of difputes about them :
But the fa6t is, every fabbath, fociety and individual, furnifh in-
conteftible proof, that though the pradical part is plain, the doftrin-
al part of revelation involves more obfcurities than any other fub-
}e(5t in the world. All its promifes> connexions and end are ob-
fcure ; and in view of this fad, which reafon will recognize, but
which human pride is flow to acknowledge, we ftand aftonifiied at
the unwavering pofitivenefs with which precifely oppofite dodrine's

46

are maintained from the fame book : but this aftonKhment fhould
fubfide, when we refle(5l on the proud, gafconading temper of man,
which leads him to parade and a fliew of fuperior fcience on fub-
jedls, where the uncertainty of premifes (hields him from an abfo-
hjte convidtion of fraud or ignorance.

Obfcure as thefe myfteries are, yet we often hear an ignorant
duenna, after enquiring the preacher's opinion on predeftination,
pronounce him right or wrong, as pofitively as if (he knew the
meaning of the term. And it is not uncommon to hear it re-
marked of perfons, that they are ignorant on all fubjeds except
the bible. How happens it that no preacher is fo miferable, but
that forae will ^ike and praife him, except from the obfcurity of
the fubjecl ? A^ ignorant man muft of courfe be fupremely ignorant
on the fubjeft of myftical theology, which as a fcience is, from the
nature of it as, well as from the artificial obfcurities in which it
has been involved, the mofl: intricate of all fciences. How hap-
pens it that clergymen differing wholly in fcntiment can fucceed
each other as pastors, and yet be equally acceptable, that exchanges
between fuch can be effected to the mutual fatisfa6tion of their
refpe(51:ive congregations ? This arifes mofily from the obfcurity of
the fubjeft ; but partly from 'ears itching for novelty, partly from
a fort of habitual conception that a pulpit and a preacher are reli-
gion— that thefe conne<5ied with the ufual exercifes, are a fabbath —
that a few fabbaths form a fabbatifra, and that by a mechanical at-
tendance they will obtain a heavenly reft — perhaps as much from a
perfuafion that any number of men, who have been regularly or-
dained, mud be right, differ how they may.

Men never condu(5l thus even in the mofl: trivial of thofe con-
cerns, which they underftand. Further than this they always con-
du6t with feme earneftnefs their worldly concerns ; but when this
religion is the fubje<5l, they appear quite indifferent, and could they
do this, were they not chilled by cold myfterious dodlrines, inter-
larded with as cold morals, preceded and followed by cold,
ftudied formal prayers ? Here is the beginning of the indifference
fo much complained of — hence the careleffnefs about attendance
on public worfhip — hence the frequent difputes about falary. If
my premifes were not correct, the ftate of religion here would not
furnilh fuch conclufions. There is very little of that religion,
which is the certain refult of fincere profeffions. There, is much
ot that {hew of religion, which never proceeds from fincerity, and
whenever this ftate of things is even hinted at, a rancorous fpirit
iffues forth from between the porch and the altar which is not the
fpirit of the gofpel.

The body of our people are ftrongly interefted in the plain fac^s,
dodtrines and morals of their religion ; but when thefe preach-
ers ot myP:eries, thefe dealers in theological difputes and political
dogmas, recruiters for church and ftate, Aarons, who make molten

47

images, ofFer themfelves as ambafiadors of truth, It is the duty of
men to turn them round to wealth, to great men, to the world
and fay, * there are your companions, your treafure and your
hearts.'

A fpirit ilTalng from fuch fentiments, has gone forth in our coun-
try— it animates thoufands — it will increafe rapidly as the true char-
acter of church and ftate religion (hall be difcerned — it will pre-
vail— and it is high time that the followers of church and ikte
Ihould know the fraud, which is pradlifed on them, when they are
promifed by their leaders heaven and glory in confideration of
their votes, their reverence and obedience : for thofe who prom-
ife have no right, title or intereft in that world.

NO. X.

r

Combined View of the Unioni^s.^

I

N my fixth number it is aflerted that from this clafs of
men your religion, your rights, property, public learning, peace
and federal union are imminently in danger. In this number will
be exhibited fo much of their characters as fhall give ftrong proba-
bility to thefe affertions. — In the third part will be found the fasfts
to eftabiifhthem.

The naturalift difcovers in the firfl: chapter of his accidence,
that men do not gather grapes from thorns. The moralifl: difcov-
ers a correfpondent fa<5t in his view of man. Following nature in
the vegetable and animal world, you follow truth. Afcertaining
the portion of paflion which enters into the motives, and guides
the actions of men, prepares you to judge better of them than you
could do by reliance on their profeffions. Revelation and expe-
rience may declare the heart defperately wicked ; your vanity
difclaims the imputation, and wifhing to be thought better of than
you deferve, you indulge the habit of yielding to others all the
credit, which they claim, in a vain hope that an equal tribute
will be paid to your own felf-love. Heaven has taken good care
to give each man frailties enough to teach him humility, and has
given evidence of the frailties of others fufficiently to teach cau-
tion to all men. The human heart is as well knov/n as the human
face : yet many are anxious to fly from the mirror of truth and
to forget what manner of men they are. My fubje<5l demaods that
they be brought back and deliberately furveyed.

43

The body of our people have agreed, that a part of their num-
ber fhall be better educated than the reft for the exprefs purpofe of
ferving them better than a common education would admit, and
for this purpofe have endowed pubhc inftitutions of learning ; in
confideration of which the privileged fcholar affumes upon himfelf
to acquire the ufeful learning, which will enable him to render the
expeded fervice. The clofing of the contract is all which
the public ever does upon this fubjedl : the parties have feparated
never to feel again one common intereft, never to meet again on
equal terms. I fpeak of things as they are. Our northern col-
leges have been the laboratories of church and ftate. You turn in
a boy, and out comes a ftatefman, who at his firft leap into our
world, bounds over the heads of the common people, and fcorning
the narrow compafs of your rights, ranges among the theories of
religion, the politics of ancient kingdoms, the balances of
Europe, and the concerns of this great world, and is very fcien-
tific on all interefts, except thofe plain ones, to promote and fuftain
which was the profefTed objea of his education. Were fuch boys
fent to college to gain ufeful learning — to ftudy the human heart
— to acquire a rational fyftem of morals and the fkill of enforcing
them — to imbibe refped for the country of their birth and for
the principles which gave it a national exiftence — to difcover that
all afcendency over the confciences and opinions of men, which is
not fairly gained by the force of evidence or reafon, is tyranny ; —
to fee through the mifts, which proud feftarians have raifed from
their own paffions, that pure religion, which evidences faith and
lives inpradice ? Or were they fent there to learn (what ail the
world's tyrants had before learnt) that the body of mankind have
a great portion of wealth and rights, that few individuals have
enough of them to induce their rifquing largely in their defence —
that men will bear a gradual ufurpation of thefe with patience,
that fometimes they will endure for one or more centuries the
total lofs of them, and that thofe, who begin to feize on them in
the firft ftages of endurance, have the beft chance of fuccefs ?

The manner, in which many of our youth come from our college?,
Ihews where they have been, what lefTons they have learnt, and
what may be expeded from them. In tracing the origin of our
church and ftate civilians, it is neceffary to fpeak plainly. The
prefidents, profefTors and tutors of our colleges — from motives per-
fe(5lly natural, hate republicanifiH, becaufe it cherishes that iilerfy
of confc'ience, nvh'ich is incorijiftent with eccleftajl'ical dominion and hof-
tile to technical theology^ and becaufe it contends for an equality of civil
rights, nvhich is fatal to the pretenfions of thofe, ivho want more than
their fhare. The ftudents learn precifely all the tyrannical maxims,
which have been exploded by freemen,* and they corae out to the

* The commencement exercifes of our northern colleges have abundaritly
cvlnced this, cfpecialiy at Yale and WilUams colleges.

49_

worlc! With * the church in danger ; demagogues wlil ruin you ;

* by liberty they mean licentioufnefs ; by toleration deifm ; and by

* good government anarchy. They hate their own children «

* your property is in great danger from invafion— all Europe is

* jealous of your growing power.* They then prattle fwcetly
•about extermination-— you place them in high office — they become
brave generals at a court martial, intrepid fea commanders in a"
(late-room— and in cafe of faccefs, take as much of the plunder as
thirty or forty privates crippled for life ; or at the bar exhauft your
wealth, or on the bench fentence you to prifon for expofing their
ufurpations. Thefe men are not now thanking you for your early
care of them, nor cringing for your votes : they have taken the
ground to which their education pointed them. Not one new dif-
covery has been made in all this bufinefs ; even the very words,
with which thefe m^n deceive, have been the appropriate terms of
deceit through all generations ; yet our young men -come forward
to attack the rights of confcience and opinion, with as much free-
dom, as though every queftion about them had been wholly unfet-
tledi Well did Mr. Adams calculate, in the awful days of 1798,
on our young men. His meafures required the aid of men, who
never heard of our revolution. Young men, wooden walls, fedi-
tion a(Sls, a reftrained prefs— jails for freemen, and Adams and
liberty. Thefe were the glorious munitions of the church. Satan
was to be defeated on land ia the perfons of our republicans : — on
the water, in the perfons of the French : — the whole earth was to
yield its tribute of wealth : — Babylons were to arife in the wil-
dernefs. — All this for the introdudion of pure religion and good
government. — The church lending its arm to civilians, and tjhe
ftate lending the arm of the law to ecclcfiaftics : the people encir-
cled by thefe arms, apparently extended from motives of affedion,
difcerned not at firft the iron points, which in the embrace were to
prove fatal to the community. It is impoflible for inftrudlors to
read the church and ftate Palladiums and Gazettes without im-
bibing a political contagion : the ftudents, fufficiently predifpofed,
readily take it ; the principles of humanity and toleration die in
their hearts ; they fee diftindly the line, which feparates the privi-
leged from the unprivileged part of community. Pafiions, wealth,
honors, encouragement, are all on one fide ; the principles, which
ought to be on the other are extincSt, and duty, combating againfl
felfifhnefs is defeated.

It would feem enough that a youth (hould be indulged from his
cradle, excufed from the hard labor by which others earn their
and his bread, that he fhould enjoy fuperior advantages to be wifer
than the reft of mankind, that he fhould be better fed and clothed
than others ; but all this is nothing in his view, unlefs his fervices
will "command the labor of a hoft of men ; unlefs he can have a
fplendid'houfe, equipage and retinue j unlefs he can portion out

G

5^

your rights in the cabinet, or fport your lives in the field, or your
property in courts. The courfe, which many of our youth take,*
Ihews that fach are their conceptions of the value of education,
and nothing can prevent an eternal repetition of the arts, by which
fuch adventurers^ain undue advantages, but' a thorough perfuafion
of their infidioufnefs, and a refolution to repel their trefpaffes on
the rights of community.

Fortunately for my fubjeft, the very clafs of men, who mod
fully exhibit this charafter are the church and ftate unionifts, who
are fuftained in federal nominations. "" To defend Chriil's king-
dom, to fecure your property and liberty, federal iav/yers are to be
iullained, and why ? Is it becaufc they are always on the forlorn
hope in a war of words, and can gratify the word of your paflions,
by v/armly efpoufing the worft of your opinions ? Is it becaufe
they talk loudly of your rights ? Look at the vacant feats of of-
fice ; for thefe are more in their eyes than your religion and rights.
What would become of their profeffions, wealth, promotion and
profpec^s, if religion and equality of rights were to prevail ? It is
all idle to expect men to conquer nature and ruin themfelves on
your account. The energies of republicanifm were made on pur-
pofe to keep fuch men in check.

In every procefs of my fubjedl, I purpofely draw you to a view
of the artificial inequalities of fociety, as refulting from nature and
pafiion, and in further advance under this head, will pohit you to
the natural courfe, which thefe paflions take to gain their ends.

Thefe young unionills early difcover that the body of mankind
refpedt religion, love their families, pr6perty, reputation and peace ;
and that the nearefl: road to their hearts is by profeffing to refpe<5t
and \ovQ what the multitude does, and to afTume popular and impo-
ling forms for exprefling this refpedt and love. They difcover
that the body of mankind are not fufpicious and are eafiiy impref-
fed — and that there are but few men, who refufe to be moved by
flattery, or terror, or promifes. With thefe premifes the union of
church and ftate is perfedlly obvious, and no regular army ever
advanced with more certainty of fuccefs upon a defencelefs village,
or with more fl^ilful array againll a numerous band of untrained pea-
fants, than fuch men advance to take poflLlfion of your rights.
The apparent fairnefs and fan6tity, which they ufe as arguments
of their integrity are with me the arguments of their im-
port ure. If they^ are men, and if the courfe which they appa-
rently take, is their real courfe, it is impoflible for them to mean
any thing but their own promotion. On this point ambitious
men, whether called republican or federal are alike by nature ; but
the lirft believe that the body of mankind ought to be and will be

* Fortunately there are fome brilliant exceptions, and thefe are the more
honorable to thofe, who forna them, in proportion to the temptations,
which they have refilled.

51

II—. h

fovereign, and that by confulting and purfuing their befl i*ntere(Ts^
tliey will beft fecure their objea: ; the lafi: calculate that the body
of mankind mufl: and ought to be fubordinate — they feel as4f all
things were made for the ufe of the world's mafters. Hence in a
republic they gain power by profeffing much and doing little : in an
oligarchy, they profefs lefs and rely more on power T in a monar-
chy their profeiTions abate, the people know little of their rulers^
beyond the power, which draws their children into the field and
the money from their pockets to pay them for being fhot at : Un-
der a defpotic government the people fink to the condition of
brutes ; their interefts, feelings and fervices are never thought of,
the will of one man is law. In a republic the condition of the bo-
dy of the people is mod: elevated — that o-f rulers leafl: : the paffions
of thefe lafl propel them to fmk the people in order to raife them-
felves — and the perfedion of elevation, to which pafiion tends, is
the total htimUtation of the peopls^ and the total fupremacy of rulers.'

Following thefe ideas, you will perceive why that miferable
farce of a weftern infurreftion was aded ; why all our federal
candidates for ofEce in New-England exclaimed for energy ; why
France was infulted by a Britifn treaty, and an idle parade of mari-
time war v/as fet on foot ; why an army was raifed, &c. &c

All thefe were fo many efforts to drive the people from the true
ground of moderation and peace. The condition of an extended
agricultural country like this, required but few laws, and republi-
canifm always deteils an artificial complication of government : it
refents falfe alarms of danger as faft as their falfhood is difcovered.
Next to fuch alarms fucceeded terror and abufe — thefe loft their
effed—the energies of the people conftantly ftruggled againft thefe
contagious afFedions ; at length our federal lawyers, v/ho had
never been noted for religious zeal, cried out, * that the churclv
was in danger,* and unfortunately fome of our clergy afiifted
them. Thefe unionifts purfued their arts v/lth as much zeal and
calculation of fuccefs, as if they had been the real inventors of
them, and as if no one knew that they led to political deftru6^on.
Did oiar members of congrefs, or our council, or our political
clergy, or ourfedera4 lawyers, or the members of our nomination
join in thefe artifices ? Each one of them pofitively knew that the
country was not in danger of foreign invafion — each one knew
that religion v/as perfectly fafe, and each adive man among them
felt that he was more oppofed to the name and nature of republi-
canifm than any pretended invader, and more hoftile to chriftianity
than Wifhaupt and all his afTociates. No refleding man is now
hardy enough to fay that the French contemplated in 1798 the inva-
fion of this country, or that chriftianity was really in danger fron-i
the effed of illuminatifm. The Englifli tranflation of all this bufinefs
was, you the people have more power and v/ealth than is confiftent
with the ambition and power of us your rulers. Tbe light of the

• 5^

fun oever exhibited the dimenfions of any natural obje6: with more
certainty thjin the prefent ftate of things exhibits the correftnefs
of this tranflation. Thefe irapoftures have rifen to fuch height^
that thofe clergy, who had the leafl: reputation for fan(5tity or hu-
mihty, had the greateft influence — thofe lawyers, who had been
moll confpicuous for oppreflion and diftindion, were chofen to
guard tke public rights. Every year has added to the evidences
of their unfaithfulnefs ; becaufe in every year vital religion and
ardent patriotifm dirainifhed, and no crifis was left for the union-
ifts but that which now exifts, viz. a ftate of the moft vindictive
and unqualified abufe of all who have expofed thefe impoftures,
and of all who have given credence to fuch expofures. Your
public offices have been feized by thefe unionifts — many of your
pulpits have been proftituted — the grofleft fal (hoods have been circu-
lated in your newfpapers — and to crown thefe perverfions, you are
even now called to rejoice that federalifm is increafing, although
the very term is known to exprels total hoftility to the general
government.

The conftitution of our country has provided thjft the prefident
and every officer under him (hall feel a refponfibility diredly or
indirectly to the people ; but thefe northern unionifts have feized
into their own hands the whole principle of refponfibility, and
have in fadt become your ma(lers ; they affedt to approve them-
felves to themfelves. — keep therafelves in place, by means which
they pronounce to be proper, and retain the confidence of thou-
fands, even though they tax the people heavily as poffible, while they
have pgwer, and though they oppofe relief from taxation, when
others propofe fuch relief. Unreftrained man is always wicked —
it is the order of the moral and political world, that every
thing fiiould be under reftraint, and if any clafs of men are wiU
ling to repofe their rights, property, public learning, peace and
federal union on men, whofe palfions, and interefts are in favour of
the abridgement of them— -on men who have publicly brought
thefe paflions and interefts into adion ; on men who triumphantly
fet refponfibihty at defiance, they muft do this either under
the influence of delufions which they are unable to detect, or of
motives which they dare not avow.

53

NO. XL

Review of the paji Numbers ^ addrejpd to the People,

JL EDERALISM pafTed by another name among the
Jews and Catholics, but has been in every age and nation the
fame combination of paffions, operating again ft the civil and re-
ligious interefts of mankind — and has always been found in an
union of church and ftate ; has always pretended to great zeal for
the caufe of God and the good of man ; but has always betrayed
both, and the leaves of hiftory are full of fadls, exhibiting this
treachery. Pretending to do honor to God and to advance the
intereQs of their nation, the Jewifh priefts perfecured, and the Jewifii
rulers crucified the Saviour, amidft the fiiouts of a deluded mul-
titude. Pretending to great zeal for the fame objcdls, the Cath-
olics offered him up again as a facrifice to human pride, robbed
his beft friends of their treafure in order to decorate the palaces,
where they affeded to worfhip him, flaughtered or banifhed his
moft faithful followers — and eftablifhed a religion of church and
flate, in which the crucifix and the altar had the fhadow, but the
felf-ftiied vicar of God on earth enjoyed the fubftance of earthly
homage. The fame has been true of all the monarchies in Europe.
The attention can never be arrefted by any fcenes of extenfive
oppreflion or carnage, without hearing, louder than the cries of the
vidims, the profeffions of the oppreffors and tormentors in favor
of benevolence, order and religion. The paffions of man have made
this an unhappy world, and vice derives its greateft force, not from
the number of its votaries, but from its capacity of depraving the
hearts and affociating the interefts of powerful combinations of men.
Were I to prove the depravity of the Jewifti or Romifh fyftems, I
would not do this by ihewing the private charaders of Herod,
Pilate, Leo, or any of the cardinals or inquifitors; but by Ihewing
that the paflions of the rulers had more afcendency than real
principle and true religion. The public charadlers of thofe men
would ferve as mere exempHfications of the fa6l.

In exhibiting the depravity of federalifm here, I do not rely on
the zeal of Mr. Adams for monarchy, intolerance and eftablifti-
ment — nor on Mr. Pickering's negle6l to account for appropriated
monies — nor on Mr. Hamilton's amours. — Were the caufe origin-
ally good, the indifcretion of individuals could not have made it
otherwife. Its depravity confifts in its having afllimed all the
maxims and adopted all the pradices, which are calculated to ruin
man ; in its having taken the ground, from which the religion and
rights of mankind have been always fatally annoyed — in its having

54

aflbclated church and ilate, and directed that alTociation to politic^
al objeds. Our Backufes and Huntingtons might have preached
politics, our Lymans circulated flanders, our Dwights, Robifon
and Barruel, our Daggetts and Aliens profeffions of faith — and
federalifm yet continued to deferve well, provided it had contained
the heavenly principles, which fpeak peace and good will to man.
Schemes of wild ambition, falfe alarms of national danger, reports
of confpiracy, and abufes of Mr. JefFerfon might have pafTed
before the frowning eye of an indignant public, leaving no other
impreffion than that heaven had fufFered evils in the political as
in the moral v/orld, to try the virtue of man. The general fen-
timent of men to honor God and to be free, would have driven
into obfcurity all confpirators againfi: their interefts, whatever plau-
fible charafters they might have aflumed. In an ordinary ftate of
the public mind, men would not have tolerated fermons, inculcat-
ing hatred and malice — nor prayers giving publicity to newfpaper
ilander, nor pradical infidels to alarm the church, nor monarchifts
to rule the nation, nor old tories to guide eledlions. The madnefs
and cunning of church and ftate has done all this. Church and
ftate has taught the blefTednefs of a national debt, and has ftrained
every nerve to make this blefTednefs eternal. Church and ftate
has taught " that the finger of heaven points to war," and that it is
right for nations to be vindidtive, and to arm in the caufeof cotton
and indigo — to fight their way through barbarous nations to the
land of wine and oil — and to fhed human blood in order to acquire
rapidly that portion of national wealth, which fuddenly produces
ariftocracies — certainly dcftroys religion — always demoralizes man,
and diforganizes a republic. — The man, who makes a few thou-
fands of men rich to fecure them in favor of himfelf and his polit-
ical fchemes, at the expence of the men who raifed him, and of the
principles which he profefTed in order to gain power, may call
himfelf federalift, chriftian, honeft.man, and may imprifon thofe
who doubt it : Church and ftate will fuftain him, for hehasaded
confiftently with their maxims.

The paft pages have been devoted to (hewing the poflibility and
the probability of a church and ftate union here — the refemblance
of this to former unions — the federal complexion of theunionifts-. —
and throughout the whole, the portion of violent deftrudlive paf-
fions, which diftinguifh this union. Previous to fhewing their
confpiracles againft chriftianity and the government of the United
States, it was neceftary to render it probable that they would thus
confpire.

The great periods of the rife andcheckof that fyftem ofpaffions,
which is now denominated federalifm, are marked with analogous
fails. Theearlieft hiftory of man prefents him as fetting up his
pafHons againft the known law of his Maker — from this moment
there was a conftant conteft between duty and will — divine precept

21

and human pride ; till at length the paffions gained their crifis and the
deluge overwhelmed them. After this they gradually gained, en-
twining themfelves about the moral and ceremonial law, and pervert-
ing both, till their crifis was difcovered in the total fubje£lion of man
to human inventions, and his total rebellion againlt his Maker.
The Saviour's advent was alone equal to meet this crifis. He
convided the prieflrs and rulers of their impoftures, and defeated
them on their ftrongeft ground : But after his afcenfion, thefe
pafiions rallied again — feized the very religion which he had foun-
ded, and in the courfe of fifteen centuries rendered their manage-
ment of it the greateft of all curfes to mankind. This crifis was
met by the reformation ; but the feafon had not arrived for the
Prince of Peace to take up his great power — the paffions rallied
again their forces, feized the proteftant religion, and in the
name of it, took pofleffion of the thrones, cabinets and wealth of
proteftant Europe. Our anceftors met this crifis by the fettlement
of this country. The paffions, never weary, feized on the Puri-
tanifm — ^on the religious zeal — on the perfecutions, and even wants
of our anceftors, and in them eftablifhed a dominion, which met
its overthrow in our revolution ; and then it was ardently and
extenfively hoped that rational, civil and religious liberty was to
prevail : But after the clofe of a moft diftreffing war, thefe fubtle,
fcdulous paffions feized on the very ardors of the conteft, and even
on the name of our illuftrious Wafhington, and converted them,
as they ever before had converted the beft of things to the worfl of
purpofes. Here the paffions played their deepeft, deadliefl: game —
they literally played earth in the name of heaven. From the poor
foldier, who had not, they took away that which he feemed to
have. To the abundance of the rich they added tenfold from
the earnings of the diftrefled. To adulterers — to the proud — to
thofe who defpifed our caufe, they offered honors and power : —
To the murderers of our brethren by thoufands, they tendered the
olive-branch : — To our deliverers from Britiih tyranny, famine and "
the fword — againft the poor natives, they fent an army to enforce
our divine right to more land than we wanted : Againft fome of
our brethren, who were feverely taxed by indigence, they fent a
military force to teach the liberal policy ot'' excife, though our old
congrefs had declared it to be the abhorrence of a free people.
Tkey raifed a ftanding army — imprifoned republicans — reftrained
the prefs — and feized feveral of the altars — and to crown thefe im-
pofitions, fome proud priefts, who love greetings in the market,
cried out, * Whofo hath any gold, let him break it off ;' fo multi-
tudes brought their treafures, and thefe modern Aarons caft them
calves, and faid, lo ! thefe are the gods, which led you through
the revolution—whereas feveral of thera were born lince that day^
and the reft were moftly old tories.

From the abufive fpirit and praftices of the human palEons In
the laft adminiftration, the eledion of Prefidcnt Jefferfon has re-
deemed you — and now thefe paffions will endeavour to create
jealoufies among you, to divide the men in whom you truft, they
will even afFedt to love your caufe — they will take your religion,
your fpirit of economy and your love of equal rights, and in
the name of every thing dear to you will aim to replace them
feives in power. Not one of the arts, which have been before
fuccefsful will be omitted and your ftrongeft guard againft them
is QL knowledge of their chara^ers and intentions.

;;;•<;>•:;:;;!.:;; :;:-i;. :;;.!:;;:!<

SECOND PART.

••<<:^>-^^-<><^S'-<y''^&-<>">- >•

CONSPIRACY OF CHURCH AND STATE AGAINST
CHRISTIANITY.

NO. I.

Con/piracy of the Umoni/h in the act of their Formation,

%/i

Y KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD, was the decla-
ration with which the Saviour took on himfelf the government of
his church : a declaration for which proud priefts and courtiers
will never forgive him to the end of time.

Had he come in robes of royalty and announced himfelf fuch a
king as the Jewsexpefted ; if in the everlafting Father they could
have recognized a powerful emperor ; if in the captain of falva-
tion, an invincible leader of their armies ; if in the mighty coun-
fellor, an able politician ; it in the prince of peace, a man of
war, kings would have ftript off their robes, could they have added
to his fplendor ; generals would have torn off their epaulets in or-
der to receive new commiffions under him ; the Jewifh fanhcdrini
would have been his council ; high prieds the heralds of his reli-
gion ; an enflaved multitude would have followed his chariot
wheels, and a world full of fm and death hailed with acclamations
his advent, charadter and exploits. — Had he come to exhauft the
wealth of the poor, to crowd the prifons with the vidims of def-
potifm, to diftrefs the nations, and to glorify every paiTion, he
would have gained the afFedions of the unionifts in that day, and
have fecured thofe of ail their fuccefTors to the end of time.

Had he wifhed for fuch a courfe he would have been born in a
palace inftead of a manger ; Herod would have been his forerun-
ner inflead of John ; Pilate, his difciple, inftead of Peter ; Casfar
and his court his hearers, inftead of a defpifed audience on the
mount. At any moment he could have commanded not only
the powers of earth but alfo the legions of heaven to perform his
will : yet he chofe that through trials and perfecmtions his religion
fhould make its way againft the combined influence of church and
{^a^e ' ■ H ■ '

53

To the torrent of paffions which for centuries had been burll-
ing forth from the exhauftlefs fource of human depravity, he op-
pofed what the world confidered the feebleft of all barriers, a re-
ligion, the profefTors of which muft mortify the deeds of the body,
that their fouls might live. Under every conceivable difadvantage
in human view he commenced his career.

In his fermon on the niount, he promulged the laws, which
were to regulate the fubjecls of his kingdom, and on this occalion
lb faithfully expofed the impoftures of church and ftate, that the
Jewifti unionifls v/ere obliged to bring into adtion that deteftable
charafler, which has uniformly diftinguifhed that clafs of men in
every age of the world. They regarded his converts as a mifera-
bie rabble, who followed him for tlie loaves andjifies — abufed them
for that ignorance and poverty, to which their own oppreffions had
reduced them, called the Saviour a glutton, a friend of publicans
and finners, imputed his miraculous gifts to communion with the
prince of devils^ — and becaufe he caft out evil fpirits, they prayed
him to depart from their coajls. Every fallhood, which the heart
could conceive or the tongue utter, was ifTued to make him and his
caufe and followers defpicable. They charged him \y\l\i fedit'wujiy
inflaming the multitude. In face of all their power and fubtlety
he preached his religion : They at length rcforted to their laft ef-
fort, a reign of terror, and after every fpecies of threatning took
liim by treachery and crucified him.

That he arofe from the dead, and that the religion which hd
thus eftabiifiied is chriftianity, are pofitioris, which our unionids
are pledged not to controvert. It is equally clear that the Saviour
knew precifely the interefts of his kingdom, and that he had it per-
fectly in his power to advance it by any means moft conducive to
thefe interefts ; that he never promifed to his followers offices of
honor or profit ; never flattered them with ecclefiaftical dignities ;
never taught them to exped: the favors of men : but afliired them
that the world would hate them, that through tribulation they muft
enter the kingdom. He did not tell them, that after his afcenfion,
his kingdom was to depend on popes and cardinals, on kings and
arch-bilhops, nor on counfellors and dodlors of divinity: but pro-
mifed that he luould he 'with them to the end of the 'world. He ne-
ver told them that his church would be in danger of ruin, but af-
fured them that it was founded on a rock. He never told his dif-
ciples to carry his religion through the earth by fire and fword,
nor by tortures and teft afts ; but to combat its enemies with the
armour of the gofpel : for, fays he, * we fight againft principali-
ties and powers, and the rulers of the darknefs of this world.'

The very men, who fince that day have pret,ended to have the
control of his church were thofe whom he delignated as its moil
dangerous enemies. The firft great combat againft this infant
r:hurch wa.s fo unAiccefsful, the paffions fo dreadfully defeated, and

S9

the pride of man fo thorowghly humbled, that in later days the en-
emies of this religion have affumed forms for its overthrow more in-
fidious than thofe of its firfl: enemies.

From the nature of this kingdom its policy raufl: always be the
fame. As it commenced with hoftility to bad paffions, fo it can
never avail itfelf of them for its fuppprt, and whenever a church
has repofed itfelf for reft or fafety on the bofom of the ftate, it
has always fallen to fleep and forgotten its head and hufband. All
other religions have more or lefs foftered the pride of man ; but
chriftianity peculiarly oppofes this pride, and claims for itfelf a
fpirituai exiftence and a total diftin<5tion from the kingdoms of this
world.

I have taken the character of this religion, not from volumes
of commentators ; but from the onlyhiftory of ic, which has any
claim to authenticity. The king, the laws, adminiftration, ob-
jefts and end of chriftianity are all fpirituai, and the fjpport of
this kingdom muft be wholly fpirituai. To this concurrence of
fadls we muft refer its firft fuccefs, difTufion, and conftant tri-
umph againft the confpiracies, which have been formed to deftroy
it, which confpiracies have had the aid of the wealth, power and
bad paflions of the world. Whole nations have bid it defiance,
armies have been raifed to fubdue it, cabinets have confpired
againft it ; yet by the aid of fpirituai weapons it has been * mighty
in pulling down ftrong holds.' '

That a confpiracy againft this religion exlfts is an agreed point,
and the world has been long enough alarmed with fuggeftions that
republicans in this and other countries were the confpirators.
That fome of our northern clergy have aftbciated with our federal
civilians in giving force to thefe fjggeftions-r-that their adlivity has
been confpicuous at, and previous to our eledlions — that fermons
and fabbaths have been devoted to this fubjeca — that books for this
purpofe have been widely circulated, and that the federal cry of
*' the church is in danger,'* has been raifed to prejudice the repub-
lican caufe, are fads, for proof of which reference may be had to
the Palladium and to the other federal papers, and to a multitude
of election and faft fermons in New-England.

This union of church and ftate has exifted in New-England
from its firft fettlement ; but the evidences of its confpiracy againft
chriftianity were not eonclufive till the year 1797. Previous to
that time fome civilians had gained promotion through clerical in-
fluence, the paflions were ilowiy gaining afcendency in the cabinet,
great antichriftian projeds of national wealth and glory were on
foot, diplomatic agencies in operation for infalting France accord-
ing to the law of nations, chriftianity was reprefented by chaplains
in congrefs, and a new order of things was at hand, which fhould
give fignificance to ambitious men in church and ftate, and our
political clergy had begun to learn that civil liberty was the parent

6o

of licendoufoefs, and toleration the deftroying angel of church
difcipline. Mr. Adams was to live but once, and the 'ujell-born
might never find their places, if it was not done feafonably under
his adminiftration. In fa6l-, the moment had arrived, when new
plans prelied rapidly into the minds of our great men ; the idea of
repofmg on the intelligence of a free people was relinquift-ied by
our federal leaders, and a fyftem of force, to be operated by cler-
gy and laity, was decided on. The men a6led as naturally as
heavy badies do, when they fall to the earth. Monarchy begaa
to appear more benignant, ariftocracy had powerful charms, the
names, which ufed to roufe the country to enthufiafm, were def-
pifed, and the mod: felfifh propenfities of proud hearts were con-
cealed under the impofing forms of love to religion and zeal for
order and good government.

To compafs a revolution in the public mind was a neceflary tafk.
Various arts were improved ; but among them none fo leading as
ProfefTor Robifon's proofs of a confpiracy. This Scotch royalift
had difcovered that a few obfcure inftrudlors in Germany, who
had nothing on earth to gain but the knowledge of truth and the
approbation of their employers, were in fa£l affociated with fome
new orders of mafons, and that thefe, connefted with deiigning
men in other parts of the world, were conlpiring to deftroy
chriftianity^ by ejiahl'ijlnng ajyjiem tf moraL\ — The doflrine of all
this was, that George III. and his minions, and the emperor
and petty princes of Germany and fome royalift priefts, ^vho had
always been the public practical enemies of chriftianity, were
fecretly its friends, and that thefe by joining other great men and
deftroying this morality might replace chriftianity.

This miferable mixture of fahliood and folly was greedily feized
by our unionifts in this country, and inftant pains were taken to
domefticate and apply the ProfefTor's fafls and doftrine. The
fads Dr. Morfe found in a great number of. mafonic focieties
here — but as an important faft was wanting, viz. the a8ual ex't/i-
ence of thefe foc'iettes, the unionifls affeded to charge the fads on
all the leading republicans in the country, and to appoint them-
felves to alTifl: the great men of the world in replacing chriftianity,
tJnder this order of things Mr. JefFerfon was faid to be the great
illuminat of this country, and doubtlefs a correfpondent of WiOi-
aupt. He had declared that the laws of fociety ought not to con-
troul the confciences of men — therefore he was an atheift ; he
was attached to the French caufe, therefore loved anarchy and
approved of all the cruelties reported of that nation : All his
friends, in approving him, approved every fentiment, which he
was faid to entertain.

Thus a humble clafs of men, who enjoyed no'power in fociety,
and who merely wifhed for the civil and religious liberty, which
they Had dearly earned, were fuddenly converted into a fet of

6i

illumlnatifls, confplrators againft chriftianity, anarchi(ls and infi-
del philofophers. Barruel, an emigrant papift, heightened this
triumph of the unionifts by fliewing that the early proteftant
martyrs were diforganizers, and that infidels and revolutioriifts were
hand in hand to deftroy chriftianity. This infidel philofophy then
Ipread its wings and was found to be of monftrous extent. It was
now difcovered by our political clergy, that all the heathen philo-
fophers, the deifts of Europe, the illuminatifts, and all the bad
men of every age ijn the world, and all the republicans here were
in a league againfl: God, againft morality of every defcription,
againft divine truth, and that the whole force of federalifm rauft
be muftered againft fuch a daring combination. Godwin's poUt.
ical juftice and Volney's ruins, with a number of other books,
which few republicans had feen, were charged on our caufe. The
groffeft barbarities, the wiidefl: theories, even the cruelties of
Robefpieere and the atheifm of Danton were charged on us. New-
England church and frate now afTumed vifible body andfubftance :
Federal epifcopalians and difTenters were hand in hand — all federal
feds loft their diftinftions and difputes, and in conjunftion with
the old tories of laft war, Britifh merchants, and all who would
enlift againft the rights of man, cried out, * that the church was
in danger.'

This ferment did not fpread promifcuoufly among chriftians
of all parties, nor was the fever of a religious type ; but that the
ngents might be like their caufe, the mad bigots of the church
aflbciated with the infidel zealots of the ftate to extend the con-
tagion of this fever among the people. Surely an union thus
formed cannot be lefs than a cpnfpiracy againft the religion of
the gofpel.

NO, IL

Con/piracy againfl Chrifljanity exhibited in the CharaBer of
Church and State Union,

A

,LL the kingdoms of this world are fet up in oppofition
to the kingdom of the Redeen^er. The fame pride, which coft
fatan his lofs of heaven, has ere<5led thrones, raifed armies,
fabricated mitres and cardinals' bonnets, foftered wealth, humbled
poverty, ennobled the afpiring of this world, and reduced the pure
in fpirit to all the abufe and degradation, which their Savioui'
foretold.

62

Chrlftlanity is not parading our world in uniforms and epaulets,
nor dancing attendance in (late rooms, nor rolling in chariots,
nor fluttering in lace, nor faring fumptuoufly every day. It bears
the fame meek charafber, which it always did ; and the Saviour
delights now as formerly to dwell with the humble and contrite.

The parable of Dives and Lazarus has raifed up more confpira-
tors again ft chriftianity than all the deillical writings. Had we
been told that the rich man, after drefiing in fcarlet and fine linen,
was tranflated to eternal wealth and fplendor, and that the poor
man was fent into torments, church and ftate would have been
charmed with the event ; but for the parching tongue of Dives,
the pointed reproof of Abraham, and the exaltation of Lazarus,
they hate the parable.

To have both worlds in a row, has been the fteady exertion
of all the confpirators againft chriftianity : hence they have
placed the higheft honors in this world as the middle ground
between humility and heaven, and have found it an eafy taflc to
promote from an earthly to a celeftiai crown, while their greatefl:
powers could never elevate the tenants of cottages above the
poverty and diftrefs, into which the oppreflion of their heaven
bound lords had funk them.

How tranfporting to human pride to be drefTed in magnificent
robes — to be adored by the pobulace — to be received as an ambaf-
fador of heaven — to be called high prieft, vicar of God, holy
father, arch-bifhop, or doftor of divinity, and after a fulnefs of
earthly homage to be tranflated to the rank of priefts unto God
forever ! — How gratifying to be called a king, duke, governor,
counfellor, or member of congrefs, and then to be promoted to the
higheft honors in another world for defending the faith ! — How
charming to the rich man to be adding thoufands to thoufands, and
to calculate that after an independent eftate here he will be a ricli
capitalift in a world of filver, gold, precious ftones and pearls ! —
A heaven, where every human paflion is glorified, is the heaven of
the confpirators againft chriftianity, and whatever may be their
profeflions or forms of devotion, they cannot love a religion,
which came to redeem the oppreffed, to raife the poor from the
duft, to bring down every lofty thought, .and to humble human
pride, that no flefh might glory in the prefence of God.
' When we know that a confpiracy againft chriftianity exifts, we
(hould feek for the authors of it among thofe, who are certainly
hoftile to it. In this country we fhall find this hoftility in one of
the great political parties. The particular point of time, when
the alarm of * the church is in danger* was founded will be im-
portant to the difcufiion. It was under the admiuiftration of Mr.
Adams. The paflion for power and wealth had fuffered a painful
interregnum during our revolution. Some men of obfcure origin
had held high rank in our army, multitudes had by a feren years

63

fervice, earned a commutation : Some ardent patriots had gained
the afre<5tions of the country : The paffions fufFered a tedious delay
of five years, and met fevere checks in the con<?ention. Multi-
tudes were anxious to fee a great ftock of power laid up for the
future lords of this country. A man, more to be honored by a
grateful recolle(5tion of his fervices than by maufoleums and ftatues,
was placed at the head of our government. Some men, who
mortally hated republicanifm, held high rank under him : They
wifhed ardently for the old order of things. The pafiion for
wealth gained a momentary triumph in that paper fyftem, which
robbed our foldiers of the certificates of their merit, and created
a fet of tools for the future operations of federalifm. The paflion
for military glory juft breathed in the weftern infurredion : All
the paflions began to live in the Britifh treaty ; but the ©Id order
of things was not yet eftabliflied. Mr. Adams, who fucceeded to
the prefidency, had learnt in Europe the whole fyftem of balances
and the correct policy of retaining the liberties of a people by
lodgiag them as a depofit in the hands of their 'well-born rulers.

It was in the midft of his adminiftration, in a full tide of mod
fuccefsful experiments on the worft of theories, in the midft of
every anti-chriftian project that this charge of infidel confpiracy
Was raifed againft the republicans. It was in the midft of a mari-
time war againft our former ally, which war we had courfed
through all the forms of diplomatic duplicity ; while we were in
fa6t raifing an army and navy and feeking employ for them, as the
hungry man does for a day's work — and while the walls of our
fenate refounded 'extermination to men, women and children'—
It was in the midft of a fedition adl, incarcerating men who had
the franknefs to charge the adminiftration with deviating from the
avowed principles of our revolution — It was in the midft of an
ahen aft, driving from our lliores the ftranger, whom we had in-
vited— It was, when our k'nds were taxed to fuftain the bufmefs
of war and the confequent deftruftion of economy and morals —
It was when every paffion had gained dominion in the cabinet, this
charge of infidel confpiracy was brought forward, and at this mo-
ment Mr. Adams and his party were making as decided war againft
chriftianity, as if they had raifed an army for its exprefs deftruc-
tion. How indignant muft he have been, at his levee, in the
midft of his generals, commodores and courtiers, and of great
plans of carnage and national glory, to hear religion crying to him,
" Wafh you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes, ceafe to do evil, learn to do well, relieve
the oppreftd, judge the fatherlefs, plead for the widow." The
man, who fliould have preached fuch dodjines, v/ould have been
puniihed under his fedition a<5l : for the whole is a reproof of his
adminiftration. Mr. Adams was Vvrilling to avail himfelf of the
church and ftate religioqof the day j but ali his meafures conffir-

f</againftthe gofpel of peace and reconciliation. There was an
appearance of religion in the appointment of a national faft day ;
but this was very appropriately devoted, in feveral inftances, to the
praifes of adrainiftration, to the proftitution of the defli, and to
the abafement of republicans.

While we have bibles in our hands, are we to be told that indi-
Tiduals are to live in the exercife of all the chriftian graces ; but
that nations are abfolved from thefe duties — that nations may
cultivate hatred and revenge, and devour each other-*— that nations
may idolize wealth and encourage luxury and pride ? Are we to
be told that the court of Mr. Adams, where every paflion was at
home (as much as at St. James') was a chriftian court, and that
perfect refpedl for the kingdom of the Redeemer influenced his
cabinet, while they were copying all the parade, profufion and
military rage of earthly kingdoms ? The tendency of meaf-
ures in thofe days (hews the extreme hoftility of our federal lead-
ers agaitift chriftianity. They could not open a page in the New-
Teftament without finding a fevere reprimand. To conceal their
leal and adive enmity againft chriftianity they raifed a miferable
charge of confpiracy againft republicans.

Let us now fee how our northern unionifts were conducing.
They were approving all the meafures of adminiftration, and juftify-
ing every deviation from divine precepts under the neceflity of the
cafe. If the Algerines difturbed our Mediteranean trade ;. if the
French refufed the ragged remnant of favors, which the Britifli
treaty permitted us to offer ; if the natives of the wijdernefs did
not agree with us on boundary lines, it was federally right for Mr.
Adams to fay, * Vengeance is mine and I will repay.' Our uni-
onifts very cheerfully took the bleflednefs promifed to the meek,
to the pure in heart, to the merciful and to peace makers, and be-
ftowed it on Mr. Adams, Mr. Pinckney, General Hamilton,
and the officers of the new army and navy : For thefe men pray-
ers afcended from the hearts of our unionifts, and while national
glory and wealth were in their view, far out of fight were the
dodri.ies and morals of that religion, which teaches univerfal be-
nevolence, humility and a contempt- for the applaufes of men, the
pride of nations and the fplendors of life.

The unionifts may' plead that the ftate of the world was greatly
altered and that the charader" of chriftianity muft conform to
the temper of the times. I am aware that when men feize
chriftianity into their own hands, they will thus conform it—
and the gofpel will be made to fandtion every projedt of ambi-
tion ; but if I underftand the nature of this religion; every thing
on earth muft bend to it. Every profefix»r of it, whether preach-
er or hearer, muft feel humble enough to wafti the feet of the
pooreft difciple. Every profefTor muft be ready to lay his honors
at the feet of the crofs^ and muft be willing to fsll all which h«

has and give to the poor, that he may have treafure in heaven.
He mud: regard this world as drofs and vanity, mud- combat all
his lufts, and mufl: cultivate a prevailing affection for t'ae Father
of fpirits and every member of his family.

How Hiufl proud prelates and ambitious iflatefmen abhor fuch a
religion : every faculty of their fouls, and every imagination of
their hearts rife up in rebellion again ft it. Surely at a feafon,
when our general government had juft taken rank among the
principalities, againft which the Saviour had warned his church ;
at a feafon, when our unionifts were advocating and praying for
fyftems of debt, of war, v/ealth and expence, it will be natural
to believe that they were fubftantially confpiring againft a religion,
which can never be defeated by a world of open enemies ; but
may be faffered to languifh from wounds received in the houfes
of its pretended friends.

At a feafon, when all the friends of Zion ought to have been
alarmed at the progrefs, in this new world, of a kingdom oppo-
fed to that of the Redeemer, the unionifts cried aloud and fpared
rot to exclaim, that the republicans were confpirators againft
chriftianity. My proof of this is in a narrow compafs. Doctor
Dwight's two fermons on the nature and danger of infidel philofo-
phy were delivered to the candidates for the baccalaureate in
September 1797. In the compafs of 95 pages he recites the
ftrongcft and moft contradictory propofitions in nature as having
been maintained by the heathen philofophers and modern infidels,
whofe lives, according to him, were correfpo: r^.i^. y/ku che moft
abominable principles. He ftates this phiioiophy to be then
prevalent in Europe and to have reached this country. He does
not explicitly charge this pjhilofophy on Mr. Jefferfon and the \epub-
licans of this country : but they were exprefsly aliucd at, as
appears by the following facts. In a note at the clofe of the fer-
mons he fays, fpeaking of Robifon's proofs of a confpiracy, " la
" this work the reader may fee the dangers of infidel philofophy
** fet in the ftrongeft light poflible. He may fee a plan formed,
** and to an alarming degree executed, for ex :erminating chriftian-
" ity, natural religion, the belief of a God, of the u\.moi^Ji.i\'
** of the foal an^ moral obligation ; for rooting out of the world
** civil and domeftic government, the right of property, marriage,
** natural affection, chaftity and decency, and, in a word, for
" deftroying whatever is virtuous, refined or defirable, and intro-
** ducing again univerfal favagenefs and hrut'ifm. All this is to
" be done under the pretence of enlarged philofophy, and of giv-
** ing mankind liberty and equality.'*^ The attempts of Dr.
Dwight, Dr. Morfe, and a great number of other federal clergy-
men to fix the charader of this infidel philofophy on Mr. Jefferfon,
and as njuch of it on his friends as they could feverally bear, have
been made public. The Palladium and other papers of the union-

I

66

iils have given a political charader to thefe charges, and v/e will
bear them patiently, if it fhall appear on a fair examination that
we deferve them.

We might reft our defence on the improbability of fuch a
felf deftroying confpiracy ; but as my objed is to fix on the
unionifts a charge of confpiracy, perfedly comporting with
their characters, I fhall devote the next number to a confideration
of thefe charges.

BO. Ill

Coufplrc^cy cf the Unhnifis exihited in a Companf:.n of their
charges agaitijl us with curs agamjl them.

w

E charge the unionifts with confpiring, not again ft
the name, form and profefTion, but againft the fpirit and temper
of chriftianity. We conform this charge to nature and impute
it to that fyftem of pafEons, which has always been hoftile to
chriftianity. We find abundant precedents of fuch a confpiracy
in every age of the church, managed by high priefls and infidel
ftatefmen, under the influence of fimilar temptations. We reft
this cliarge on the diftindlion betv/een the kingdom of the Saviour
and the principalities of this world. We trace this charge
through ti^.e wealth and honors by which our unionifts are fur-
rounded, and find them exaitly in the place, where confpirators
might naturally be expeded.

Their charge againft us is exprefTed in the note above quoted.
Under the pretence of enlarged philanthropy, and giving to man-
kind I'iherty and equality, we have been faid to bid defiance to
nature, reafon and truth, to have declared war on ouifelves, to
aim at the deftrudion of all thof e fyftems, which protc6l our lives
and properties. We have been faid to difclaim the being of a
God and of moral obligations — and all this knowingly, and with
afet defign to introduce univerlal ^rz//i/m /

Let deliberate men compare thefe charges in point of probabil-
ity, and without any apprehenfion of convi^lion, we might fubmit
the caufe fo far as refpeds the charge againft us ; but I ftiall im-
prove the faft of this charge as an argument of the confpiracy of
the unionifts.

Though trials in the fire make the faints everlaftingly 'rich, yet
it was natural for thofe of that clafs in this country to hope that
after the con-ulfions in Europe, by reafon of the confpiracies o^.

6?

kings agalnft chriflldnity, the leaders of this new world wouI4
have endeavored to conform their policy, to that of the Saviour's
kingdom, and that (fo far as the wifdom of man could contrive)
•wars fhould ceafe, and a fpirit of juftice, toleration and benevo.
lence ihould prevail : But our high priefls and federal rulers had
far different projeds in view. My mind prefents not a fhade of
difference between the condition of all other countries and this
in refpedl to the fubjed before us. Look back on the whole period
of time from the days of the apoflles to this day, and through
all the kingdoms within the boundaries of chrifHanity, and mark
(it you can) the time and place, when and where the faints were
holding the command of this world, and the proud and afpiring,
were out of place. No fuch occafion prefents itfelf : but the true
fubjeds of the Redeemer's kingdom were found in the humbleft
walks of life, and the dodrlnes of their Saviour were buffeted and
perfecuted by the powers of church and ftate. From fuch a view
can you inftantly cafl: your eyes on your own country and believe
that the whole nature of man and the whole character of chriffiani-
ty have changed, and that a levee of courtiers, contriving to fend
our conimerce through the globe, to extend our territory to the
Miffifippi, to make this the greateft, mod warlike and powerful
nation on earth, and planning death and defolation for all, who
fhould oppofe their projefls, were in fli6t feumble fubjefls of the
king of Zion, and that a number of powerlefs men, whofe rights
were all gone, and whofe only remnant of this world was the
profpeft of a better, were confpiring againfl chriflianity, under
the guife of liberty and equality ?

I might rifque the decifion of this queftion on its natural im-
preflions ; but it is rational to afk, what could republicans exped:
from the deftrudlion of that religion, which they were faid to
confpire againfl ? The worfl of infidels have fought bravely for
their homes, their property, and their children : but the bleffed
confequence of this confederacy of republicans with Wifhaupt,
and the mafonic focieties, and with all ancient and modern
infidel philofophers, was to be the certain lofs of their homes,
their property and their children-— the diflblution of thofe very
focieties, a bnrfting of all human bands, an efcape from the govern-
ment of God, a life of endlefs confufion and a death of eternal
ileep ! T.very political meafure, which they oppofed, vv'as public-
ly hoftile to chrifiiianity, yet they were faid to confpire againft this
religion in "order to deflroy thefe nieafures ! After tke political
prelates had wrought up thefe charges to fuch a pitch of extrava-
gance, that each charge deflroyed itfelf, the infidel civilians dif-
covered * that liberty and equality,' the animating themes of our
revolution, meant licentioufnefs and anarchy — that oppofitiott to-
^edition and alien adls was rebellion, and that every attempt to

68

ameliorate the condition of man was comparable with the manu-
fadure of marble pin-cii(hions.*'

The extravagance of thefe charges was perfcftly in character
for thefe unionil-ls. Confpirators naturally charge with great force
their own projefls on others, in order to elude fufpicion and
vigilance ; but thefe charges were not more daring than the fafts
and meafures, which they were intended to conceal. Thefe
fads were found among the kingdoms of the world, whofe lead-
ers, juft like ours, were purfuing plans of national and perfonal
glory, inconfiftent with freedom and chriftianity. The meafures
werejufi: like the meafures of thofe kingdoms. It was necefTary
to proftrate the public mind, and fuch a charge of infidel confpira-
cy on the republicans could alone effect this proftration. Political
clergy aided thefe charges ; they preached from Robifon and Barruel
— fome ranked them next to the bible — the people believed, becaufe
they had been in the habit of believing in fuch men : Infidel
civilians refounded thefe charges — republicans were perfonally
infuited with them — fermons againft infidelity furnifhed a feaft of
fat things to federal zealots, and the memorable reign of terror
was a feafon of triumph to the bafeft paflions, which ever con-
fpired againft chriflianity.

The Jews charged the Saviour with confpiring againft the true
religion. The Catholics charged the proteftants, and the church
of England charged the Purit;^ns, in the fame manner ; yet in
every inftance the accufed were out of power, and had nothing to
expe(5t but lolTes and perfecution, and in every inftance the occu-
fers were the real confpirators, and the mod fecular confiderations
manifellly impelled them to their charges. In the prefent cafe the
unionlfts had all the power in their hands, chriftianity was frown-
ing on all their meafjres, ideas of liberty, equality and the rights
of man checked their political force, toleration abridged ecclefiaf-
tical power, popery, the great outwork of fpiritual tyranny, was
at the mercy of the conqueror of Italy ; a fpirited union of clergy
and laity, in a charge of infidel confpiracy againft republicans,
promifed fuccefs, and there was a fair profpecfl that civil and reli-
gious liberty would never again rife to difturbthe confummation of
this rifing empire. Here were brilliant hopes and ftrong Incite-
ments ; but on the other hand a confpiracy of republicans promif-
ed nothing but total ruin to the agents of it. Univerfal bruUfm was
laid to be the fummit of republican ambition ! furely every thing
in nature has chartged, if the charges of the unionifts were true,
and as furely nature herfelf has been changed, if they are not the
confpirators.

♦ See Mr, Daggett's Oration.

69
NO. IK

View of the extent of Church and State Conf piracy againfl
Chrijlianity.

W:

E have not charged the unlonifts with confpiring
againft themfelves, their wives, children, property, reputation
and peace : we have not charged them with all the depravity of
all ages and nations ; we have not called them by every hateful
name nor imputed to them every crime : but have coolly charged
them with confpiring againft chriftianity, precifely as other men,
great, wife and holy as themfelves, have done under fimilar tempt-
ations.

The extent of this confpiracy is two-fold, firft, as refpeds the
men who confplre, and fecond, as refpe6ts the religion againft which
they confpire. The firft of thefe heads will occupy the prefent
number.

As nature and paflion have raifed this confpiracy for feliifh and
worldly purpofes, fo they have always direfted its courfe. The
body of the Jews had been fo deluded by their leaders that they
were unwilling to embrace chriftianity. Their fteady habits were
juft as dear to them as ours are to us. Their great men, who pro-
fefted to be friends of order and good government, appeared to
them as honeft as our great men appear : Their high priefts appear-
ed as devout and pious as ours do : yet with all thefe impreffions
they did not confpire againft chriftianity ; but it was the chief
priefts and rulers, who took counfel together how they might flay
the Saviour. The people were ready enough to obey their rulers
and to exprefs their fenfelefs joy that the king of the Jews was fuf-
pended between two malefactors : they were ready to ofter him
vinegar and gall, to place a crown of thorn5 on his head and to
pierce his fide ; and they really believed that in all this they were
honouring God and the religion of their fathers. Can it be necef-
fary to add that the great men, who had fecured this blind confi-
dence of the people, were among the moft deceitful of the human
race? They had retained moft of the forms of religion, valued
themfelves highly on obfervance of the ceremonial law, and had
kept clean the outfide of the cup and the platter.

The Catholics had been fo deluded by their leaders, that they
joined them readily in the work of perfecution : but the denounc-
ing of the victims and the confpiracies againft pure chriftianity
were managed by kings, popes, and their conclaves. It is not
among the body of the peonle in other nations, or our own, that

70

we are to feek for confplrators again ft chriftAnity. We do not
charge the majority of our people with this confpiracy. They
doubtlefs wifli for the prevalence of chriftianity, if not in every
cafe from motives of perfonal afFeflion for the caufe ; yet from a
perfjafion that it is beft for mankind, and they really believe that
they are promoting it by advocating andfuftaining federal men and
meafures. Multitudes of federalifts, who voted uniformly in
favor of the laft adminifkatiospi and againft the prefent, were
honed in their intentions and difcovered no want of piety : No
man is a knave merely becaufe he is deceived. Even the man,
who was atory through the laft war (becaufe he really believed in
the juftice and policy of a regal government) and who fuftained
Mr. Adams* adminiftration, becaufe it tended to monarchy^ was an
honeft man. He ought to have been pleafed with a fedition and
alien a6t and with a (landing army : for royalty can never be again
fuftained in our world without a correfpondent dominion of force.
All our tories in New-England are on the federal fide, and fome
of them are honeft enough to avow their motives.

The merchant, who really believed thac the pafl: admlni/lration
would advance the intereft of commerce (confiftently with the
other interefts and duties of fociety) more than the prefent, was
honeft in fuftaining Mr. Adams' adminiftration ; but if he pre-
tended that chriftianity v/as ferved by the fhedding of blood for
theobjeftof gain, he may take rank among the confpirators.

It was perfectly natural for the farmer to wiih to gain a high
price for his produce: (no clafs of men is fo miferably paid in
proportion to their labor) but if the farmer pretended that chrif-
tianity and the war-meafures of Mr. Adams, were connected, he
alfo may take rank among the confpirators : the go/pel never enlifted
on the Jide of ojfenjive tuar or excejffve nvealth.

The man, who really believed that the houfes of worfhip and
bibles were to be burnt, if Mr. Jefferfon fhould be prefident, did

right in oppofmg his eledion The clergyman, who really believed

that Robifon and Barruel had publifhed the truth, and that all re-
publicans were infidels, deftitute of morals, feeking for univerfal
confufion, would naturally have been alarmed, and when his pow-
erful brethren, who kneiv all this to be political fraud, told him.
that it was all true, it was natural for him to pray again ft fucli
men, to preach againft them, to attend proxies and to ftimulate
his people to vote againft them, and even to read forged letters
from his deflc, if he believed them to be genuine ; — yes it was
natural ^01 him to improve every text of fcripture, and every occa-
fion of grace, and every portion of perfonal influence to poHtical
purpofes, and to aftbciate with gi^t civilians, who approved his
wanderings — but fuch natures ought to have been under the influ-
ence of grace, or fuch men ought not to have been preachers.
Sorely has fociety fufFered by fuch men. It is difficult to fepa-

7'

rate between the leaders and followers of this profefiion ; but
wherever you find, in New-England, a clergyman, whofe chofen
fociety is among infidel civilians, and whofe greateft delight has
been to fpread the alarm of infidel philofophy againft the republic-
ans, he is a confpirator againft chriftianity ; the New-Teftament
is full of reproofs for him, and there is a loud call to him to
repent and believe the gofpel. f

Republicans have never been oppofed to the pious and faithful
of the clergy : fuch men will always do all the good in their pow-
er, and will never fow the feeds of ftrife and debate. Holinefs,
juftice, truth, mercy, charity and humble faith never expofed one
man to ridicule and abufe in New-England ; but every pafs which
has been made at hypocrify and double-dealing, has been artfully
parried by pretences that all religion, all piety and goodnefs, are
aimed at. If men will not make obvious diftin6lions, it is not our
fault. We profefs that we have as much natural affection as others,
that we cannot live without government — and that whatever be
our own lives, we wifli that all the reft of fociety would condud
according to the golden rule of morality. We profefs to wilh that
our enemies as well as our friends might have no law to bind their
confciences but the law of God, and we profefs to be unwilling to
lofe any of our rights through fraud, falfehood or hypocnfy,
or through any artful combination of chrijltanity ivlth the kingdoms of
this world. We claim that thofe, who ferve at the altar, ftiould
mind the things of the altar, and that thofe of our fellow-men,
who claim to have the high calling, to have a divine miflion or to
be faints, fhould be in fa6t all which they profefs — that thofe who
maintain it their duty to be holy, harmlefs, undefiled and feparate
from fin fhould be fo, not in word and tongue only but in deed
and in truth — that thofe, who profefs to be bound by the laws of
truth, juftice and mercy, fhould condud as if they felt the force
of thefe bonds ; and to all our other profefFions we add an ardent
zeal for civil liberty, under the aufpices of an equal reprefentative
government.

Every thing in nature confpires to prove that we muft be fincere
in our profeflions ; it is fupremely our intereft that thefe things fhould
be fo, and our moft violent oppofers muft know that if they will
afTume the charadter, which we wifh them to afTume, it will be
our intereft to give them our fulleft confidence, and all the honors
which they are now feeking in a very contrary character, Paflion
interpofes between them and fuch a courfe, and they prefer to
charge us with duplicity, which involves the ftrange abfurdity that
wc are enemies to ourff Ives knowingly and with defign — and that
without any pofTible motive we are confpiring againft our own in-
terefts. They are profeffing to be that which every adion proves
that they are not, and claiming that we are not what we profefs to
be, although the fimpleft courfe of reafoning (liews that we cannot
be oiherwife.

7^

Let the body of federalifts in New England reflect and decide
whether it can be for the intereft of our caufe to charge them indif-
criminately with confpiring againft chriftianity ? certainly we have
no precedent of fuch a cafe. The body of mankind may be delu-
ded ; they are never fyftematically difhoneft : leaders have mo-
tives, which cannot be extended to the multitude. — Let the
parifh clergy, whofe prevailing attention has been to the church
and its caufe, decide whether we can gain by reflecting on them,
or whether one article of our creed will prejudice them in their
labors — v/hether their people will be worfe or better for profelling as
we do. Surely if the high prlefts and rulers wi(h to be in political
(torms, thefe humble fhepherds will do beft to feed the iambs of
their flocks in green paflures, and to water them at the well of fal-
vation.-— Wicked and infidel as may be fome republicans,
yet even thefe will rejoice, if through the labors of fuch men, the
bad paifions of the day may be abated, and we may have fome
foretafte of the new heavens and new earth, in which dwelleth
righteoufnefs.

Will the political clergy and the politicians aflbclated with them,
a(k us whether they are the fubjeds of this difcuflion ? We an-
Iwer in a moment, * They are the CQufpirators againjl chriftmnity.*

At this point my fubje<5l prefents all its refponfibilities. In
every advance I have been obliged to meet and difpofe of preju-
dices. Here a great portion of them is embodied. The fervility
of the human character, increafed by fuccellive abafements through
all the periods of time, — perfonal partialities — and the apprehen-
fion of fmall dependant hypocrites, that their turn will come next,
are ail oppofed to me. In another number will be fhewn the ref-
peA due to all thefe confiderations.

NO. V.

— < ' -

Particular view cf the Co7ifpiratcrs,

in

HE church has always been in danger : great men have
aifefled to guard it ; yet according to their own account the con-
dition of it has always been growing worfe, religion has been
declining, and the mournful cry of Mr. Adams *' On evil times
indeed are we fallen," was a fit commentary on his admmiftration.
If mankind do not care for their religion, then it is well enough
to let fu^cefiive generations of great men play their pantomnnes
over it, in aid of all their political meafures. If chriftianity

11

has ceafed to combat the paffions, and has enlifted on their fnU^
then it ought to wait on the titled and wealthy ; it ought to be
fent on fhipboard or into the army ; it ought to be the tool of
every impoftor : but to every real chriftian, who has attached
himfeJf to great men and great plans, the fpirit of the gofpel is
crying, * Come out from among them and be ye feparated, faith
the Lord of hofts.'

If it has not been learnt by the experience of feventeen centu*
ries that great men have great paffions, which lead to great anti-
chriftian meafures, and that real piety never had a fenfible exigence,
but in the hearts and lives of the humble and contrite, probably
that of feventy will be infufHcient. Men may pretend that this
or that high prieft is very important to the chriftian caufe, and
may eftablilli newfpapers to fupport it, and may vote that the
governor and council and houfe of reprefentatives in general
court afTembled (hall have the charge of it ; yet the king of Zion
will continue to reign in the greatnefs of his ftrength, and will
punifh all attempts to ufarp his dominion^

Suppofe that our legiflature fliould repeal the laws, which affed
to fupport chriftianity, and fhould grant that part of the baptifts*
petition (which they were careful not to anfwer) in which they
prayed that the church might be left to the guidance of its Head 5
fuppofe that mankind were left to profefs and worfhip according to
the diftates of their confciences, would chriftianity lofe ground ?
Suppofe that the judges of our fuperior court (Meffrs. Root,
Sturges, Mitchel, Ingerfoll and Ree've) after accepting the ap-
pointment of electors of Prefident and Vice Prefident, and after
voting for Charles Cotefworth Pinckney (who is net a pious chrif-
tian) had decided that political integrity and talents fhould be the
qualifications of a chief' magiftrate, and that religion and civil
government were diftind in their natures, means and end, would
chriftianity have fiiffered ? If we hok for greatnefs from great men
ive often look in vain. The greatefi trees are not found on the highefi
mountains— the vallies prefent you the luxuriance of nature. Great men
often fuffer by reafon of their elevation. It v/as not corre(S for the
legiflature to place in a lituation, where the judgment ought to
have been free, men dependant on them for annual re-ele6lions |
not corred to enlifl the principal judiciary of the (late as partizans
againfl one clafs of men, who had every thing elfe to humble
them ; but when thefe men knew that the whole force of church
and flate had been drawn out againfl Mr. Jeiferfon on the fcore
of religion, and that they were about to vote for Gen. Pinckney,
how confident would it have been to declare that chriflianity had
nothing to do in this bufinefs ; but in fuch cafe what would the
political clergy have faid to the men, who ferai-annually publlfh
their raind and will ? If fituated as they were thofe men voted

K

2L _

according to their cofifciences, they did well, but church and (late
underflands all the fubtleties of operation !

If Mr. Tracy and Mr. Talmadge (hould quit the church in
Litchfield and declare that in future they would not run tiie
chriftian race : If the Rev. Mr. Backus and the Rev. Mr. Hunt-
ington fhould refolve that after they had ruined the charafters of
the Rev. Mr. Grifwold and Mr. Kirby, they would quit the pro-
feffion of preaching : If all the political clergy fhould refolve that
after the preaching down the republicans of their charge they
would quit their dell<s : If the prefidents of our colleges, and
the profeffors and tutors fhould declare that they would never
again exert themfelves to advance chrilllanity : If Gov. Strong,
Gov. Gilman and Gov. Trumbull, with their lieutenants and
their federal counfellors and affemblymen fhould declare that they
would never more rely on clerical influence, and would never aid
the chriftian caufe, let me all<, would the religion of New-England
fuffer ? If it woujd, then decidedly it is not the religion of the
New-Teflament.

Were all thefe men to declare open war againft chriilianity, its
king would ride forth conquering and to conquer, and the caufe
would probably flonrifh more than it has done fince the fettlement
of the country. This rehgion has before combated more powerful
enemies, and has been mofl triumphant, when its oppofers have
been in the open field. Thofe men, who join the cry of the church is
in danger, and appoint to olhce fuch men as our federal leaders, then
cry, the church is out of danger, are unioniflts, their religion may
anfwcr prefent purpofes ; but they deceive multitudes of honeft
men — and if the federalifls of New-England are fatisfied with
fiich work, it is for want of real refped for the chriflian caufe.

The religion of the gofpel breathes a fpirit of peace, and teach-
es every grace and virtue ; but the religion of church and flate
breathes diffenfiOB and encourages every pafTion. From it afcend
no humble afcriptions of praife and gratitude ; but an univerfal fliout
of ** glory to man, and war on earth,*' its votaries are filling the
country with accounts of their own piety and the great immoral-
ity of others, and are publicly revengeful, implacable and un-
merciful.

Thofe, who fear that fuch remarks will offend thefe great men
fhould recollect, that if thefe men fhould refent my charges, fuch
refentment will prove the charges well applied ; for chriflianity
beareth all things with patience : Every hypocrite is diftreffed at
a charge of hypocrify, efpecially if he depends on it for a living.
Some cool men fee the truth of thefe charges ; but judge it befl to
be at peace for the prefent : Let fuch recoiled: that a like coolnefs
and fear of offending, has reduced to fervitude whole nations,
and that it has cofl miUions of lives to regain what might have
been fecured by a decided attitude at the outfet. Some republi-

Jl

cans fear the confequence of a difclofure of the truth ; but do
fuch men recoiled any moment, when a tyrant relaxed, becaufe
his victims were lamb-like ?

' I do not contend that republican civilians are fitter than federal
civilians to manage the concerns of religion : but I contend that
if all the federal unionifts were to remove out of New-England,
chriftianity would not lofe by it, and if it be really hazardous for
republicans to exprefs opinions refpe<5ting our great men, we need
no aftronomer to calculate the period, when our rights will be in
a narrower compafs.

I would not levy a war of opinions againft a man, becaufe he
had the plague ; but in this condition he fhould not be phyfician to
my family. I would not combat our clerical politicians and their
affociated civilians, becaufe they are attacked with that complica-
tion of political depravity, which is diilrudive to civil and reli-
gious liberty; (their minds are as liable to be depraved by bad
paffions as their bodies are by difeafe) but in this condition they
fhould not be my preachers nor lawgivers. If raving with their
malady they attack me, and in the fpirit of extermination aim to
force me from all my rights, to fmk me beneath my rank in being,,
to lord it over my confcience and my peace, I muft defend my-

felf.

O, 'tis all nothing, fays the federalld. Then go, federaliit,
on board one of your armed fhips and fight till difmembered hu-
manity ftrews the deck, then fearch for thofe limbs with which
you have graced the fenate houfe, then btefs a war fyftem. — Go
and repofe in a damp dungeon and cry, glory to a fedition adt —
Be for a few months viaim of your own laws — pay taxes in a
feafon of peace, till your finews crack. — See a holl of lordly
fycophants, rioting on the fruits of a feven years war, fuftained
by hungry foldiers in your neighborhood — then blefs a funding

fyftem. See what you believe to be the principles of the revolution

defpifed — what you regard as religion negleded, and a political
religion in place of it, enlifted as a Swifs mercenary on the fide of

pQ-^ver. Sit down content with the names of atheift and

anarchift and cry, O, tis all nothing. — Only bear for a few weeks
what you have called nothing and you will learn that you never
befove conceived of that precious fomethlng, a perceptior. of hu-
man rights with a refolution to defend them.

Thofe, who confider it nothing that the paftor of a flock fhould
devote Sabbaths to eledtioneering fermons, to the abufe of one half
of his hearers, fhould infult with the title of Jacobins men who
wifh for good government as much as he does, and with the name
of atheifts men who have as much reverence for a fupreme being
and as high a fenfe of the value of time and eternity as he has,
are the very men to faffer fuch nothings.

16 .

Thofe, who confider it nothing that counfellors (hould choofe
themfelves, and that when chofen they (hould condud with more
afTurance than if the people had chofen them— that thefe men
fhould enlifl: our religion, our colleges, prefTes and anniverfaries
again rt our rights, ought to change places with thofe, who confid-
er thefe things as fomething.

The root of thefe things is deep ; the parties are ferioufly at
HTue : if republicanifm prevails, religion will have no more credit,
' than the lives of its profeffors can gain for it — anceftral piety wil^
vanifh, and as each man was born for himfelf, he will have to live
and die for himfelf— and thofe, who have traded in religion and
liberty may divide the profits, for there will be an eternal end of
their partnerfhip^

NO. VL

Confptracy of Church and State againjl the policy and fpirit of
Chri/lianity.

N^

OT many wife, not many mighty, not many noble are
^* called, but God hath chofen the foolifh things of the world to
** confound the wife, and the weak things of the world to con-
** found the mighty — and bafe things and things which are defpi-
" fed ; yea, and things, which are not to bring to nought things
" which are, that no flefli fhould glory in his prefence.*^

The wife, the mighty and the noble have always had kingdoms
enough. Satan underflood his title, v/hen he offered all of them
to the Saviour. Chriftianity was brought forward as the poor
man's kingdom, and the fingMlarity of its policy is not confined to
the mere choice of fubjecfts. Its invariable oppofition to men*^
pride and wifhes, together v/ith the occafions and means which the
unionifts have improved to affimilate this to their ov/n kingdoms m.ay
be ufefully traced. If we divide the hiflory of man into three
great periods, viz. from the giving of the law at Mount Sinai to
the coming of the Saviour — from the death of the apoflles to
the reformation — and from that to the prefcnt day, we Ihall find
him at the clofe of each of thefe periods poffefTing the fame char-
acter, originating in the fame palTions and in an uniform caufe.

Fondnefsfor idol-worfhip and a religion confident with human
depravity are noticeable in the Jews, to whom the law was reveal-
ed-, Thofe, who could bow to the v/orks of their own hands,
muil have been foiely difappointed at receiving a law, which dft-

^ i2_

mandedexclufive worfliiptothe only invifible God, which forbad
every vice and commanded every moral virtue. Following their
own propenfities, they foon changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image made like unto corruptible man, and at the be-
gining of the fecond period we find thera abounding in fornis,
but deftitute of fubftance — having a convenient religion for this
world, jull fuited to the ambition of the rulers. The invifible ob-
jeft of worfhip was again announced, the law and the true wor/hip
revived, anew and living way opened, but this was a declaration
of war againft all which was efteemed great and good in that day.
The new religion took tffe£t ; but at the opening of the third peri-
od, v/e find it wholly changed, and the wife, mighty and noble who
were not called, to have taken the ground, which was to have
been occupied by the weak, and the' poor. The reformation
reftored this religion to its firft principles, and the prefent view
exhibits all which is vifible of this kingdom under the control of
kings and their courts, high priefh and rulers, drawing million?
from the people by the force of law, difpofing of titles and atten-
ding armies in the field — the forms carefully retained ; but the
fubftance loft, and men a^re new as fond of images made like unto
corruptible man as they ever were, and of having a religion of their
own making.

Our unionills have not only formed this confpiracy in view of
all thefe preceding ones, but with actual knowledge that fimilar
unions of church and ftate for the fame fecular purpofes are
operating in other nations, and in order that no doubt of the
exiftence of this confpiracy might exift, one entire political
party in Nev/-England forms the corporate body of church and
Ilatc iinion. The Jews and Catholics claimed that' they had all
the religion of the day : Ours put in the fame claim with equal juf-
tice — each has been careful to retain the name and forms, to derive
all the earthly profits, and each has conftituted a great political
party. It was not neceiTary for admiffion among the Jews, that
a man fhould love the Lord God with all his heart, nor among
the Catholics that he Ihould take up his crofs, nor with our
unionifts that he (houid even profefs to believe. For other quali-
fications of admifiion are invented by our great worldly churches.
The confpiracy of the Jews was not evidenced merely in their
having changed the laws of the true religion ; but they had givea
the higheft honors of their church and nation to men, who de-
ferved and met the feverelf reproofs of the Saviour. His woes
were pronounced on thofe who fat in Mofes' feat. Thefe bound
heavy burdens on the people— did th^ir works to be feen of men —
loved the chief feats in the fynagogues — fhut up the kingdom
of heaven againfl men, neither entering themfelves, nor fuffering
others to enter — devoured widow^s houfes — for a pretence made
loDg prayers — compaiTed fea and land to make one profelyte, and

7«

then made him two-fold worfe than themfelves ; yet thefe conlpira-
tors, with fuch men in the feat of Mofes, were fo confident of
their ftrength that they ftoned Stephen, imprifoned Paul and
Silas, fcourged and perfecuted the faints. The Catholics perverted
the true religion as much and placed as bad men in the chair of
St. Peter. Our unionifls have completed the firfl: point in the
confplracy by calling the wife, mighty and noble and every man,
who could claim an inheritance of the woes, pronounced in the
23 of Matthew, to high rank in the church : whether they have
fecured the fecond point by confpiring againft the fpirit of Chrift's
kingdom muft be decided by a comparifon of the fpirit of the
gofpel with that of church and ftate religion.

The fpirit of the gofpel is firft pure, then peaceable, gentle and
eafy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without par-
tiality and without hypocrlfy. It takes man from his origin, with
every propenfity to evil, fhews that his greateft enemies are the
lufts, which war againft the foul — that the leader of thefe enemies
is fubtle in the work of deftru6lion — it offers him armour againft
every foe, opens to him a kingdom on v/hich he may rely for pro-
tection, fortifies him againft the evils of life, clothes him with
humility, grants him a patient endurance of injuries, and for all
his facrifices of honor and wealth offers him future rewards. The
fame fpirit having fhewn him his worft enemies, next points him
to the enemies of the church in the principalities of the world,
which would avail themfelves of all thefe lufts, and of the fervice
of fatan in the form of an angel of light, to deceive (if poflible)
the very eled, and inftrudls him how he may aid the church and
the world by oppofing the poHcy of the gofpel to wars, oppreffion,
hatred, revenge and cruelty. The diftinft charafler of the gofpel
is found in perfe<Sl reverence for the Father of the univerfe, in af-
fe<51:ion for the, whole human race, in a conftant conflid within,
and in conftant exertions without, to promote the caufe of truth
and the good of man, even by means moft humiliating to perfonal
pride. " Even if thine enemy hunger, give him food — lay not up
treafures on the earth : Seek not the honors which come from
men.'*

As chriftianity aims to redeem man from the ruins of the fall,
fo church and ftate has always aimed to reftore him to thefe ruins ;
and to this policy are the kingdoms of the world and the armies
and navies, which fupport them indebted for their majefty and
power.

Let this propofitlon in all its relations be compared with that of
Robifon and Barruel and the preachers againft infidel philofophy,
and then let candid men judge who are the confpirators againft
chriftianity — whether vifionary philofophers and infidels, feleded
from all ages and nations, connedled with the republicans of the
prefent day — or the kingdoms of this world, which muft part

^ 79 '

with their kings and their lords fpiritual and ten^poral, with their
generals and admirals — with their courts and ambafTadors — with
their wealth and fplendor — with their weapons of war — with
their victories and revenge — with the fpoils of their enemies—
with all their fchemes of national glory, before they can bow to
the fpirit of the gofpel.

In this number I have taken the fpiritual ground of the New-
Teftament. He, who comes to this ground with a crown on his
head, muft come bowing lowly to the crown of thorns on the head
of his Saviour. He, who comes here with a mitre and lawn-
fleeves mufl acknowledge the fuperior majefty of the robes of the
Redeemer's righteoufnefs. He, who comes here with volumes
of his own wifdom, mufl: acknowledge the fuperior wifdom of him
who was wifer than Solomon. Kings muft bow before the king
of kings, princes before the prince of peace, prelates before the
high prieft of the church, leaders of armies before the captain of
falvation, fathers of families before the univerfal Father, and
children before the babe of Bethlehem. — Every expectant of im-
mortality muft do fincere homage to him, who was laid in the
grave and who arofe from the dead, and captives muft look for
redemption to him who led captivity captive, and who in his
triumphant afcent to heaven gave gifts unto men. — The riches of
this world muft yield to the treafures laid up in heaven ; the
luxuries of earthly tables to the bread and water of everlafting
life, and the deareft connections on earth to love for him, who is
the firft born among many brethren, fairer than the children of
men. — The graves muft open to receive our departed friends — our
confidence muft be placed in the father of the orphan and the
huftjand of the widow, and all our affeflions iiipremely centered
in that world, where tears (hall be wiped from every eye.

This is a trancient view of the affedions, which muft character-
ize every man, who is moved by the fpirit of the gofgel. He,
who feels this fpirit will not be loud in profeffions nor oftentatious
in fervices. If he is pious, it will be known in heaven ; if he
is fincere, it will be recorded ; if in faith he gives even a cup of
cold water to a difciple, he will not lofe his reward ; if he is
perfecuted, his feafon of rejoicing is at hand ; if men defpife
him, if poverty, revilings, and perils afTail him, he goes where
he will be held in honor and where all diftrefs and danger are
unknown. — Are infidels on every fide ? He commends them to the
light of truth.' — Do men charge him with hypocrify ; but that God,
who fcarches the heart and tries the reins knows his fincerity and
will lead him in the way everlafting. — Are there feafons, when
the powers of darknefs prefs hard on the church, but his Redeem.-
er liveth, wonderful in counfei, mighty in power, and will fuftain
his caufe^

8o

Compared with fuch impreffions, refulting from fuch a fplrit>
what is thfc religion of church and .ftate in New-England ? Ao
exaoiination of this queftion will occupy the niext number.

NO. FIL

Con/piracy of the Unionifls againjl the Spirit of the GofpeL

O credit is due to mere forms, becaufe the Jews and
catholics had them in abundance of the moft foiemn and impreflive
kind, merely to conceal their want of fmcerity. The bell of
prayers and fermons may proceed from the worfl of men. No
credit is due on this fubjeft to great theological fcience and artful
difputation, for the queilions of, where is the wife man ? where is
the fcribes ? where is the difputer of this world ? are forever dif-
pofed of by the gofpel. If the boaft of, I am of Paul and I of
Apollas and I of Cephas were of any avail, the unionifts would
abound in arguments. If the building of houfes' of worfhip, fet-
tlement of paftors, gathering of churches, attendance on Sabbaths,
and all thebufy out-door work of religion were proofs of piety,
we have all thefe in abundance : but what are the fubftantial fads,
by which our conformiry to, or variance from, the true church,
may be decided ?

Our revolution was managed under the aufplces of profeflions,
favorable to civil and religious liberty, and it then appeared to the
people and probably to many of the leaders that this was an open-
ing of great triumphs in favor of true religion and the rights of men.
The chrgy wifhed for the downfall of papal Babylon and protef-
tant hierarchies, and the civilians wifhed for an end of oppreffion.
Enthufiafm often bears the public mind, efpecially in a feafon of
war, above all felfifh calculations of confequences ; but the enemy
of man, who watches narrowly the kingdoms, which the Saviour
refufed, improved an early feafon of peace to addrefs his logic to
fome of the leaders of the revolution. He did not tell them that
after a few years one of their number vjow\d fucceed to the prefiden-
cy and that under his adminiilration the old order of things and the
dodtrines of the old fchool would be revived, that the enemies of the
revolution would rife into favor ; but he prefented to them the
reftive temper of the people, the danger-, to religion and order,
from an extention of liberty, the hazard of innovation, and
promifed them perfonai aggrandizement. Our unionifts, thus
(timulated, eftabliOied a government, in which every pafTion ope-

Si

rated ; man was exaiflly reftored to his onglnaF depravity, the
church became a virtual hierarchy, and our nation affimilated to
the kingdoms of the world in every article, wherein thofe are
oppofed to chriftianity. New-England federalifm became a fyftem
of paflions impetuous for war, wealth, revenge, pride and national
greatnefs. The complete revolution, which thefe men have
performed fhews the extreme variablenefs of the human charader,
when under the dominion of the lufts, which war againfl the foul.
At firft: we find them foremoft in the ardors of a conteft for liberty
and religion ; afterwards full of the fame powers, againft which
they had fought, leagued with their former domeftic and foreiga
enemies, combating their former friends, adopting the very mea-
fures, which they once abjured, and courting alliances with na-
tions, which they once profefled to abhor. Next, in order to
retain their power, we trace them in wide fpread. delujions and
falfe alarms of danger, and (to give currency to thefe) affuming
the impofing title of friends of order and good government, and' af-
ter the lofs of their* power embodying thcmfelves in a confp'iracy
againft the very religion and liberty, for which they pledged their
all at the outfet. The Jews prefaced the evidences of their con-
fpiracy with charging on the chriftians the fame crime. The
Catholics burnt the true believers as confp'irators againft the truth.
Th€ republicans, who were charged with confpiring againft religion
and government, do not claim to rank with the difciples or mar-
tyrs ; but the praftice of defigning men charging confpiracy on
others is not a novel artifice.

The confpiracy under this head is diftin<rL in charader, though
complicated in formation. It involves all the enmity of the hu-
man heart againft the fpirit of the gofpel, and under the name
and form of chriftianity exhibits a religion wholly oppofite in all
its affeftions and objefts. Its firft agents are the political clergy
of powerful talents, who prefer the applaufes of men to the favor
of God, aided by another clafs of clergy, who have been led to
believe that federalifm and chriftianity are fynonimous, and that
republicanifm and infidelity are infeparable. The fecond clafs are
our federal members of congrefs, all in favor of the extenfi^'e plans
of the laft adminiftration and federal governors and counfellors
annually drawing their political breath from the clergy. The third
clafs confifts of federal lawyers, ardent feekers of rapid gains 5
but willing to be promoted for the good of the caufe ! of federal
merchants willing to be rich for the honor of the country — of fed*
eral printers under clerical patronage — followed by all under-feek-
ers of office, by all the enemies of our revolution — by all the craftf-
men, who gain by them, and by multitudes who are learnt toccn-
fider this combination the main-guard of the church.
. This is a ftatement of church and ftate unionifts in their prefent
extent, all cemented by a coincidence of thofe worldly interefts,

L

32

ivhich are oppofed to the fpiiit of the gofpel, all profciTing to dc
fend the church. In three of the northern ftates this union com-
mands the weight of political influence and on its continuance are
faid to reft the hopes of federalifm.

The exclufive claim of this union to piety, order and peace, its
high charges againft republicans, its hofHIe array againft our caufe
render it important that we colle<5l our premifes at this point 6f our
charge. Is not this the union, which has availed itfelf of the paflion
for wealth, honors and dominion, ever fince the fettlement of this
country ? Has it not always boafted of anceftral piety ? Has it not
artificially kept up the ranks of its leaders and followers ? Has it
not dealt largely in forms, profellions, myfteries and doctrines ? Sure-
ly there is no other union of church and ftate in New-England —
and there is no pretence that its prefent character is more heavenly
than it formerly was. If then the kingdom of the Saviour has not
changed its policy and fpirit, and if this union is ferving the world
under pretence of ferving this kingdom, furely it is confpiring
againft chriftianity.

In every advance of this part of my fubjeft I have endeavored
to keep your attention fixed on the certain oppofition of the fpirit
of the gofpel to the fpirit of the world — and to direct your fearch
after the confpirators againft chriftianity in the very places, where
the Saviour faid that they would be found, and in the place where
nature and reafon would teach you to feek them. It is now necef-
fary to mark out the line, which feparates the kingdom of the
Saviour from the governments of the world. — The fpirit of chrif-
tianity extends juft fo far into the heart, affeftions, thoughts and
adtions of mankind as any goodnefs is found. It increafes as faft
as this goodnefs increafes, and is faid to have prevailed, wherever
this goodnefs has gained the afcendency over natural depravity. It
meets the lufts of the fiefh, the lufts of the eye and the pride of
life, exadly on the frontiers of the kingdoms of this world. At
this line the armies of heaven and thofe of earth have their ftrong
fortrefTes. Here the champions of both fides contend. The
chofen troops of the Captain of falvation are the meek, the poor
and the humble, who have fignalized themfelves in fingle combat
with fatan. The chofen troops of the world are its kings, its
mighty captains, its rich men, its proud men — all who have fignal-
lled themfelves moft in vi(ftories ever their own confciences and the
light of truth — in fa<5t thofe who will lofe moft, of what the world

holds dear, if chriftianity ftiould prevail Thus juft as far as luft,

pride, avarice, ambition for applaufe or any other fclfifii paffion
prevails, church and ftate are fure of afiiftance. Great men will
not join the armies of the gofpel, fo long as the combat wears
fuch an afpedt. Men, who have been accuftomed to command in
the high places of the field and to be called. Excellency, right rev-
erend or honorahky are not zealous to join an army, where the
higheft officers rauft perform the humbleft fervices.

83_

If revelation is to be our guide, we are not to feek the fubje(5l&
of the Saviour within the limits of this or that clafs of profef-
fors ; but in every nation he, who feareth God and worketh right-
eoufnefs, will be accepted of him. The inviiible power of the goC-
pel of the kingdom extends far and wide, producing a vifible ef-
fedl in ail its fubjeds, which effect is the evidence of the power.
Church and ftate abhors the fpirituality of the gofpel : it delights
in hearing that religion is a very good thing, that it keeps fociety
in order — that refpefttothe clergy is very important, and that ci-
vil rulers ought to fupport their influence. It is charmed to hear
learned difcourfes or fpeculative theology ; but cannot endure the
dulnefs of morality.

When the governing of mankind by the aid of the clergy is
regarded as being infinitely eafier than to govern them by fabftan-
tial attention to their interefts ; when we lee all the paffions ready
to enlift under fuch rulers, and when time and fenfe, with all the
arguments of wealth and honors, court our acquiefcence in fuch
government, v/e will not v/onder at finding fome of the clergy
and laity joining in this work. A fandified man will have noth-
ing to do with it : a pious man would not calmly take his feat in
congrefs or at the council board, if he knev/ that inftead of being
chofen by unbiafled votes, he v/as chofen through the influence of
falfe alarms about religion ; a pious man could not believe that a
miferable worm of the duft like himfelf was important to the true,
church.

If our ambitious men can pafs oft profeiTions, the paper curren-
cy of hypocrites, and receive in exchange as much of wealth and
honors as they willi, we will not wonder at it. If by preaching
the real gofpel a clergyman would offend the great men, and if
preaching fubtle theology he can pleafe them, it can at kail be
faid that it is extremely natural for him to choofe the laft: courfe.
His falary is fecured by law, but the heirs of the kingdom are
often very deflitute of taxable property, fhall he offend thefe great
men by telling them that they are hypocrites ? perhaps they will
return the compliment, then pride is to fmart for a feafon : per-
haps the card of invitation to partake of his luxuries will be
refufed ! how much fafer is it to deal in dodrinal religion. If
the rich and luxurious cannot lead godly lives, and if they mujl
appear to he religious in order to fecure their objefts, fome fubftitute
muft be invented. If they cannot worfhip the true God, an im-
age rauft be made for them, and this mufl be called God. If
they cannot pradlife the gofpel morals, they mufl: have a fet made
for their convenience. If they cannot believe in the truths of
revelation, fome creed muft be made up for them, to which they
can fubfcribe, and this muft be called revelation, and they muft be
called chriftians, and faid to belong to the church militant, altho'
they are officers of high rank in the oppofite army. The church

84

and ftate religion, made up for fuch men, confids of curiou,s>
abflraft propofitions about the power of God, the agency of man,
the origin of evil, and the myfteries of revelation. Believing in
thefe is accepted in lieu of all the reft, and in the firfl rank of
theories and profefTors ftand the followers of metaphyfical preach-
ers. Good men may have come out from this clafs, but their
goodnefs never began, till they left the regioa of inconceivable
theories and pra6tifed plain duties. Nearly all our fafhionable
fcarlet and fjie linen believers are found in the higheft regions of
fpeculative theology. From thefe you pafs through many grades
of profefTors, and as fad as this theory relaxes and gives place to
pra6lice, fo faft you advance to the ground, which I firft took,
where the humble believer in plain truths praiStifcs plain duties
and looks for a future reward. The firft clafs follow an ingenious
learned theorift to a magnificent houfe of wordiip, and are charm-
ed with the fine polifh of his fentences and the gracefulnefs of his
addrefs. The lad refort to fome lowly cottage, where no organ
fwells its notes, no ornament decks the room, no polifiied, grace-
ful preacher charms the ear ; but a humble man, who knows his
God and duty, teaches his humble hearers the road to a heaven,
where the miferai»le diftindions of this world are unknown.

It would be aftonifliing that fuch a fafhionable religion could be
received as chriftianity by a people having the bible in their hands,
did we not refled on the eternal eagernefs of men to have a reli-
gion of their own making, and that church and flaie religion is
exa6lly fitted to this eagernefs. Say to the rich, increafe your
wealth, and from your abundance you fhall be tranflated to infinite
wealth ; fay to the proud, feek the honors of this world, and
thus fhall youfecure the honors of heaven. Lead up the fafhion
in your great towns to appoint the richejl men officers of the church ;
make your communion tables fplendid and your houfes of worfhip
magnificent ; enlifl the pov/ers of beauty and mufic ; make your
Sabbaths feafons of gallantry and fafhion : let thofe who handle
the public purfe be liberal in the exclufive"^ fupport of fuch a reli-

* Our unlonifls/^x the people for the fupport of chriflianity. More than
70,000 dollars are annually coIlc6led in the parifhes of Conne<5licut for this
purpofe, and the political clergy are very fevere on all who wifli this tax
abolifhed. They are willing to trull their Maker for rain from heaven and
fruitful feafons : They do not tax the people a vafl fum in order to bring
water upon the meadows in cafe of drought ; but they cannot trufl the
Saviour for a raia of grace and truth, although that is repeatedly promifed.
Republicans have fufFered feverely, becaufe federalifts prefer their own to the
Divine guidance. Every afTumption of civil power over Chrifl's church,
whether by Buonaparte, George II!. or our northern unionifls, is a decided
overt-a6l of confpiracy againfl chriftianity.

Thofe, who argae that fuch tax is necejfary to the fupport of the gofpel are
as deflitute of fkiU as they are of grace. If our religion cannot be fapported
without fuch a tax, it foUowsthat the people have no inclination to fupport

^^ 85

gion, and you will have an abundant train cf leaders and foflou--
ers ; colleges will literally make^lad your cities with a fupply of
payors after j^'owr own hearts; the political preacher will blels you
and pray for your proljierity, and the office-feeking lawyer will
fubfcribe the tithe of his exadions tor your fupport, Thofe, who
have cried that the church is in danger have aftually done all this !
and if the gofpei is to be our guide, we are to regard them as
confpiring againft its fpirit. ^ r n -

Moft men fear to look at truth in this point, becauie molt gam
either direftly or indiredly by fach a ftate.of thmgs ; yet the gain
of all is far lefs than what religion, truth and aggregate _ foe iety
lofe by it ; but there is great hazard in appearing on the minority,
(as every man muft be for a time) on this fubjeft ; hence this
world and its gains and honors are made to play a dreadful game
aj^ainft- the other, and too often through the inibumentality of that
clafs of men, who are exprefsly employed to fight the battles of
heaven, truth and eternal righteoufnefs, agamft earth, falfhood
and hell. Finding that the men of this world love their honors,
pleafures and pelf, and that they are wiUing to pay for any accoai-
modation to their tafte, fuch clergy leave virtually their caufe
and turn againft their Lord.

The preachers of myfteries and dark faylngs, and the dealers m
fmooth, poliflied fentences are equally the objeds of thefc remarks.
The firft gain admiration for their ingenuity in handhng fubjeds,
which no one undeiftands, and the other charm by their addrefs
in preaching what never roufes the confcience, touches the heart
or influences the life. Thefe are not the preachers, who add to
the church of fuch as fliall be faved ; but under them are ranged
the fcientific, the rich, failiionable, debonair chriftians, whofe heads
are full of religion, v/hole hearts are full of the world, and who
take good caie that the right hand ihali never know what the left
doth in aas of charity. Thefe are the chriftians, who hold the
keys of St. Peter and the keys of all the treafure and power on
earth. Alas ! how little do fuch myfterious and fuch fmooth
ecclefiaftics and their followers refleft how much our world has
been afflifted by. their pride, their pomp and their hypocrify.
Thefe men profefs to believe in the humble Jefus of Nazareth,
but pay little refpe^ to thofe true difciples, who deftitute of wealth
and honors are humbly feeking their way to him, through prayers,
penitence, humiliations and faith ; but if they really loved him,

it, and that our clergy would not engage In preaching without this fecurlty.
It is true that church and ftate have been fo accullomed to an artificial reh-
eion, that their religion would go to ruin, if they were fuddenly to withdraw
their protei?ing duties. The day, when chtiftianity fliould be committed to the
head of the church is a day, which our unlonllls wifh may never be num-
bered among the days of the year: and lliould it ever arrive, they will, m
the forenefs of their afflictions curfs it, as Job did the day of his birth.

S6

they would love his family, if they loved him, they would keep
his commandments ; but they neither believe in nor love him nor
would they refped him or his likenefs on earth. They believe in
Pontius Pilate and Herod and the purple robes, and in the great
ones of this world, and in lofty houfes, fplendid carriages and
beds of down, and would fain psrAiade themfclves that in this
lolling, eafy, luxurious attitude they may repofe on hini who had
not on earth a place to lay his head.

To retain the forms of chriftianity Is indifpenfible to the polit-
ical obje6ls of our unionifts ; hence they avail themfelves of a fa6t,
which long experience has eflabHfhed, viz. that it is eafier to pri-
fefs to believe than to pra6life, and that a religion of faith is on this
account the mofl popular and mod: eafy to be promoted. Mea
love cheap ways of gaining honor on earth and glory in heaven.
Hence the artful unionift, finding that his neighbors love the
■world, forms up a religion apparently on the gofpel, but in no
refpect conformed to its temper, and offers this as chriftianity, even
joins In its ordinances, talks loudly of its excellence, thunders
againft his opponents, and thus enlifts a great portion of paffion in
its favor — learns its votaries to curfe inftead of blefling — to per-
fecute inftead of convincing — to talk of infidelity rather than to
pradife morality — to avenge inftead of forgiving — and thus to
ereft a fyftem of infidel philosophy on the benevolent religion
of Jefus. This is precifely the ftate of things which the unionifts
have produced in New-England, and by reafon of it the Saviour;
of the world looks dov/n on a clafs of chriftians, far unlike to hina
in charafter, chriftians, who deal largely in the theories of his
religion, but who expend all the fire of their heavenly zeal with-
in the circuit of political morality.

Surely when we reilea: that the gofpel of the kingdom is not
of this world — but that it is invifible and fpiritual, and when we
caft our eyes upon the vifible religion of the unionifts ; when we
reileft how perfedly natural it is for proud prlefts to accommodate
profeflions to ambitious ftatefmen, and how natural it is for thefe
ftatefmen to fupport fuch clergy : when we reflecfl how natural it
is for thefe united to avail themfelves of a very accommodating
religion in order to gain dominion over the people, and by what links
their paffions and gains are conneded in the eftablifhment of this
dominion, we cannoc forbear to fee ftrong probabiHtles of a con-
fpiracy againft the fpirit of the gofpel. Revelation and our
experience join to affift us in drawing fair inferences. We never
read of any clafs of men, fituated as thefe, who were pious
chriftians; but from the days of Conftantine (anno. 323)
who firft availed the Roman empire of an union of church and
ftate, to the prefent day, every nation in Chriftendom has led up
the fame policy, and in New-England the rife, progrefs and prefent
ftate of fuch a union are as vifible as any portion of our civil
hiftory.

87

The brightefl feafon of chriftiaiiity was when it was wandering
aboTtit in fheep-flcins and goat-fi<ins, perfecuted, afflicted, torment-
ed, and when martyrs were fealing the truth of it with their blood.
Thofe who ^iih to fee it in high places, furrounded with fpiendcr
and who feek to find its friends or enemies by any other guide than
that of revelation are confpiring againft the fplrit of the gofpel.

NO. Fill.

Account current on this charge of corifpiracy Jlated between the
Unionijis and Republicans,

N:

EVER before this, fince the creation of the world,
could fuch a charge of confpiracy have been made without certain
hazard to the accufer. Men full of power could fafely charge
confpiracy on their opponents and if they did not acquiefce in it,
could fend an army with tlie logic of kings to enforce it ; but at
the prefent moment the ferpent has loft his fting, and the devourer^s
teeth are broken, and we are at liberty to examine thofc accounts,
which ages of terror have fuppreffed.

The firft article for adjuftment refts on the queftion, why feder-
alills as fuch fhould confpire againft chriftianity, and why republicans
as fuch fhould wifh to detcifl and repel the confpiracy ? I have anti-
cipated, in part, the folution of this queftion, but it remains to
remark that as republicanifm is the poor man's government, fo
chriftianity is the poor man's religion — and if the religion will not
foften the heart, yet it may check the force, and in any cafe it will
give patience to endure whatever political evils the powerful ene-
mies of the common people can devife.

It has been natural for federalifts in every age of the chriftian
church to retain the forms of chriftianity, even to abound in them,
becaufe thefe forms would turn to their account, but to confpire
againft the fubftance, becaufe it oppofed their policy, and thus
doing they were not in hazard as refpeded the concerns of this
world, becaufe they had the power of making laws and could
guard their claims conclufively. !^e, who has the control of
armies and baftilcs can difpenfe with the laws of religion ; but the
poor fubje^l, whofe all depends on the caprice of fuch lords,
is willing to have the aid of religion, becaufe even if it does not
protedl his rights, it will punifti his opprefibr. Our federalifts
when full of power muft necefiarily have hated that fpiritual influ-
ence, which was oppofed to all their fyftems of war and wealth,

88

\ =^ -

and if powerful clergymen were willing to combat the fubflance^
but to retain the forms, and then to enlift thofe forms in favor of
federalifm, they would thereafter earn a feat on a fpiritual bench in
the fenate. No federalift underftood the real tendency of his party,
if he devoutly wiflied for the prevalence of pure and undefiled
religion.

It was perfectly natural for republicans as fuch to wifh for the
deftrudion of falfe religion, for the humiliation of the political
clergy, and for an end of an ariflocratic government ; but let me
afk, what earthly motive could they have for wifhing the deflruc-
tion of chriflianity ? Civil power was wholly in federal hands and
did thofe wifh to free their opponents from reftraint — and that thefe
ihould be let loofe on them with all their pallions, efpecialiy after
having feen their temper ? You may fuppofe republicans to be infidels
or atheifis, yet you v/ill allow that fome of them underftood well
their political interefls, and could it be their interefl that a reli-
gion, which is faid to inculcate peace, humility and univerfal
benevolence fhould be aboliflied ? Could a republican wifh that his
federal neighbors fhould feel no obligation to be kind and affeftion-
ate to him and to relieve him, when he fhould be aiHidled in body,
mind or eflate ? While religion fhould be in force he would have
a claim on them to do to him as they would wifh him to do to them
in fimilar circumflances, and is it common for creditors to pray
that their debtors may be releafed from their bonds ? —

To pretend that republicans wifhed the deflru<51:ion of chriftianity
in order that they might fin more abundantly, is jufl as weak as to
pretend that a man, wlio wifhes to fin againfl as much light as he
can, would pray that the fun and every other fource of light fhould
be extinguifhed. If a man wiflies to be a confpicuous fmner he
will not take pains to make^ all neighboring finners confpicuous any
more than the man, who wifhes to be eminently rich would wifh to
have mines of filver and gold opened to all the world. The
prifoner, who has broken his bonds, will not awaken his keeper,
and if republicans had broken loofe from reflraint, y^t they
would have left every federalift to repofe in a rel-igion, which
calmed his paffions and prevented the ardors of purfuit. We will
not be thought fo tolerant as to wifh the friends of order to be
releafed from the little remnant of reflraints, which the forms of
religion impofed. We wifli that the political clergy and civilians
were real chriflians.

But what defperatlon could drive republicans to wifh that after
all religion fhould be dePiroyed, there fhould be an end of govern-
ment l Had they lofl: all ambition to rule ? Or had alien and fedi-
tion a6ts, funding and war fyftems, imprifonment and conflant
privation of rights fo deflroyed their faculties as to deftroy all wifh
for pcrfonal power, all regard to property and reputation ? Fed-
eral meafure? under Mr, Adams were calculated to perplex and

89

diftrefs the republicans ; but no one of them, who was reputed to
underfland the poHtics of his party, ever breathed a wifh that all
religion and government might be deftroyed. The efiablifhment
of chriftianity in the fpirit and power of it would have fecured
them all the political bleflings, which they profefTed to wifii.

But another queftion arifes, how happens it that our governors
and counfellors and clergy are To generally in favor of federalifm,
and that thofe, who raife this charge of confpiracy, have no
eminence in church and ftate ? This happens juft as the fame fet
of fadls has always happened, and for reafons, which have been partly
explained in the firft part. Give to us the command of the wealth
and honors of fociety and allow us a century to take our ground,
let us make our own friends rich, let us engage clergymen on an
implick covenant to fupport our rulers, and choofe our rulers of thofe
only, who explicitly fupport fuch clergy, let us admit to communion
on eafy terms, give us the command of the colleges and prefTes,
let us ridicule you on commencement days, mifreprefent you
through the week, and on the Sabbath report that you are in league
with infernal fpirits, let us pray and preach for our fide, and bellow
all offices in church and ftate on thofe, who adhere to us, and
the ftate of things in fuch cafe would be a full anfwer under this
head.

We are not contending that federalifls are knaves In their pri-
vate concerns : it is not their intereft to be fuch, and we allow
that they a<5t naturally. — We do not deny that the political clergy
appear to be as devout as they ought to be, it is their interell
to be fo. We do not deny them the credit of talents. They
have doubtlefs as much knowledge of ecclefiafticai hiftory and as
much command of the arts of imprefling the eyes and ears of
mankind as they ought to have. There is nothing pious or impious
in all this. Any man of talents can do ail this ; but a man may
be folemn as he will, may condemn his fellow men ever fo much,
thefe forms as fuch deferve ho refped from the true chriflian ; they
do not conftitute the hidden man of the heart.

But the unionifts have made a great cry about infidel philofophy,
and in thefadl of its exijlence they are very accurate. A fhort recur-
ence to ecclefiaftical hiilory will lead us to the chara(5lers, who
ought to be charged with it. Between the years 1096 and 131 1
were eight crufades to the holy land. The foundation of thefe
was a fuperftitious veneration for the places, where the Saviour had
performed his miracles. With a pretence of driving infidels from
thefe places, the pope and many princes of Europe availed them-
felves of the refpeft of the multitude for^ religion, and raifed
immenfe armies. ** At this time Europe was funk in the moft
** profound ignorance and fuperftition,^the ecclefiaftics had gaine4
i* an invincible afcendency over the human mind and thofe people,
" who committed the moft horrid crimes and diforders^ knew of

M

9-0

** no other atonements than the obfervances impofed o,n them by
" their fplrltual paftors. The greateft criminals were forward
** in a fervice, which they confidered an expiation for all crimes.
♦* The nobles were moved to hope for opulent eftablifhments in
** the eaftj and the phrenzy extended even to many aged and infirm,
" who joined the expedition in hopes of breathing their lafl: in
** fight of the city of Jerufalem." A crofs was difplayed
on every arm, the name of Jefi.is was on every tongue : yet never
did the light fliine on a fet of men, who had lefs of real religion ;
they committed all manner of depredations and cruelties on the
route, and when they fucceeded in taking Jerufalem the numerous
garrifon and the inhabitants were maflacred without difl:in<5lion, and
even after this barbarity they marched over heaps of dead bodies
to the holy fepulchre, and " while their hands were yet polluted
** with the blood of fo many innocents, fung anthems
** to the common Saviour of mankind." — Such was the chara(5ler
of man in the ii, 12 and 13 centuries, and fuch has it ever
remained, capable of being deluded by (hadows, and of being led
to do honor to the Saviour by means mod difgraceful to his caufe ;
and there have never been wanting leaders, who were ready to
conduifl not only the credulous, well difpofed, aged and infirm ;
but the moft worthlefs of fociety, faying, 'we are holy^ nve are
purcy religion depends on z/j, nve are on the high road to jferufahm.

Our unionilb, with no more apparent fandity and with no bet-
ter motives, have led up a crufade againfl: republicans under a
charge of infidel philofophy, and though they have not put arms
into the hands of their followers, yet they have put purpofes into
their heaits, not more benevolent than thofe, which governed the
former crufadcs. I have already prefented the motives of our
unionifts : To you will be fubmitted the merits of a comparifon.
It cannot be the caufe of Chrift which excites a minifter of the
gofpel to become a political partizan ; It cannot be the caufe of
Chrift, which excites infidel civilians to profefs chriftianity : but
as the Pope, by haranguing at Placentia, a council of 4000 eccle-
fiaftics and 30,00c feculars in favor of the crufades, was anxious
to extend his dominion — and as kings and princes harangued their
fubjeds in order to fecure great pofl'eflions in the eaft, fo it is with
our political priefts and federal rulers. Human nature has not
changed : the ftate of fociety has introduced new arts of deceit ;
but crufaders againft civil and religious liberty will probably be found
in every age, and they will always come prophefying in the name
of the Lord. The enemies of chriftianity and the enemies of
all the opprefied men in the world have united in the fame char-
acters, becaufe chriftianity demands a facrifice of thofe paffions,
which caufe oppreflion.

The found oi Injidel philofophy wzs exaftly to the parpofe of our
unionifts ; it was too late in the day to talk about the holy land.

Llfidel phllofophyt exclaimed Robinfon and Barruel, Itifidel phllofo-
pbyt refponded Drs. Dwight and Morfe. Infidel phiiofophy,
caught through the country — fermons againft infidel phiiofophy
abounded, and what was the great news about it ? Why thai the
men, on whom the Saviour charged this crime, on whom all hif-
tory had fixed it, and who would moft naturally be guilty of it,
were in fadt innocent, and that Mr. JefFerfon and his party were
confpiring againft all religion and all government. Republican?
had never heard a word about this, and though impojfihility lay at the
threfhold, falfiood in every ftage and the ruin of toleration and ci-
vil liberty, in the advance ; yet infidel phiiofophy became the de-
lightful theme of federalifts, and multitudes of Sabbaths were fpent
in hearing artful comparifons between fatan and the republicans —
bold eulogiums in favor of the meafures of the friends of order, and
ingenious fatires on the principles of our revolutioa. If it be pofii-
ble that men fliould be fpolled " through phiiofophy and vain de-
*' ceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of this
« world, and not after Chrift," fuch meafures were calculated for
fuch efFe(51;.

NO. IX.

Acfount clofed between Clerical Uniojiijls and Republicans.

- VV HEN men have loft confidence In eacli other it is
lime for them to clofe their books and to fettle the balances. The
clerical unionifts have fufficiently fhewn their want of confidence
in us : They will pleafe to accept our moft unequivocal alTurance
that we have none in them;

This account is of long ftanding and has never been brought to
i/Tue, becaufe the defendants in the prefent cafe have always occu-
pied the bench, and the triers of fads have been packed juries,
confifting of oiFice-feeking civilians, obfcquious to the nod of the
court. To the bar of public opinion, a new judiciary, notereded
by a midnight law, nor created to fave the people from themfelves,
but to protest their rights, we bring our caufe, and are fure of an
impartial decinon.

It is well known that men, who keep great books and who have
many clerks, are very particular in their charges, and fometimes
arbitrary, when they know that the debtor will not dare to difpute
them. Men, who keep neither books nor clerks and who rely
wholly on the other party, are in the habit of paying all which

^

they can fpare from the earnings of each year, to be careieCs
about feeing whether it is palfed to their credit, to believe that
their accounts are about equal, and after a long lapfe of time their
whole eflates are infufficient to atone for their credulity, their lib-
erty is taken and there is an end of them. The certain danger
of delay and the rapidity with which the unionifts are adding to
their charges induces us to clofe the account at this time.

On Oyer of their books the firft charge againft the republicans is
the rebellion, which fatan endeavored to excite in heaven, which
was overpowered by Michael and his angels. Here the prince
of the power of the air is confidered as the head of our firm, and
we are charged with a deCign to dethrone the king of kings, to
ufurp his dominion and to make pure fpirits fubmilTive to our in-
fernal wills. TJiefe are the very words of the charge, and our
orrly credit is the lofs of heaven, which, confidering our tempers,
the unionifts regard as of fmall account.

Thefecond charge is the fall of man. Here we are reprefent-
«d as in the form of a ferpent, ufing fubtlety to deceive the woman.
In this charge the unionifts recognize themfelves in the perfon of
Adam, made in the likenefs of God and poffcfling the pureft
principles, previous to fedudion, and our only credit is the lofs
of paradife.

The next charge is the death of Abel, who, becaufe he brought
of the firftlings of his flock and the fat thereof and offered
unto the Lord, is claimed to be of their number, and Cain is placed
fecond in our firm, and our only credit is, that Cain was accurfed
from the prefence of the Lord and declared a fugitive and a vag-
abond on the face of the earth.

The next charge is, that all flefh had corrupted its way on the
earth, and here the unionifts find themfelves in the perfons of
Noah and his family, and our only credit is that we were over-
whelmed by the waters of a mighty deluge. Thefe comprife the
charges and credits in the firft age of the world. In the five
fucceeding ages between that and the chriftian asra thefe
unionifts recognize themfelves in the perfons of Abraham, Jofeph,
Mofes and Aaron, David and Solomon, exerting themfelves for
religion, order and good government, and charge the republicans
in the perfons of the defcendants of Nimrod with building the
Tower of Babel, in the perfons of Pharoah and his hoft purfuing
thechofen people, and in the perfons of all, who rebelled againft
God in the exhibition of the wickednefs of their hearts. Here
we are credited by the deftru^ion of the tower of Babel, by being
drowned in the Red Sea, by being conquered and led in:o cap-
tivity ; but in the midft of thefe charges ftands confpicuou^ that
of the Rev. Azel Backus, (in his ele(51ion fermon*) that Abfa-

* I refer the reader to this fermon, as it is a jull fample of New-England
roliticai preaching.

93

lom was a republican, and that the fame principles, which influ-
enced us to oppofe the friends of order, were the fame which in-,
fluenced him in his rebellion againft David, and that our arts to
win the people were like to Abfalom's, when he faid, « O that I
" were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any fuit
" or caufe might come unto me and I would do him juftice."
Here we are credited by having our heads caught in the boughs
of a great oak and being taken up between the heavens and the
earth, and being deferted by the mule from under us, and beinw
thruft through the heart by the hand of Joab.

In a later book opened by the clerical unionifls v/e find all the
old charges and credits brought forward, and the head of our firm
is charged with the ruined ftate of man, which induced the necef-
iity of an atonement ; with attempting to bribe the Saviour with an
offer of all the kingdoms of the world : then Judas is placed fecond
of our firm in the room of Cain, and we are charged with betray-
ing the Saviour ; with perfecuting his followers, and oppofing his
church. Here the unionifts find themfelves in the charatflers of
the holy apoftles, earneftiy contending for the faith ; and car only
credit is, by the flings of confcience, the frowns of an angry God,
and the reverfion of ceafelefs torments.

In the laft book of the unioniib the whole account is brought
forward, and they appear in their proper perfons, claiming, under
the firm of Adams & Co. to charge us with all the confufions,
diftrefTes and expences of the revolution ; with oppofmg the faluta-
ry meafures of government ; with exciting the weilern infurrec-
tion ; with enmity to order and fleady habits, and with confpiracy
againft all religion and government. Here no credit is given us for
aay fervices in the revolution ; for any lofTes by the funding fyftem ;
for any imprifonments under the fedition law, nor for ail which we
have fuffered under the ingenious tortures of the mild, pious and
benevolent unionifts ; but we find the balance claimed againft us
to be immenfe — and that thoufands of rams and ten thoufands of
rivers of oil will be as infufticient to appeafe the wrath of the
unionifts, as it would to atone for offences againft the Ruler of
the Univerfe>

On every ground we are induced to make our defence, and though
this might be conclufively done by pleading that we were all born
in the laft century, and that our fphere of ad:ion has been very-
limited : yet if republicans lived in the remoteft ages of time and
ought to have been thus charged by thefe unionifts, we affume on
ourfelves the refponfibility. We deny generally that Satan, Cain
or Judas had a right to involve us in debt, or that the clerical union-
ifts have a right to charge us with thefe crimes which are common
to themfelves and us, or which concern only the commerce between
God and man. What connexion can be fliewn between the fallen
angels in the aft of their making war in heaven and the republicans

94

of this country, who took a ferious part in the revolution, ex-
pecHied a- governrnent of equal rights, failed of them, and for ex-
preffing their difappointment were configned to prifons or reproach ?
What analogy between rebellion againlt the Creator and oppolition
to Mr. Adams' adminiftration ? what refemblance between Gen-
eral Hamilton and his army and Michael and his angels ? Clerical
unionifts have prefented fuch comparifons ! Since the appointment
of Mr. Jefferfon has deftroyed the application of the event of that
rebellion, viz. the fall from heaven, we Oiall be certainly releafed
from this charge.

As to the fall of man we have received no new light on this
fubjefl from all the doftrines of federal reprefentation in Adam,
and of imputation of fin. We can only fay that we h*ad nothing to
do with this fall, and that it is enough for us to bear the confequen-
ces of it, which have been moft dreadfully experienced from the
tyrants of the world. We fee nothing in the character of Cain
in any way refembling ours : for we profefs to be enemies to the
(hedding of blood with br without provocation. Our principles
would never have led us to the building of the tower of Babel ;
we are oppofed to coflly edifices. We could gain nothing by join-
ing the king of Egypt in purfuing the Ifraelites ; Republicans are
never voluntarily found in the armies of kings, efpecially to ar-
refl: thofe who are flying from opprelfion. As to the refemblance
between Abfalom and the republicans, we regard it as a mere effort
of wit, intended to fhew that the fcriptures might mean any thing
or nothing. It was high time indeed that judges fhould have done
the people juftice ; for " judgment had been turned away back-
ward, juftice (lood afar off, truth had fallen in the ftreets and equi-
ty could not enter.'* The reverend ele<5lion preacher, who had
been left by the Governor to choofehis fubjed and to w^/^f his fa(^s
mufl have been awkward indeed not to have been able very aptly
to refemble Abfalom to any man or fet of men, whom he wiflied
to abufe. We claim to be exempted from thefe charges becaufe
no refemblance has been ftiewn betv/een the agents and us : but
furely when we have been called poor, ignorant and depraved, we
cannot be fufpedled of any agency in betraying that Saviour, who
came exprefsiy to exalt and to fave jurt fuch a clafs of chara<^ers,
and experienced revilings, perfecutions and crucifixion from men,
reported to be fuch as have exhibited thefe charges againft us.

In expe<flation of a releafe from fuch charges, we offer to releafe
the credits, which they have given us, of a fail from heaven,
of the lofs of paradife, of baniihment, of fudden deftrudlion and
of eternal ruin.

Thefe unionifts have not fought us in ancient hiftory, where we
fhould naturally have been found. They fliould have fought us
among a clafs of poor untitled men, paying annually, whatever we
could gain, to the order of imperious mailers. They might have

95

found us in prifon-fiiips, or chained to the o^r or among heaps
of (lain in the field of battle. Republicans have not been exalted
among the nations. You may find them among the fufFering and
opprefTed of every language and people, never ceafing to endure,
fo long as political evils were tolerable, and never rifing for
redrefs, till refolved to meet all which the force and fubtlety of
their oppreflbrs could prepare for them.

As all the laft clafs of charges will be fubje<fls of confideration
in the 3d part, our fumraary defence here Is, that ©ur Intereft has
been uniformly oppofite to the charadler, which we are faid to
deferve, ^nd that the charges againft us are of fo grofs and malignant
an afpedl as muft leave on the public mind no other impreffion
than that our accufers have not been reftrained by confiderations
of truth or reafon in their attempts to compafs our ruin.

Our great misfortune has been, that the vital enemies of repub-
licanifm have been our accufers, witneffes againft us, our judges
and executioners, and that we have never before had a day in
court. We improve the firft feafon of a new order of things to
exhibit a few charges : and though we might, by reference to
hiftory, fliew that the world has been extremely diftreifed by cler-
ical unionifts ; yet under the prefent head we could reiy on fuch
reference merely as proof that charges like ours have been juftly
made againft a fimilar clafs of men.

We find a number of m.en, fettled in the different focieties of
New-England, profeffing to be preachers of the gofpel of the
kingdom, to be fuccefibrs of thofe, who were fent forth to teach
the gofpel to every creature, profeffing it their bufinefs to feed the
flock of God, and to bring home loft (heep to the fhepherd of
fouls. We have not fuffered them to be deftitute as were the firft
preachers, nor have- we, like the Catholic church, deprived them
of the comforts of domeftic life. They and their families are as
well fituated as any clafs of people in New-England, and they
enjoy a greater degree of refpeft, in proportion to their talents and
labors, than any other clafs. Theirs are the firftlings of the flock
and the fat thereof, and their fupport, fecured by law, is drawn
from all claffes of men in proportion to their rateable property.
If they would preach the gofpel intelligently and leave the politics
of this world to civilians, they would be reprobated by no man,
they would improve the condition of focieiy, the eye which faw,
would blefs them, and the ear, which heard, would bear witnefs
of their fidelity : but with all this preparation what have they,
done for a few years part ?

They have eftabliflied miffionary focieties in order to " profelyte
to a particular faith," the people of Vermont and of the northern
{)arts of the ftate of New-York and fome Indian tribes ; and fever-
al federal paftors, contrary to folcmn covenant, have left their
unconverted flocks in order to attend fuch miiHons and have then

9^

written juft fuch letters to their employers as all fuch miflionaries
had before written and an Evangelical Magazine has been publifhed
containing thefe letters. A fingle new fa6t has appeared of late,
viz. that one of the miflionaries, having written inftrudtions as to
the courfe of his miflion, thought it his duty to vary from his in-
ftruftions, and being in great doubt and after imploring divine gui-
dance, providentially fell in company with the honorable and /iowj
Uriah Tracy, whom Mr. Adams had fent on a miflion to infpedl
the weftern fortifications, and Mr. Tracy concluded that he ought
to obey God rather than man. Thus gracioufly inftruded, he
broke his orders. This forms one exception from the general re-
mark ; but thefe miflionary focieties with us are made up wholly of
the unionifts and if they are not vifibly for political purpofes, yet
the inftitution of them is not more rational than it is for an hufband-
man to leave his farm half fown in feed-time and to wander abroad
for employment. New-England needs the unceafing, undivided
and confcientious fervices of all its clergy ; but fuch inflitutions
infidioufly court the chara<5ter of that charity, which covers a
multitude of fins and are therefore popular. Republicans do not
hefitate to declare that they have no lefyeOi for the motives, which
originate thefe focieties ; they find civilians rifing into office on the
credit of them : their political afpedt betrays them. The gofpel
has no blefTednefs for the ihepherd, who leaves his own flock '* to
fcatter on the mountains." This charge applies moie generally to
the clergy than any other; many of them (who are really confci-
entious in their labors) have been drawn in by the plaufibility of this
meafure.

Another, next in political artifice, has been the preaching of
fermons againft infidelity. Thefe originated in a defign to hum-
ble republicans. Infidel books did not abound, republicans could
not have wifhed to abolifli chriftianity and not an infidel would
have remained on earth, provided the preachers, inftead of fuch
war-meafures, had fat down peaceably with their hearers, having
the teftimony that in fimplicity and godly fincerity not with
fleflily wifdom they had their coverfation in the world. Chriftian
lives are the only conclufive arguments againfl: infidel writings ;
chriftianity has fuffered more by injudicious attemps to defend it
tl'ian by all attacks againft it. The watchman of Ifrael is abun-
dantly able to guard his church and to caufe that no weapon
formed againft it ftiall profper. Thofe, who are often alarming
his followers, pay little refped to his vigilance or his promifes.

We next charge the political clergy with regulating their prayers
and other Sabbath exercifcs by the politics of the day, and with
publicly promoting known infidels under a pretence of ferving the
church. Under this head we do not blame them for praying gen-
erally for the Prefident and adminiftration of the government, but
for their partiality in this feryice. Surely if the bleflings and frowns

El

of heaven are to be under the control of a few half-informed
partizans, -eur rights are in hazard. We blame them for implor-
ing blelTings on thofe very meafures, which were manifeftly hcfHIe
to chriftianity ; it is t-heir duty to oppofe the fpirit of the gofpei to
the bad paffions of fociety.

Knowing the frailty of man, we will allow them to compli-
ment the jK)vernors, lieut. governors, counfellors and members
of congrefs, and the colleges, and the fleady habits ; but they
ought to premife all this by faying that they are afting in their
political capacities, after the manner of men and not after Chrift.
To convert that flock of influence, v/hich the people had laid up
for the good of their fouls, to the deilrudtion of their civil rights,
cannot be a trifling violation of duty.

The eftablifhment of the Palladium combines many points of
the political characters of our clerical unionifts. The expofure of
thefe has been done mod efFe(5lually in the tenth number of the
Farmer. The falfliOods and intentional mifreprefentations of the
Palladium deferve lefs notice than its general tendency to promote
the interefts of church and ftate by meafures manifeftly hoftile to
chriftianity. If that paper had gained its object, the republicans
of New-England would have been laid in the daft ; the Prefident
would have been hurled from his feat as an ufurper, and we fhould
have been at war with the fouthern ftates. It is in proof before
the public that church and ftate ereded that paper as a grand
refervoir of political poifons : Church and ftate have dug channels
for its ftreams.

We know that the deflc is a ftrong fortrefs, and that the clerical
unionifts have garrifoned it with the fame troops, which wciVe
formerly fighting againft the Saviour ; they have enlifted all the
paflions. We know that they can fulminate againft us ; that they
can defame and vilify us, and that as their troope were enemies
of the Saviour, their weapons will be *' debates, envyings,
wraths, ftrifes, back-bitings, whifperings and tumults ;" but m
this we will rejoice that the fame gofpei, which has denounced
their inftruments and their means, has declared that their triumph-
ing will be ftiort.

The fame glory which they are gaining, has been before gain-
ed by fuch men and meafures. The art of fecuring the favor of
rich and proud men by laying the gofpei at their feet is not an
invention of the prefent day. Thoufands of clerical unionifts,
who kept the company of Dives in the prefent world have com-
menced their eternity of torments v/ith him, and thofe New-Eng-
land clergy, who have facrificed their profefHons in order to
facrif^ce the'peoiple's rights, will ere long join their company.
Thofe men, who preach of torments iox political purpofcs will do
well to hear of torments for the fame purpofes. The republicans
of New-England do not difguife their fulleft perfuafion that the

N

98

xrkricai unionifts were never converted, that they are in heart
infidels of the mod dangerous kind, that their praying, preaching
and examples tend to infidelity, and that not one of them has
ever be-en improved as the inftrument of making a fingle convert.

If our perfuafions are confidered as ill-founded, let the political
unioniftbe named (with his own confent) as a real chriftiaB, and
we offer to join ifTue on the point of his charader, and if
comparing it with the gofpel and making all fuitable deductions for
remainders of corruption and evil companions, it fhali appear that
we have done him injuftice, the world will pronounce on us a
fentence of exemplary feverity. Charging us with infidelity,
atheifm and all manner of crimes will not be relevant : quotations
from Mr. Jefferfon's notes will not fave a finking hypocrite, the
queftion is, Are you, reverend mortal, a fervant of the king of
kings or of the politicians of the day ? Where, reverend union-
ifts, v/as chriftianity under the laft adminiftration ? Was it on
board of a navy or at Union-camp in Jerfey, or was it eleftioneer-
ing in New-England againfl: Mr. JefFerfon, or was it at Mr.
Adams' levee or at our council board? Where did the uniofiifls
exhibit their forces during thofe four years ? Pious preachers were,
daring this time, preaching the gofpel ; pious chriftians were
pradifing chriftianity ; but the clerical unionifts were in every
political conteft, making powerful exertions to reftore the old
order of things, in which ignorance was to take the lead, fear to
follow in its train — honors, wealth and power to grace the rulers,
energy to crufh oppofition, the lords fpiritual and temporal to
ride the whirlwind and dire<5l the ftorms and the feafon of peace
on earth and good will to men, to be adjourned to another century
and another continent. In thofe days zeal for liberty was an
offence ; zeal for toleration a high crime and oppofition to the
clerical unionifts, confpiracy againft God, againft all religion
and government.

We fubmit our charges againft the clerical unionifts with a few
remarks to the tribunal, on which a decifion refts. If there be
any of your number with whom founds and faces pafs for reli-
gion, and who expeft to gain heaven by the teftimony of the
political clergy, that they have been faithful to Adams and liberty I
and that they have conformed to the whole routine of federal
rightcoufnefs, to fuch nothing can be addreffed ; but let others
difpofe of the firft imprelTions ^ thefe charges by refleding what
the Jews thought when their chief priefts and rulers were de-
nounced— what the Catholics thought, when their holy father and
cardinals were denounced. To them it appeared as if all religion
would fuffer by the convi<51ion of fuch leaders ; yet thefe leaders
with all their ihew of fandtity, were h^^pocritcs. After every
reformation there is always lefs appearance of religion than there
was in the midft of impofture. The firft momeRts of a revohtien

99

are more dlftreffing than the t3'ranny ; the fir fi: pangs of amputation
greater than the pains which preceded the operation. The (late
of religion requires a radical application and if you value your
altars and your fouls more than you do the offices of juftices of
the peace, reprefentatives, counfellors, &c. you will be in earncft
for a reform. The religion of the unionifts in New-England is
worfe than none, and however their vengeance may be directed
againft the man who declares this ; yet the declaration is not lefs
true. He calls them impoftors, if they fell the crofs for offices
or favors. Ke takes from them the earthly rewards of piety, but
prefents a future crown.

Thoufands of freemen, who know their rights, wait your de-
cifion and furely if our opponents have left their God and doty,
they muft expefb to abide the mild decifions of reafon and com-
mon fenfe, efpecially when the only penance to be infli(5ted is an
injundion to pradife hereafter according to the religion, which
they profefs to teach".

NO. X.

Combined view of the Utiionijls in the aEl of their cofifpiring
*• againji Chrijlianity .

w

HERE powerful caufes eoincide, their natural effe<5l
becom.es inevitable. I have adverted to ancient conne<flions be-
tween fimilar caufes and efFeds, and for the purpofes of the prefent
difclofure have relied on the natural enmity of man to chriftianity,
on the natural courfe, which this enmity has taken in New-Eng».
land, and on the general fafls illuftrating the change of this
enmity into con/piracy, under the influence of poUtical motives.
The names of all the unionifts might ealily have been furniihedj,
with notes under the head of each, {hewing his connexion with
the confpiracy, and the feafon and motives of his joining it, and
the profits, which he has received from it. Should republicans
hereafter furnifli fuch a lift, every man of them will be found in
New- England, and they will be pledged to the accuracy of any
hiftory, which may be conne(5led with the difclofure. In order to
fuch a taflc we (hould reduce them to their fimple elements by a
procefs, which the gofpel has dire(5ted ; we fhould regard them
diftind from their titles of excellency, honorable and reverend,
and nothing more of them would remain than their <worksy evi-
dencing the fincerity of their zeal for the gofpel of the kingdom j

lOO

** for every tree, which bringeth not forth good fruit fhall be hewn.
down and cad into the fire: Not every one, who faith, Lord,
Lord, (hail enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that dceth
the wih' of my Father." Thefe words exprefs the only legal teft-a<ft
in Chriilendom ; by them are to be tried the characters of men.

It is not our v/iih to imprefs the public with any perfuaficns of
our own faith or infidelity : wc take the fcriptures as we find
them, and regard them as a faithful expofition of this religion,
and we claim that thofe, v/ho profefs this religion, (hall praiftife it,
inftead of merely ufing it as an inftrument of their ov/n glory in
the d'.^llruftion of our caufe.

The intruding of religion to federal or republican rulers is
equally antichriftian. The invifible kingdoni muft be in the
hearts of believers, and their lives mud: fliew that the gofpel reigns
within. My abfolute knowledge of the men to whom I allwde,
ar.d the certain hodility of the political temper of church and ftate
to the temper of the gofpel, has emboldened me to expofe my
pages to thofe exorcifms, tvh'tch tu'dl prove my charges to he corred,
Thefe church and ftate reiigioniiis are very vindictive, and no
man ought to expofe himfeif to their arts of terror, till he has
learnt that their power like that of death is limited.

Having hitherto improved fcrlpture language and ailufions in
illuftration of my fubjeit, I fl-iall combine the different views of
this part, by regarding fatan as the grand confpirator again{t
chriftianity, and as availing himfslf in the prefent cafe of the
paffions of men in aid of his confpiracy. That he did this
under the firfl: difpenfation of the gofpel ; that he purfued the
fame policy in the Catholic church, and that he is always exerting
himfeif to eftablifh kingdoms for himfeif, raufl: be unqueftioned.

In confideration of the favor of heaven, during our revolution
wc had promifed to have, in this new world, an equal govern-
ment and a pure religion. . Men often promife, in the feafon of
a ftorm, what they forget to perform after the danger is over ;
yet at the feafon of promifing they do not forefee the temptations,
which will prevent their compliance. We faw a powerful con-
fpiracy in England againlt chridianity and the rights of men ;
but difcerned not the power and wealth, which rendered the
deformity of this confpiracy invifible to their unionifts. Pafiion
cloies men's eyes againft the perception of their own characfters,
and fhuts their ears againft the complaints of the oppreffed.
David difcerned not the application of the parable of Nathan,
and Saul verily thought that he was doing God fervice, while he
perfccuted the church. The defender of the faith, with his
apoftles in the houfe of lords, and his civil and military officers,
who partook ot the facrament once a year according to lanv as an
atonement for exaftions and cruelties during the red of it, con-
fidered chriftianity as in a thriving way : they were in full pof-

fejTion of all the benefits of it, which they expefVed in this and
a future world. We faw the wi9kednefs of all this, and regarded
that kingdom as eminent among the dominions of fatan. We
prayed and fought againfl: it, the words religion and liberti?
were in capitals on the helmets of our foldiers. We fucceeded,
and the feafon arrived for the trial of our integrity.

To diipofe pf thofe magic words was difficult ; but it was ab-
folutely impollible to fupport chrifttanity in its purity, and yet to
have a government, poil'efling eneroy and power enough to ennoble
and enrich the leaders. The people had borne and fufFered much ;
but either they muit be facrificed or our Sampfons muft become
weak as other men : Generals and ftatefmen mufl; retire to the
ranks, and the nvell-boriiy and thofe, who were merely born, muft
be on a level. Satan faw the crifis, favorable for the introduaion
of thofe fyftems of fedudion, by which he had fubjugated the
other continent. This fubfele courtier has a difcerning eye, which
fuddeniy comprehends all the relations of things capable of ad-
vancing his views. He faw the people honeftly and quietly refting
after the fatigues of a war, few of them difpofed to contemplate
any political intereft, except what immediately affefled them or
their property, and ready to repofe coaiidence efpecially in thofe,
who had led them in the revolution. He faw the opening tu-
mults of Europe, as capable of aiding his views — the ocean
wafhing our fhores and commerce offering its tribute. To change
the temper of the leaders was his firft objea, and to compafs this
he taught the tendency^ of liberty to anarchy, of toletation to
infidelity, the neceliity of halaiic'mg all the pafiions of fociety in
political fcales, ir.flead of fubjugating them, the inability of the
people to govern themfelves, and the indifpenfible importance of
energy.

Thus prepared, Satan, who is always ready to offer his kmg.
doms, propofed to have a kingdom in this country, the corner
ilonc of which was to be a funding fyftem. This v/as quite in
character for a beginning, as it robbed the man, who had earned,
and gave to the man, who did not earn ; thus throwing into the
back-ground our revolution, (the fight of which would confound
the projeflors of kingdoms) and as money lightly gained is gener-
ally expended in luxury and vice, it would give a further advance ;
and as the leaders would be immediately enriched, it would make
them bold in projedts of wealth and magnificence.

If this was not a projea of f^itan, it mufl have been of fome
one, who perfedly underflood his art of making kingdoms : for
it infuled a mafs of corruption into the vitals of our government,
which extended to its extremities, and which will probably be
produdlive of evils during every period of our national exiftence.

It wasmanifefl that it would be neccffary to (juarrel with France,
becaufs her revolutionary principles would be a check to us, and

102

by fuch quarrelling we fhould fhew a fpirit of ingraLiiude, which
is a kingly attfibute. We could then infult the remains of our
friends by a treaty with a nation, which had eminently flicceed-
ed in a {imilar experiment under the fame aufpices : and after
every thing was prepared, we could raife an army and navy ;
then make laws to punilh men, who fhould deny this to be a fair,
equal, chriftian government.

Thofe, who deny that Satan works in the hearts of the children
of difobedience, or that he has offered his temptations to thofe,
who were far more holy and upright than our leaders, muft deny
at once the truth of revelation. His direct addreffes are never
made to the body of the people, but to the great men, who can
forward his views ; he always bribes them plaufibly with wealth
and honors, and promifes them, in cafe of acceptance, they (hall be
as gods ; his uniform aim is to have kingdoms of his own, offi-
cered by proud ecclefiaftics and ambitious ftatefmen, to corrupt
the church and ruin the world. His plans are full of fubtlety,
perfe6lly tempting, always practicable, and it will hardly be pre-
tended that his operations here were under any reftraints of nature,
grace or climate.

His plan of a new kingdom here was fo full of glory for the
leaders, for the old tories, for every military man, for every man
anxious to be rich, that it was moft cordially embraced and moft
faithfully carried into effed. The revolutionary fpirit was gone ;
chriflianity trampled on ; our capital abounded in luxury, and the
old foldier was bankrupt. New-England church and ftate was an
old trading houfe, which readily faw the chances of gain, adopt-
ed the new fyftem, and powerful meafures were concerted and
effected, to add a new kingdom to the lands and tenements of the
enemy of man.

Men are willing to hear that Satan operated fome centuries ago,
or that he is at work in other countries, or in the hearts of their
neighbors ; but cannot endure to hear that he is in them and their
aftions. Federalifh, efpecially after their charges of his domin-
ion over republicans, will not patiently fee him followed into their
cardinal plans and even into forae of their churches : yet fuch is
the courfe, which the analogies of my fubjedt demand.

It is not proveable that the advocates of the funding fyftem
knew under what influence they were ading. They might flatter
themfelves that their ambition for wealth and honors was conliflent
With the liberties of the peojJe : but charity would hardly impel
us to believe that they confidered themfelves doing right, when
they took from the foldier his earnings, under the falfe pretence
that it was impoflible to difcrimmate between the original holder
and the purchafcr. The expreffes, who rode day and night with,
letters to and from members of congrefs, and the agents, who
purchafed up the paper, while the funding bill was fufpended>

103

had raifed up arguments, which all the logic of fufferers could
not confute. As all the progeny of that fyftem have been like the
fire. It is unnece/Tary to trace their influences.

I contend that no ordinary impreflions could have produced
a ftate of things fo antichriftian, fo antirepublican as the maturity
of thefe plans, under the adminiftration of Mr. Adams, prefented.
The kingdom was full in view, and the fcenes of the dratjia fuc-
ceeded each other fo rapidly, as even to confufe the a6i:ors : yet
the names of chriftian and republican were retained, even though
every meafure for their fupport was relinquifhed.

As the deceiver's procefs is always to change the leading men
from the charaSlers under luhich they gained injlucnce., and to conceal
this change from thofe^ nvho are to he infuencsdy he contrives to
retain their power after their integrity is gone. Hence the meas-
ures which were called republican, pajffed as fuch among the peo-
ple, till our government had afTumed the form of the Britifh gov-
ernment, and a few changes of names would have made it in fadl
Britifh.* This was an American kingdom in every thing but
name : Republicans would endure no longer. New- England
church and ftate found its energies called into adion. Thofe,
who fat in the feat of Mofes joined the political clergy, and the
confpiracy was embodied. The projedlis of Satan never difclofe
their true characHier at once. Of the monarchical fpirit of our
governtnent, there was a gradual difclofure from the firft meafure
to the reign of terror, when the bitter enemies of our revolution
were projecting or approving the fevereft meafures for our humilia-
tion. From the firft dawnlngs of cl^urch and ftate to the perfe<5t
day of confpiracy, there was a gradual difclofure. Satan had
ample materials for his work in Nev/-England. Their boafted
piety was the leaft of his concern. Steady habits were quite to
his purpofe ; for he underftood thefe magic words to mean no more
than ^^ Every 7nan to his oivn interefi.^^ He knew that the paper
currency of religion was abundant among the unionifts ; but that
the fpecie capital was wanting. He always knew the value of
profeffions. He knew that the rich and ambitious were in a ftate
of nature, and as fuch had every propenfity to his caufe : He was
always fure of their aid, whenever he wirtied to eftablifh or prote<5t
any of his kingdoms. He had all the paffions of this world on
his fide, and nothing oppofed to him but humility and poverty,
rendered more humble and poor by reafon of the long continuance
of this union. —

My account 'of the formation and character of this union has
probably led to a perception of all that felfiftinefs, which combines
itfelf in favor of the kingdoms of this world, and to a view of
the paffions, which infured the aid of New-England in favor gf

* See Third 'Part.

lc4

the new kingdom. This felfifhnefs and thefe pafTions v/ere eX»
prefsly called into adlon by a new paper, entitled the Palladium,
in which every real motive was concealed under the following
mafque of church and ftate :

" Should the injidel JefFerfon be ele<f^ed to the PrefidenCy, the
** feal of death is that moment fet on our holy religion : our churches
** will be proflrated ; and fome infamous proftitute, under the
** title of the goddefs of reafon will prefide in the fanftuaries, now
•* devoted to the mod high.''

What can all this mean ? Are the editor of the Palladium and
its clerical patrons chriflians ? Was the invisible kingdom of
Chriil to have the feal of death fet on it ? No, it was the very
mortal religion of church and ftate, on which the eledlion of Mr.
JefFerfon would fet the feal of death. It was that profitable
church, which enfured to clergymen influence without grace, and
to lawyers promotion without love to their country. It was the
church of our clergy-courting fenators and members of congrefs,
and counfelJors. If religion is left to the nurfing care of fuch
men, it could only have been fo left in order to afford a confplcuous
difplay of tliat infinite power, which has promifed it an everlalling
fupport. But Mr. JefFerfon is Prefident ; the gofpel of the king-*
dom is fafe ; the churches are not proflrated, and reafon prefidcs
in our councils without any heathenifh name or attribute ; and it
is the ardent hope of republicans that a rational worfhip will be
reftored to thofe churches, which have been prolKtuted to political
prayers and fermons.

From the federal cry about religion, a flranger might imagine
that in Nev/-England every church would be fupplied with a paltor
— that the people v/ould freely part with their temporal goods for
inftruftion in rlghteoufnefs — that focietles would be united — that
few preachers would be difmiffed — that houfes of worfhip would
be cron^^ed by humble, adoring federalifls, devoutly joining in
prayer andpraife, and liflening with anxious concern to the words

of life and that at a diflance from fuch occafions of grace,

the democrats were embodied under fome prince of the infernal
legion, bidding defiance to the heavenly hofl, and flriving to drive
the Saviour and his humble followers from their territories ; but
none of thefe imaginations would be realized. — It is true that there
is no want of expence in building and decorating houfes of wor-
fhip : the unioniils are ambitious enough in thefe points for very
obvious reafons ; but in fettlement of minifters there are frequent
difputes about his theories and amount of falary. This laft is
often poorly paid, and not unfrequently diminifhed. Rem.ovalsand
exertions to remove are abundant. The abftrad doflrlnal preachers,
who generally take the lead, are the cocleft of all cold inftruft-
ors. Their federal hearers do not appear as anxious to attend
v/orfhip, or as devout in it as they do in their purfuit of wealth.

^Q5 ^

Poikical fermons fometimes wake them to a fai callic grin at the
obje<5t of the preacher's fatire, and they open their ears to hear a
charadler drawn, which is to fit the candidate of an approaching
eledtion ; bat in general chrillianity is Teally at a very low ebb among
the (landing and privileged orders — and the democrats are individ-
ually injured by the religion of church and ftate, which is wholly
aimed at their rights and opinions. Not one of this clafs but
would ardently wifh to be furrounded by men, fearing God and
hating covetoufnefs ; men v/earing the charatfter, as well as bear-
ing the name of chriilians.

This ftate of religion is the caufe of the political charader of
New- England- The rights of man can never thrive, where men
rely on a Tyftem of wrongs for promotion : Republicanifm cannot
Jive in a region of hypocrify : Ch'urch and flate unions poifon reli-
gion and fociety.

Do any fear to look at fuch a ftate of things, let them fefle(5t
that an important ilTue depends on knowing the truth. If the;
unionifis are trees of righteoufnefs, the planting of the Lord,
then republicans are briars and thorns on the face of the earth ;
if the unionids are faints, republicans are infidels. A ftedfaft
look will fecure our objed : fear of looking at the truth has been
the caufe of half the error in the world.

After thefe remarks the unionifis will never fay, ^^ perhaps iht^Q
repubhcans may think lightly of us -,'* they may red alTured that
we are full of meaning, when we call thofe hypocrites, who have
often called themfelves faints ; — when we fay that fome, who
claim to be throwing fait into the fountains of fcience, have em-
poifoned thofe fountains ; when they fay that fome of you, who
entered within the pale of the fandluary, never took that ftep, till
you had loft ail confidence ivlthout ; when they cliarge you with ■
trafficking in altars and ordinances. If all this feems to you like
perfecution, take to yourfelves meekly the blefTednefs promifed to
the perfecuted, and live the lives which enfure this bleffednefs, in
fimplicity and godly fincerity, not after the manner of this ivorld.
You have hitherto had a fmooth road ; pleafures and honors
have been in your train, and the temple of grace has appeared like
the palace of an eaftern monarch, full of luxuries and bounties to
thofe, who would flatter his pride.

If perfecution is to exalt you, edimate the attitude, to which
my perfecution may advance you, and retain that till another fhali
elevate you higher, and between fuch perfecutions and your own
jneek, exemplary lives, you may expeft high rank among the
children of God and great progrefs towards heaven. Alas !
lefpond your hearts, * that is not our courfc.' Your infinite va-
riance from it, at a feafon when profeflions are ceafing to be a
tendry in New-England, forms an unfortunate crifis in your
political and private hiftory.

O

ro6

From every attempt to drag you from your ftrong holds, you
fly to meeting-houfes, ordinances, church mulic, laws againft
Sabbath breaking, and fafts and thankfgivings ; but all thefe are
not reh'gion. Your life, profeffor, muft (hew that you are govern-
ed by better motives than you were born with, and your light muft
fliine before men. The life of one pious man iheds more light
on the truth of revelation than volumes of fermons againft infidel-
ity ; one acfl of charity ennobles chriftianity more than all your
noife about modern philofophy. Never again will you fucceed in
repelling our charges againft you by retorting charges againft any
of us : perfonal vindication is out of the queftion. More than
30,000 freemen of New-England are refolved to drive wandering
fliepherds back to their folds, noify profeflbrs to pradlicc, and
rulers to the art of rifing without making the gofpel their footftool.

In the viftory over Jewifh church and ftate, the veil of the
temple was rent in twain, and the rocks burft afunder. The dreadful
anathemas of Romifli church and ftate, at the feafon of the ref-
ormation, filled with terror many proteftants. Your laft agoniz-
ing efforts to fuftain your union will alarm multitudes ; you may
for a feafon diminifh our numbers ; but the minds of our people
will be emancipated, and the New-England union of church and
ftate will be divided into two unions, each equally friendly to reli-
gious and civil liberty.

NO, XL

Review of the pajl NumherSy addrejfed to the People.

\ OU have nothing to gain by impofture, hypocrlfy and
church and ftate union. You feek no promotion — you wifh your
rights fecure, your government dire«5ted to this objeft and your reli-
gion undifturbed, and you do not covet any falfe alarms on thefe
fubjefts. This world is to you important in a variety of concerns ;
the other infinitely fo : religion is necefTary fcr your well-being in
both, and hypocrify is the moft deadly enemy of chriftianity,
which is doubtlefs the religion of your choice. If you have been
ip the habits of obfervation and reiledtion for a few years paft, you
will know that what I have written is true. Hypocrify and praBic-
al infiddity have chara8eri%ed our church and flat e union, *which has
had the exclufive gift of ojices, and the entire control of our religious
and political concerns. You have feen the bafeft of men bow be-
fore this union and receive, in reward for their homage, offices

107

propottioned, not to their religion, but to their ability to fervc the
league againft God and our country. You have feen Sabbaths
devoted and fandtuary privileges proftituted to thefe men : and
where is your joy or hope or crown of rejoicing ! How long can
this ftate of things lafl ? Will it land you on the Ihores of heavenly
reft ? Or is it that comfortable broad road of public life which
leads to deftrudlion ? Paufe well and confider the real ftate of reli-
gion in your country. Infidelity does abound, and many of you
have been nurfing and feeding it with your votes. Say, on your
oaths, which will God choofe for his people, thofe humble Meth-
odifts, Baptifts, and other diffenters from privileged orders, who
have hardly a place to worfhip God, or tliofe proud fultanlike
profeflbrs, who demand a contribution of votes' from every houfe
of worfhip which they deign to vifit ?

Let not founds nor words nor faces nor drefs deceive you. A
little praflice will enable any man to appear gifted in prayer — to
ufe folemn tones and words — to look gravely, and to drefs in black.
Thefe do not all conftitute the hidden man of the heart. Habit
has a great effed on molt minds ; but never carry the enthufiafm
of habit as far as did a devout Catholic. " Take from us," fays
he, " our crucifixes, our images, our lights, incenfe and the
*' folemn exteriors of worfhip, and you deftroy our religion."
Never let it be faid of your religion, that you know nothing of it,
except what you can fee of it. External a(5ls are the natural ex-
preflions of afFedions ; but mere external ads, not accom-
panied with practices, demonftrating the exiftence and fincerity of
thofe afFedions, are good for nothing : yet on the deftru6tion of
thefe externals have your alarms been falfely excited by political
religionifts. They have faid, that your meeting-houfes and bibles
would be burnt ; but if the deftrudtion of places, where they
might difpofe of their marketable religion would ruin them, be it
your confolation that nothing can deftroy chriftianity. It ftands
on the rock of ages.

If in a lapfe of years, fome inventions of men have been added
to the inftitutions of God, be not offended that men obferve them ;
but if they avail themfelves of fuch obfervances to infult you,
fet this down as an evidence of their hypocrify and facrilege.
Pure and undefiled religion deferves your praftice, homage and
refpe<a j but hypocrify and double-dealing defej ve your abhorrence.

If you have any prefent wifh for public confidence, reprefs it ;
for the moft perfect charader for pure chriftianity will not bring
you nearer to it than the moft open infidelity. Thefe church and
ftate dealers will never promote you, unlefs you turn your religion
into their ftock. That righteoufnefs which flows not out in votes
is not to their purpofe. You will furvive tliis ftate of things.
That fpirit of toleration, which is pervading our country will de-
ftroy all privileged orders. Young, ambitious infidels, who have

.io8

lately joined church and Trate, in profped of the temporal glory
to be revealed, \vili be afronirned at the overwhelming of the
Tjnionifts ; and whenever this crifis (hall arrive, die great cry of
the fhip-wrecked adventurers will be, that chriftianity is ruined
forever. This is precifely the cry, which every impoftor, fince
the days of the Saviour, has ufed, when his impiety was deleted.
Till the moment of dete(J^ion he contents himfelf with crying,
*' the church is in danger of ruin." Thefe two exclamations,
neither of which was ever ufed by a true chriftian, and neither
of which is or -ever was true, will defignate the artful, deceitful
hypocrites, who, after robbing men of their rights expire with a
lie in their right hands.

If chriftianity needs the (iipport of civil Inftitmions, it has not
come from God. If the head of the church delights to proteft
it, he will not lofe that delight for the political promotion of our
ofHcers of government. The men, who are conflantly crying^
" w« are pious, we are holy, chriftianity depends on us, our polit-
ical opponents are vile, wicked and depraved,'* are the hft men
to be entrufted wi|[\ the defence of a religion, in which he, who
thought moft humbly of himfelf, was to be the greateft in the
kingdom of heaven.

If you have the leaft propenfity ftill to adhere to thefe men,
recollca: that the fame propenfity in the Jews to refpea a clafs of
men, juft like your leaders, brought your Saviour to the crofs j
that a mifguided zeal delayed for centuries the reformation ; that
impofture is flow in letting go its hold of its fubjeds, and that if
you wifti for religious iind civil liberty, you mivft make one fpirited
effort. What though the ecclefiaftical and poHtical affociates of
ihis church and ftate union be povv^erful in talents ; and fuftained
by their deceived followers, appear as a mighty foreft, yet rejoice
in this,

** That an axe is laid unto the root of the trees, and that every
** tree, which bringeth not forth good fruit ihall be hewn down
** and caft into the fire.'*

Had the members of this union contented themfelves with the
ordinary profits of hypocrify, they might have been unnoticed ;
but when our rights are attacked ; when the country, in which we
are to fpend a part of our being, is to be gradually fubjugated, as
others have been, it becomes our duty to drag the monfter of hy-
pocrify however ferocious, into open day, and to rifque prefent
cafe and fafety for the certain benefit of expofmg him in all his de-
formity to the public. To reafon coolly with the members of this
Tsnion and to pray them for the fake of religion and the good of
man to defi{t would anfwer no purpofe. A war of opinions muft
be raifed againft them : you muft take from them the public confi-
dence and the public honors. No man ought to regard this fubjed):
With indifference j or to ftay his hand, becaufe the friends c^

109

church and flate cry let us alone. This is the cry of the incautious
patient whofe wound unlefs faithfully probed will coft his life.
Rdigion is in a miferable condition in New-England, worfe than
in parts where there is lefs fhew of it. You fee few of its energies,
except in political llorms, and this ftate of things is produced by
its worft enemies, in the garb of its beft friends ; and their wick-
ednefs is aggravated by their attempts to charge this ftate of things,
on that very clafs of men, whofe ruin is attempted to be compafT-
ed by it. Detach politics, offices, applaufe and honors from New-
England religion ! then fee what would remain of it : jfujl as
much true religion; but very little of external fhow and profelHon.

In opening this fubjeifl I purpofely burft through the exteriors
and led you at once to the real charader of thefe men — and ftript
of exteriors, let me afk you, do the clerical politicians appear to
be ambaffadors of Chrift, or do the political fanatics appear as
the followers of the lamb? You know well that neither are true
chriftians in deed and in truth. Are you then paid for this ftate of
hypocrify by the afcendency, which is thereby gained over our
I'outhern brethren, • by the unity of aftion, which it gives to the
underlabourers — or by any profpeft of profit, which you expe<5l
hereafter to gain by it ? If you are willing to barter yoWr rights in
this v/orld and your chance for heaven on fuch miferable exchan-
ges, you alone will be the fufferers.

The zeal to advance this church and ftate union difclofed itfelf
early under our prefent government. Our iirft prefident was forced
to yield to it. The fecond was one of its nurfmg fathers.
When the third was advancing they faw in him a firm unbending
man, who believed in toleration, and abhorred the interpofition of
ecclefiaftical power in political concerns. You faw the vengeance,
with which he was attacked from federal pulpits and prefles.
Every falfe, bitter and malicious crimination ilTued againft him from
the aftbciated members — republicans were reprcfented as in alliance
with the powers of darknefs and every principle and fentiment was
abjured, which omened well to the improvement of civil and reli-
gious liberty. Every word in our language, which exprefles any
portion of rights, was ridiculed by the unionifts. They could not
even conceal their love for royalty, and their diftrefs when vidory
crowned the republican arms. They did conceal their love of
papal dominion till his holinefs was driven from the Vatican — then
their prayers for his downfall ceafed, and their tears of commifer-
ation burft forth. New-England was awfully prepared for the
reign of terror in 1798, and for a number of pubUc meafures,
which will be remembered by republicans, only as an evidence,
how depraved men will become, whe^n they are not reftrained by
fear of God or man. Monarchiits have been careffed here,
books, written by the fycophants of tyrants, circulated with avid-
ity— republicans, who felt, can beft tell, the honors of thx>fe

■ I mmM.

days, when a dark cloud threatened to overfpvead the morning of
our national exiftence. See with what rage thefe men retain all
the power, which they can hold ; how they avenge the removal of"
their adherents ; how they decry and oppofe the will of the nation,
how they even threaten their fouthern brethren — talk of civil war
and difmemberment, and all this in the name of order, which they
defpife, and of Jefus, whofe caufe they have wounded.

The zeal in one clafs of men to have dominion over the reft has
appeared in every country. It is infeparable from the hearts of
proud men. Thofe, who feek this dominion will always deny it.
Call them monarchifts or hierarchs, they difclaim your terms ;
but in every nation, where there are men, this fpirit walks in dark-
nefs as a peftilence — and though its operations are fubtle, yet in
every country you may as furely find its origin in an union of
church and ftate, as you may trace vegetation to the earth.

Caft your eyes through the country and difcern by the true light,
•whether my views are corre<5l:. Do you fee any violently inveigh-
ing againft infidels and infidelity ? Such have never been in tlie
way with Jefus, for he wept even over Jerufalem, the citadel of
his enemies, and would have gathered its inhabitants, as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings ; he ate with publicans and
finners, and on his crofs prayed for his enemies. — Do any talk
loudly about their own holinefs, virtue and piety ? So did the
Fharifees : But Paul, in humility, faid " I am not meet to be an
apoftle.'* Do preachers become bufy-bodles in political concerns ?
Butthe Saviour's diredion was, ** Go preach the gofpel." Are
any working, with over-heated zeal, in church concerns, and
driving to humble their chriftian brethren ? But the Saviour direiSl-
ed that he, who was without fin, fhould throw the firft ftone, let
fuch fet their own houfes in order. Wherever you purfue your
enquiries you will find that now, as formerly, the proud and
boafting, the elevated and confpicuous feekers of power have no
teligion ; they wafh carefully the outfide of the cup and platter,
and make a fair (hew to be feen of men ; but the meek will in*
herit the earth, and the poor and perfecuted will be heirs of the
kingdom.

This charge of confpiracy againft chrlftianity will bear your
ftrideft fcrutiny ; your convidion of its truth will be ftrengthened
by every enquiry into its merits. Such convidtion will difclofe
the duties which devolve on yon as men and chriftians, which
duties you will have the virtue to aflume and the fortitude to dif-
charge. Never will you make the place of your own feet glorious,
till you take from thefe unionifts the earthly profits of profeflions.
" Never will your vines increafe their fruit, nor your olives their
" fatnefs, till the paths of their feet be covered, and the work of
** their hands dcftroyed."

THIRD PART.

•<<»"^5-o-<^S>o-^»- '<>••>•■>••

CONSPIRACY OF CHURCH AND STATE AGAINST
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

NO, L

Introducfory Ttew of this Con/piracy,

JL AKING nature for our guide we {hall find the unionifts
confpiring againft the poor man's government under the influence
of the fame paffions, which led them to confpire againft the poor
man*s religion. . -

The hiftory of the world prefents two claffes of men, as dil-
tin<a in their motives and means, as if they were of an entire
different fpecies of being, and formed of different materials.

ift. The body of mankind, honed and induftrious, contented
with a little, laboring hard to fupport a clafs of men, who are
always promifing to bring them to a degree of happinefs and inde-
pendence, which they have never feen and never will fee, if they
truft fuch promifes ; fighting when they are told that religion or
their rights are in danger ; trembling before court-martials ; mount-
ina the fcafFcld, when the pride of a courtier or the petulance of
a midfhipman requires it ; dying when they are bid to die ; drawn
by the force of fraud, falHiood and pafTion, from the mild govern-
ment of their heavenly Father, under the dominion of men, who
fear no power but that of death, and no enemies but the intrepid
afTerters of the eternal rights of men. _

2d. The lordly tyrants of the world, known by different titles ;
the 'z^eMorn, fcorning the lowly tafi-. of the Saviour, who had a
feeling of human infirmity, becaufe he took upon him our natures.
Thefe great men know not the value of labor nor the Itings of
poverty, nor the fenfe of danger, nor the tendernefs of affedion,
which binds together thofe, whofe fphere of aaion is limited.
Thefe tyrants bind heavy burdens on the people ; talk ot millions
of debt with as little concern as the people do of pence ; declare
war with perfea compofure, and affame on themfeives to an.wer

112

for the blood of the flain, as if they confidered the books of rec-
ord to be forever clofed, and as if a feafon would never arrive,
when the fea would give up its dead. They enter peaceable fami-
lies and drag their hopes into the field ; defolate villages and deftroy
their thoufands, and when vengeance fays it is enough, they pray
that fwords may be turned into ploughfhares and fpears into pruning-
hooks, and that nations may learn war no more. The war ferves
as an apology for an Increafe of taxation, and having before taxed
all which the labor of man produces, they tax the light which
heaven beftows, and if difcontent arifes by reafon of oppreifion,
another war ia declared in order to hufh the tumult.

Thus wars are excited under pretence of ferving the kingdom
of peace, and all the rights of mankind are violated under a pre-
tence of advancing thofe rights. Everything has always been in
danger ; thefe men have affedled to avert the danger, and the
ftate of things has, under their management, been always growing
woiTe : yet thefe pilots, who are always fteerlng among the rocks,
are ftill at helm, and multitudes of liftlefs men, whofe all is at
flake, fay, " let the fhip fink, we are only paffengers" — and this
ftupid confidence is among the ^^Jleady habitSy^ which receive the
conftant eulogy of the great men.

Such is the hiftory of the world — on the one hand an eafy,
unfufpicious confidence, and on the other a bold and daring af-
fumption of all power, human and divine ; and through thefe two
caufes the earth has been filled with artificial miferies, and the
fouls of thofe, who have been flain, have been crying, " How
** long, O Lord, dofl: thou not judge and avenge our blood on
" them that dwell on the earth ?'*

When our declaration of independence was penned, all thefe
fa<5ls were known and recognized by our people, and Britain was
exprefsly charged with tyranny, and we called ourfelves
the opprefied. In that day we were refolved to be free and to
liave a republican government, in which the people were for once
to be fovereign, and to take in charge their own rights. By the
government, againft which I claim that the unionifts have confpir-
ed, is intended the government for which our revolution was
effeded ; not that republic, whioh under Mr. Adams, meant
any thing or nothing ; nor any particular fet of men, compofing
an adminiftration ; but that pjl'iiical fyjlem, ivhich has been alivays
denominated republican. — By the conlpiracy charged is intended
that portion and kind of enmity a^ainft fuch a government, (arif-
ing from tlie fame motives, and conduced by as infidious means)
which animated the court of St. James and the Britifh army to
coufpire againft our independence.

My charge will be occafionally illuftrated by brief references to
meafures ; but my principal reliance will be on the operations of
n^urc and the fyftem of paffions, which have always fudained the

"3

«moni{ls of former ages. I difclaim all middle ground between
the parties ; they are on different fyilems, variant as the charadlers,
which have been defcribed, and a yielding of each, fo as to har-
monize in meafures, would be as great a violence to nature and to
their beings as for the two poles to meet on the equator.

Conciliation is the darling theme of federalids ; conciliation
refponds every neutral man, and fome republicans are pleafed with
a calculation that the eminent fed^ralifts are lowering their tone,
and will foon lead all the reft into our fyftem. It is extremely
popular to fay, " Both pai ties are honeft ; we are both feeking
the beft good of the country, hut happen to differ in the means :"
But what is meant by this ? Is any man hardy enough to charge
both parties in the country with hypocrify and the bafeft of falfe-
hoods ? Has nothing been intended by the collifions of party for
feveral years ? Did the republicans mean nothing when they charg-
ed the fedcralifts with tendencies to monarchy ? Did federaiifts
mean nothing when they charged us with tendencies to anarchy^
Have the violent difputes in our newfpapers and in our congrefs
been about nothing ? And did each regard the other as honeft men,
anxious for the beft good of the country ? Was the reign of terror
in 1798 excited for «o/^^i/2^ /* Have republicans been imprifoned
for nothing ? Were the Britifli treaty and the maritime war with
France, and the alien and fedition a6ls, and the new army all foi
nothing ? Was the oppofition to Mr. JefFerfon's eledion for nothing ?
Really if federalifts meant nothing by all this, we fincerely wifh
that they had done nothing : and if republicans really meafii
nothing by all their prefent meafures, it is beft to look into Mr.
Adams' fample of balanced governments, and as foon as we find
one, which appears to be the moft ftupenduous fabric of human
invention, it will be beft to adopt it, and to place fome one at the
helm of it, who will be/z/// of meaning m all his meafures.

Great premiums are offered in the papers for any man, who
will invent a mode to conciliate parties, which premiums are as fafe
in the hands of thofe, who propofe them, as premiums for difcoy-
ery of perpetual motion. There is but a right and a ivrong on all
fubjedts, and is it the order of providence that they fhould ever
meet ? Did revelation advance any fuch propofal of corapromife
between faints and finners ? But what middle ground do thefe mild
men contemplate ? Is it that federalifls fhall acknowledge that they
have been in the wrong in ail their leading meafures, and that
they cordially approve of the prefent adminiftration ? Will they
loath themfelvcs for the alien and fedition adls, and abhor them-
felves for the eftablifhment of a new judiciary to fave the people
from their worft enemies themfehes, reprefented in the perfons of
their Prelident, Vice Prelident, heads of departments and leg-
iflature ? What difpofition have they fhewn towards fuch concil-
iation ^ Shall Bavard, Tracy, Henderfon or- Dana, anf^^er thefe

P

H4

queflions or will you refer it to the mild editor of the church and

ftate paper, the Palladium ? Or is it expe<5ted that thirteen

repubiican States (hall yield to three federal States, and acknowl-
edge themfelves wrong in all their oppofition to federal meafures ?
Will they reftore the favorite meafures of the laft adminiftration ?
And will they acknowledge, that their principles led to anarchy,
and to confpiracy againft all religion and all government ?

I fee no middle ground, where the parties can meet without
loling their political exiftence. If no principle diflinguiihed
them, and the only conteft was about words, both are too deftitute
of integrity ever to truft or be trufted.

The greateft zealots for conciliation are generally a clafs of men,
•who would not yield a fmgle point of opinion to be at peace with
the whole world. All nature muft bend to them and they will
be conciliated. There is a fmall number of our unionifts, who,
though they feel all this impreflion, yet have the addrefs to win,
by iTifinuating manners and fmooth language-, the people into a pcr-
fuafion that they would yield and facrifice every thing to harmony
and the federal union : but if you pufh thefe men a little beyond
their fpeed on any cardinal point, they will (hew that they are
among our moft dangerous enemies. They betray with a kifs— -
I like no fuch blandifhments. Republicanifm can never thrive by
acceffions of men, merely dKTatisfied with a few meafures, nor
by acceflions of doubtful men, nor by men afFefting to yield up
their federal principles on motives of conciliation. It muft
reft on its own bafis and depend for force on this fa6t, that the body
of mankind in every country are radically republicans •, and that they
nvill ahuays aB as fuch, nvhenever they are redeemed from the terror
or impojlureSf nvith ivhich the unionifls have invefled them.

If it be true that republicans are confpiiing againft all govern-
ment— or if the federal leaders are confpirlng againft our govern-
ment, the idea of conciliation is out of the queftlon, until one
party (hall come forward and avow that they have been purfulng,
with the worft of nations, the worft of ends.

But the obje6l to be gained by conciliation is an incorporation
of 3- 1 6th of federalifm with 1 3-1 6th of republicanifm, and with
fuch a difcordant mixture all is to be right, and there are to be no
more parties ! Can any man calculate that there will ever be more
unanimity in the country than there now is ? The federalifts roar
like lions and fay that there is great confufion ; but can we expedl
that more than 1 3-1 6th of the United States will be in favor of
any adminiftration ? Unanimity is gained as far as could have been
expeded ; but a coDciliation with men, who employ daily their
tongues, pens and fer vices to promote diffention ; to vilify the
Prefident ; to abufe the republicans, is neither to be expeded nor
deiired. *' Let them eat of the fruit of their doings and be filled
with their own deyices."

1^5

Forgetting and forgiving the offences of the penitent ^as excel*
lent efFeds in private life ; but extend it to imperious nations and
you bid a bounty on every kind of violence. If Great-Britain,
after burning our towns and flaughtering our brethren, had no other
arguments to offer for our forgivnefs, but the finenefs of her cloths
and the generofity of her credit, and y«t thefe were accepted by
our leaders, it was a cheap way of fettling for blood. There is
much of diplomatic dignity in fuch work ; but what is the confe-
quence to the world ? Difmal wars and commercial treaties at the
end of them ! The common people blieed by thoufands, and their
leaders clofe the account by a treaty. If the m^aking of offenfive
war had outlawed Britain among all nations ; if no nation would
afterwards have dealt with them, far different would have been the
condition of the world ; but the great ones of a nation muft have
accefs to the firft markets, and commerce mufl annihilate the prin-
ciples of a righteous defence againft oppreffion.

It was politically glorious to invite thofe Americans, who had
aflifted the Britifli in diftrefilng us, to fettle in our towns with
their ill-gotten gains ; but it was a cruel infijlt on thofe, who had
fuffered ! it was bidding a bounty on treachery ! it was fowing
the foil of freedom with the feeds of monarchy 1 It may be glori-
ous to cheriihthe adherents of the laft adminiftration, who ceafed
not day and night to diftrefs us ; glorious to embrace thofe, who
imprifoned us, and to love thofe, who charged us with th6 tempers
of aflallins, and who ilill continue to oppofe us ; but to others be
this glory ; every true republican will regard them as " monuments
of the fafetyy tv'itJj which error of opinion may be tolerated, ,*where
reafon is left free to combat it*'*

NO. 11.

Hijlory of the Confplracy of the Unionl/ls againfl cur Govern'

7nent»

A

.T the acceflion of Mr. Jefferfon to the prefidency,
twenty lix years had elapfed fince the commencement of our revo*
lution, and during this period the whole of the human character
had difcovered itfelf, and fome of our felf-Jl'iled holy men, and
many of omv felf-Jllkd federal civilians had performed the routine
of all their artifices upon a well-difpofed people. We will
take a view of the unionifts from each noticeable point of the above
period. In my feventh number of the firft part, it was remarked
that church and (late was once m a fmail w^y of traffic. This

ii6

was the cafe at the opening of our revolution. Their little arts had
been played over and over again, without affording much profit or
amufement. The idea of going to heaven or leading others there
without taking a good portion of this world on the road never
occurred to our unionifts. Had Britain offered them as much of
wealth and honors as they could calculate to gain by a revolu-
tion, our weapons of war would have continued to be inftruments
of hufbandry and we fbouldhave been under the moderate domina-
tion of maflers abroad, inftead of having been under the fevere
dcminion of our own brethren. The unionifts pourtrayed in
glowing colors the intolerance, irreligion and tyranny of the
Britiili — the public temper was excited ; yet the burdens com-
plained of were laid on by a legitimate government, which pro-
te<51:ed us, and they bore no proportion in point of weight to thofe»
which we fince endured ; but liberty of confcience was to be gain-
ed and poHtical liberty and a thoufand other blefTmgs, which have
only lived in political fermons and fongs. The events of the war
were various, and the unionifts were forward enough in praying and
in giving words of command, and the people who were to be eleva-
ted to the rank of freemen were brave enough in fighting.

Had the unionifts told our army at the northward, " In a few
years you will have new ftamp-afts and excife," Burgoyne might
have marched with 5000 men through the country. Had they
faid to our brave army at the Ciege of York-Town, " In a few
years ftockjobbers will be rioting on the fruits of your labors," the
fiege would have been raifed, and Cornwallis might have taken
pofTeffion of the country. Had the country anticipated a treaty
with Britain, a quarrel with France or the diplomatic mafquerade
of 1798, they would have laid down their arms — or had one of
the numerous exprefles, who rode the country with tidings to an
anxious people, have fald, " In a few years, men, who publicly
deride the very term of republicanifm, and who treat with adhor-
rence the rights of men, will be at the head of your affairs ; the
C'plomatic fops of all nations will throng your courts ; tories will
be in your fenate, and the liberties for which you are now coti-
tending will he bartered for filks and broadcloths ;" the friends of
fuch an exprefs might have fought him and not a hair of his head
would have been found. The- little dealers in fcraps of Barruel and
G-odwin (the waiters of our great men) conceive not of the ardors
of that day, when the inhabitants of an extended country refolved
on freedom or death ; nor do they conceive of the inteMigent
force v/ith which fijch ardors will be diredled againft thofe, who
have put their machinery in motion.

During our revolution, church and date' did not fieep ; all its
paffio^ns were operating for future advantage : little indeed did it
dream of Zion or of the liberties of mankind. Church and ftate
emboforaed atthat Aioment all thofc propenfities, which impeded

^ 5_|2

the conpletion of our revolution, and produced all our political
diflenfions, and from the known and vifibie members of it they
have all proceeded.

At the peace of 1783 we had completed the firfl point of our
revolution, viz» an eftablifhment of our independence, and at
this moment it was natural to refle<5l on the advantages, which, as
a nation, we might derive from it. We were far diilant from the
kingdoms of Europe, thofe theatres, where religion and humani-
ty had been always outraged by civil and ecclefiaftical tyrants ;
thofe theatres, where the common people had been made to ad
the part of beads of burden, where ribbons were efteeraed more
than lives, where men were boa/ling of their pedigree, where
rank depended on birth, and where heaven v/as baniihed from
earth, as much as the depravity of man could banifli it. We were
redeemed from crowns and the pageants who wear them, and had
■ an extended country, to which we might invite the oppreffed of
the old world. I'his was a feafon of enthufiafm, and (as the
event has proved) of ftrong illuiions. Man is never more ennobled
than when, reilciHing on his virtuous ilruggles, he refoives that
the world fhall enjoy the benefit of them, and is never in greater
danger of difappointment, than when he entrufts the execution of
his benevolent projedls to thcfe, who defpife his motives.

In the feafon which we are contemplating, much was faid of
the majejiy of the people y a fet of terms, which the unionifts then
defpifed, and which one of their number (a clergyman) lately
termed, the majefty of the mob ; — but in thofe days it was under-
itood that the people, who had gained all the power, who did all
the labor, and on whom would depend the whole fupport of gov-
ernment, ftiould, in their corporate capacity, be regarded with
refpeft. They never conceived in that day that a being of their
own creation* Ihould talk of " humbling them in duft and afiles''
—that little beings of their creation f fhould vote away their
money by millions, contrary to their known mind and will, and
call it " a trifle" — that beings of their creation fhould, without
any reference to them, draw them into alliance with all the aban-
donment againfl which they had been fighting for years — :that the
aliens, whom they had invited, fliould be baniflied, and that they'
Ihould be imprifoned for queftioning the propriety of fuch condud.
Nor did they conceive that their reprefentatives, after pofitively
knowing their choice of a Prelident, fhould under the foleninity
of an oath, deprive themfelves of fleep, in order to counterad the
people, and prevent a fair experiment of their government. Had the
people conceived the pofHbility of fuch things, they would have
fettled their powers before they laid down their arms. The
anionifls had gained their great point in gaining the power o5

* Mr, Adaras, ^: The Northern Unionifts in Congrefs.

ii8

government on this fide of the water, and as they had been the
leaders, they led the people no further.

Had a government been formed at this feafon, it would have
involved all the principles of the revolution — no tory nor monarch-
id would have had a feat in the convention — no plan of a limited
monarchy would have been brought forward — no provifion would
have been made for diplomadc agencies— no great national plans
provided for ; but the ftates being fecured in their feparate fove-
reignties, the general concerns would have been left in a general
depofuory. It is impoilible to decide what form it would have
a/Tumed, it is enough that it would have been the iegitiniate child
of its parent. How would a legiflature, fitting at that time, have
fucceeded in eftablilhing a funding fyftem, to deprive the foldier,
whofe wound was yet bleeding, of his hard earnt commutation ?
How would the propofal of a Britifh treaty have been received ?
Our unionifts well knew that the ardors of the revolution muft
abate, before they could advance with their fyftems. The pre-
tence that the country v/as not prepared for a regular government
is idle : they were prepared for peace, for order, for economy,
for political equality, for toleration, and for fupport of an ad-
minidration, which was ferioufly in favor of fuch a government ;
but they were not prepared to facrifice at a llroke the fruits of
a revolution. They were not prepared to bid an eternal adieu to
the hopes, which had fuftained them through an eight years
war.

The people, whom the federal leaders have fince called and
treated as a miferable rabble, who needed a corps of judges to»
fave them from their word: enemies, themfehes, were then their own
beft friends. The revolution had given a keennefs to their per-
ceptions : they faw the arts, by which foreign courts held in fub-
jeftion their people, and they had no calculations but of lofs by
any great plans which might be led up here. They did not
wifh for them. A private man, who does not expedt promotion,
and who is willing to admit domeftic and fecial happinefs among
the articles, which compofe the aggregate of political bleffings,
never wiilies to fee his country the richeft, moft populous, moft
warlike and powerful nation on earth. Every thing, which con-
(litutes national greatnefs, finks the citizen :' he pays for every
article of this greatnefs more than his dividend of it is worth. Can
the navies of his nation fpread terror on the ocean ? Can its
armies fpread defolation through the earth I Are its minifters
highly refpedted at foreign courts > Are its counfellors eloquent ?
Does its prefident keep a fplendid levee ? What then > We the
people are neither admirals nor generals — our money muft fupport
cur great men, and our fons mud fupply thofe armies and navies.
Had our declaration of independence exprefled our zeal for fuch
2 courfe, the war would have been indantly at an end. But in

tip

the midft of all thefe great plans, in what o-bfcure corner of the
country is the religion of us common people to be marfed ? Surely
not in our hearts^ if we approve fuch meafures ; and as furely cur
clergy are not to nurfe it, if they pray for men, who advance
fuch meafures. Why were we placed fo diftant from Europe, if
by treaties we are to ftretch our arms acrofs the Atlantic, and to
embrace her courts and her vices ?

At the feafon which we contemplate, our people knew all thefe
things, and the imprejdions of the people were known to the lead-
ers J but -.heir's was a courfe of national glory, and the feafon had
not arrived for laying the foundation of it. If a pure republic
is ever eftabliflied, it muft be at a time, when the public mind is
not corrupted ; when it has virtue enough to facrifice the tempting
baubles of prefent fplendor to the fubftantial intereft of the pref^
ent and future generations. The principle of virtue may be gen-
erated in a (ingle mind by reafon of refleftion ; but public virtue
refults from fome occafion powerful enough to overwhelm the
pallions, and this virtue will abate, as it advances from its pro-
ducing caufe. To the revolutionary eye of the people, it was
clear that to a nation the avoidance of evil communications, the
habits of economy, peace and humanity, with moderate wifhes,
were as necelTary as to an individual : that the plans of monarchs
and the principles of republicanifm could not coincide, and that
any attempt to enjoy the bleflings of the laft, under the aufpices
of the firft, muft be unfuccefsful.

The unionifts well knew that the public memory foon fails ;
that public paflion, when ceafed to be blown, foon expires, and
that a few years would change the afped, and therefore delayed to
come forward with the great plans, which were to annihilate the
principles of the revolution ; to domefticate the power vv^hich we
had acquired j to reduce the people to the European ftandard of
dependence, and to elevate thsmfelves above ail contrc^, except
the nominal power of elections, in which their management was
to deprive the people of vohtion and choice.

In this connexion you will not fail to fee the line, which dif-
tingulfhes between the interefts of the common people and thofe of
their leaders — the advantages, which thefe laft may take of the
firft — and the cautious manner in which the unionifts watched
the relapfe of public ardor in order to compafs their ends. The
lion crouching for his prey, was the attitude of church and ftate
dtring the five years fucceeding our revolution.

120

NO, III

Htftory of the Ccnfpiracy of the Unknijls, continued.

I

N my laft number I have fpoken freely of the unionlfts,
as having interefts diftin(ft from the body of *the people. For
this I might rely on former explanations ; but it may be well to
notice definitely this diftinftion of interefts, becaufe it forms the
bafis of this confpiracy.

It will not be pretended that the union of church and ftate, as
it exifted when our revolution commenced, could have any fyftem-
atic calculation oi fpecifc benefits, or that every member of them
contemplated individual intereft ; but nature will adt itfelf. The
young lion roars after his prey, even before he knows what branch
of bufinefs he is to follow, and before he has ftrength enough to
fecure his prey, if it was in his reach. We have multitudes of
young union ifts, who roar about religion and fteady habits^ and
jacobinifm and anarchy, who have no ideas attached to their
words. They make a great noife about national ftrength and
the maral force of fedsraltfm. They have learnt thefe notes from
fome one, and they ferve as difcordant expreffions offome inward
feelings. They have no meaning in all this, except that they
intend to gain advantage of mankind, as others have done before
them, and that when they gain their ftrength they will do their
portion of mifchief. — Some men are born with greater conceptions
of themfelves than others ; they conceive themfelves to poiTefs
fuperior mental or perfonal accomplifhments, which entitle them
to a Benjamin's mefs of political bleffings. Some boaft of fu-
perior lineage and affe(5t to be ivellhorn. Some are difcended
from opulent parents. Some have been in the habit of receiving
more than their fliare of refpect. V'^arious caufes confpire to raife
a certain fet of men in their own eftimation above the level of
mankind. Thefe are unionifts, and they alTociate together for the
purpofe of fecuring that fuperiority, which they claim. — Death
fettles all thefe accounts with infinite exadnefs, and jjlaces on a
k'uel in the earth thofe, who ought to have been on a level upon
its furface.

This was a revolutionary fentiment and by it was intended that
political equality^ ixjh'ich balancci many of the artifcial and unavoid^
able eneqitaltt'ies of Ife. Imperceptible as may be the point of dif-
tindtion to be taken on this fentiment ; yet at this point the friends
and enemies of our revolution took their departure from each'
other. The people did not contend that the man, who was pof-
felTed of an ample property, ftiould dirlde it ejjualiy with one

121

who had none, nor that all men were born equal in natural capaci-
ty, or that their acquired knowledge had been equal, or that there
was or ought to be an equality of ftature or ftrength. The ftiipid
ideas of kvelifm imputed to them never exifted : but they had no
refpe6l to birch nor noble blood, nor profeffional claims to homage.
They regarded every man, who v/as born, as having a right to
exift among others, who were born, and if any man v/as wifer
than the reiF, they allowed him all the advantages, which he could
fairly reap from his wifdom. They believed that every man, who
was taxed, had a right to a vote, and that life and liberty were
qualifications preferable to property, and that the laft was not
evidence of fuperlor merit or claims. Thefe fentiments not only
deflroyed artificial diftincftions, v;hich had no foundation, but
they opened the way to greater freedom of thinking and judging,
both of men and fubje<5ls. Before this one cJafs of the unionilts
had held by immemorial ufe the right of thinking for the people
on religious fubjects, and another clafs of thinking for the people
on political and legal fubjeds, and each clafs of eftimating its own
weight in the fcale of beings. Nov/ if thefe weights were to be
thrown into other fcales and the people were to hold the balance,
it might produce too m.uch revolution. The new order of things
was not relilhed by the unionifts ; but we were in the midft of
a revolution, and it was 'no feafon for difcuffion. Will any man
believe that the pride of fuperiority, which was confpicuous
enough in New-England before our revolution, and which now
exifts in great force, had at that time refoived itfelf into perfeft
humility — that the paffions had become pafiive, and that our cler-
ical and civil unioniils ever contemplated being reduced to a fingie
fiiare in a divifion of political rights ? Or to be on a political
level with the people ? It is as incredible as that rivers will afcend
the mountains. What would have been to them the confequence,
if the revolutionary fpirit had gained a rational effect ? Or indeed
how have they received that portion of fuch effects, which has
arrived to them under the prefent adminiftration ? An anfwer to
the firft of thefe queftions will occupy the next number.

NO, IV.

View of the national effeti of the Revolutionary Spirit.

JL Hx^Tthe man vv'ho earned bread should eat
IT*' was a plain proportion (early afTumed by mankind) difclaiming
all fophifra, and on the face of it fo rational that it would feem as if
no doubt could arife ?bont it ; yet difputes about this have diftref-

K-

122

fed the body of the people in every age, and the bload of millions
has been (bed in conteft about it. When the curfe was pronounced
on Adam that the earth fhould bring forth ttiiflles and thorns, and
that in the fweat of his face he fliould eat his bread, he doubtiefs
confidered it a hard cafe ; but his was a blelTed condition, compared
with that of millions of his pofterity, who in the fweat of rheir
faces have been obliged to gain bread for others to eat : they have
fown that others might reap, and their wine and their oil have made
the hearts of others glad, and the faces of others to Ihine, while
they have been left to hunger, fadnefs and defpair.

Early and mod ferioufly did the enemies of the common people,
(whom heaven has in wrath fent abundantly iRto every nation) .
undertake to contend that he^ <wko earned bread, Jhould not eat it,
and at the opening of our revolution they had completely gained
their point in every nation of Europe. The common people had
indeed the crumbs, which fell from their mailer's tables and paid
moil: feverely for the indulgence. The original curfe had defcen-
ded exclufiveiy on the common people and no part of it reached
their lords. Thefe took the bread and left the thiftles and thorns
to the laborers, and had even formed fyflems, on which they reft-
ed the righteoufnefs of this diitribution. The body of the peo-
ple, which term includes 9-ioths of them, originally polTeffedthe
foil as tenants of the great Proprietor, and with a knowledge of
their rights might have kept thefe lords under fuch allowances of
bread, as would have tamed their natural imperioufnefs ; but
through various caufes thefe lords claimed the foil, either in virtue
of conquefl: or artifice, or becaufe they had the honor to delcend
from, an illullrious race of anceftors, who owed their firft glory to
the extent of impofitions, which they had pradifed on mankind.
Thefe lords gave portions of the people's bread to fuch of their
number as would join them in arms, and thus completed by force,
vvhiit had been begun in fraud, and the glorious fyflem of feudal
tenures was a declaration of the rights of the lords in confequence
of a boundlefs fylkm of wrongs.

The body of mankind once humbled and difarmed, lofe their
r.atural force, forget that tliey were made but a little lower than
the angels, take their rank among the brutes, and afTume that very
atthude that gives keennefs to the contempt, which their mafters
feel for them. After fuch premifes we are not to wonder at the
(late of oppreffion in Europe — at the vaft power, wealth and mag-
nificence of their kings, princes and hierarchs, nor at the readi-
nefs with which thefe obfequious flaves look up to the will and plea-
fure of their mailers. What ambitious men would join luch a
fervile, contemptible grou|) ? Who would advocate the rights of
thofe, who had no fpirit to affert their rights and who would foon-
er join an army, whofe objed was their own total humiliation,
than to join a band of men refolved on death or liberty ? Who

I2Q

would plead for men, who would reply the arguments of their maf-
ters ? When man fmks below his being, he fmks lower than any
other animal. A man, born free and who tamely fubmits to flave-
ry, is unfpeakably contemptible.

But the height of this ftate of things did not appear at firft. The
father, who loft his freedom, felt through life as if he had fuffered
wrong. The fon had heard of the oppreffion from his father :
he fek fomething of it ; but what the eye does not fee, the heart
does not diftinaiy feel, the impreflion abates, and after a few gen-
erations the heir apparent of the miferies of fociety comes into the
world a (lave, he looks like a flave in every feature, he feels like a
fiave, his firft impreffion is that he came into the world to labor
in the fcrvice of others, to obey his mafters and to return to duft
when he is ordered to do fo. He patiently repairs to that part of
his lord's lands, where he is to have the honor to encounter thirties
and thorns, and as patiently leaves his labor to follow his lord into
the field of battle. Through thick ranks of needy dependants on
royal favor, he feldom fees fo far as to his majefty's throne, and
through ranks of proud prelates he never fees to heaven. As his
body is under the dominion of fyftems, fo is his mind. He never
dreams of toleration : the height of his ambition is to know what
he is to believe, and if the creed comprehends thirty-nine articles
or ten times that number, it is all of a piece to him ; he believes
the whole of it. As to liberty he has no conception of it. In
fuch aviewof things, the ^^ord% political equality and the majejly of
the people 2Xt ridiculous. There is neither equality nor majeity
predicable of a fet of beings, who have no power, no will, no
choice, and who have loft the fpirit to affert their right to bread,
founded in the a<51: of earning it.

Such was the condition of England at the opening of our revo-
lution, and predicated on this condition were all the fyftems oF
poHcy, legiflation, ecclefiaftical and legal relations, which inform-
ed the minds of that clafs of our people, who become learned by
knowing what other men, fallible as tRemfeives, had pubhflied,
and fuch is the bafis of the European political trads, out of which
our young unionifts now learn their kffons, Britain was above
the reft of Europe by reafon of occafionai revolution, remnants
of charters, the eloquence of patriots and the fuperior Ivgl^t of
philofophers, who could difcern through the gloom fome poflibility
of a republican government ; but their ideas were regarded as viU
ionary. Though free from monkifh darknefs ; yet with a weight
of debt the poifon of fyftems had wrought throughout the frame
of Britain, and the remnant of her religion and liberties were un-
der the control of men, who hate both in 4)roportion as each is
hoftlle to all their pride. Thus Britain, exhibited the two clafles
of lords 2Sid. peopky though the charaderiftic difference was iels
diftina than in the kingdoms on the continent.

124

When Erltain offered us the wager of battle- on tlie qiieftioi*,
** Whether he who earnt bread fiiould eat it," the people of
America deUberately decided to accept itj and it was the people,
reprefented in congrefs, who declared our independence, and the
title of an American republic will always be, " We the people of
the United States." By that revolution the people recovered from
the contempt and humiliation in which they had been held, regain-
ed their raajedy and aiTumed to tranfmit this charafter to pofterity.

The eftabiifhment of the fimple propofition, " that he who
earnt bread fhould eat it," changed the whole face of fociety,
and the people were to iffue the allowances inftead of receiving
them from their lords. The conf.-quence ot experiment on it
would have been the ruin of all, who calculated to live and be
wealthy v/ithout rendering fervices to fociety. Before it would
have fied ail excellive emoluments — much of the expences of liti-
gation, and inftead of looking up to the heights for wealth, and
for fplendor among men exalted above fervice, we fhould have
fought for competence among the people. No inordinate taxes,
to fupport ufelefs expences, would have driven the citizen to be
anxious for high prices at the expence of other nations. The
idolatry of wealth and magnificence, and the contempt of poverty
and plainnefs, which ftimulate courts to impoverifh a country,
demoralizes a people and enfures their degradation, and whenever
the great men can command all the wealth of a country the peo-
ple will be ilaves, and a fet of artificial principles will take place
of thofe derived from nature and reafon.

But our people had difcovered that the great men, who in other
nations had robbed men like themfelves and continued to opprefs
them,, had no fuperior claims to refpe<5t, and that dukes, earls
and even kings rather deferved the execration than the homage of
the multitude. They ceafed to eftimate men by their titles or
wealth, and high birth and low birth were of equal rank. Mur-
ders and robberies appeared to them as dreadful in high life as ia
low life, and they faw no extenuation of crime in a commiffioa
to commit it. Strip our world of its rattles and ribbons and where
is all its grandeur ? And if thefe conflitute the nobility of man,
v/hat is he I

Aa experiment on fjch an unfafhionable revolutionary fentiment
would have fhocked every delicate nerve and alarmed every man,
who dreaded equality with his fellow-mortals as a premature death.

But mere perfonal freedom was not the only objeft : the mind
of man had been enflaved for centuries, and its ilrongeft fetters
had been put on by the clergy. Toleration became a favorite
theme and the people refolved that religion was a conneftion be-
tween God and man ; that as every man was to render account
for himfelf he ought to think and decide for himfelf, and that the
niind onght always to be balanced by the greatefl weight of evi-

dence. — This was a point of refolution, which church and ftate
could not endure. An experiment of this would have dedroyed
all dignities in the church, have exploded all eftablilhments, and
have reduced even the moll powerful of the clergy to the fimple
elements of fenfe and ufefulnefs. Hard lot indeed that a domin-
ion over the confcience, which had been gained by the labor of
a century, fliould be wholly loft:, and that common people Ihould
read and expound their bibles ! This would be lowering the
ambafTadors af once and dedroying a kind of influence, v/hich
our American nobles would need for the re-eftablifhment of the
old order of things ; for amidft all the ardors of the revolution
every fubtle unionift kept fight of the do<5trines of the old fchooi,
and refolved that when a proper feafon fliould arrive, the people
of this country fhould be as the people of other countries, the
nation fhould be as great as other nations, and our leaders in church
and (late like thofe of other countries.

The people had feen that religion and liberty had always
been in danger, and that this danger arofe nvholly from the
fact that thofe, who excited alarms about them, had their exclu-
live management, and that neither could exift: within the region
of their examples and power — and to the dodlrines of paiTive
obedience and non-refiftance they oppofed the manly fentiment,
'* That rebellion against tyrants is obedience to
God.'*

Such revolutionary fentiments appeared rational in the days of
the revolution ; they v/ere well underflood by the people ; they
were all fufceptible of pradice ; but the application of them
would have been ruin to our unionills, the champions of the throne
and the altar. They hated fuch fentiments with a cordial hatred,
and from this hatred they were led to thofe meafurts, which have
degraded the people moie rapidly than their mod: fanguine hopes
could have calculated, and thefe meafures have aiTumed the form
of a confpiracy in that very union of church and ftate, where the
pafnons of the country have concentered their ftrengtho

NO. V.

View of the natural Impediments to a Republican Government^
ivhich the JJniomJls have improved to aid their Confpiracy*

k_5 OCIETY being made up of individuals each member turns
into flock his private pafTions and prejudices, and hence there
is the fame want of firmnefs, and the fame defeat of reliance
on experience, attached to nations as are found in the majority

Ji6

of men cotripofing them. When experience Is oppofed to our paf-
fions, we reafon and praflife againft its precepts, vainly calculating
that our fuperior wifdom or good fortune will guide us clear of tha
evils, to which the fame practices have expofed others. Nations
will haz'ird political experiments, which have uniformly deftroyed
other nations. The firft article of notice under this head will be,
the devotion of our people to great men.

All hiftory had fliewn that the intereft of thefe was wholly op-
pofed to that of the people. Refledlion taught that with every
check and reftraint they would gain more than their Ihare of power
and wealth. The whole providence of God (hewed that there was
no particular conneflion between great talents and goodnefs, and
the hiftory of redemption taught that there never would be. Great
men will do well enough, if they are not overfed ; but fuch is tha
conftitution of man that if you overload him with wealth or power,
you ruin him. You may always trace not only the calamities but
the ruin of nations to great men, and no man would look among the
common people for the fource of political mifchiefs ; but oftr great
men were better than thofe tvho had gone before them. This impref-
fion has been the bane of all before us. What nation ever dared to
think lightly of its great men ? Will the French people dare to
think lightly of Buonaparte and his aflbciates in the confulate \ —
No ! in full confidence that his goodnefs is equal to his bravery,
they will eftablifh him for life. He will then fhew them fome fam-
ples of greatnefs, and they v^ll fhew him in return free accefs to a
country, where there are no confulsybr /i/>.

The fervility of the human character under this head has been a
dreadful impediment to freedom. A man cannot be fovereign who
feels like a flave ; a people cannot be fovereign, who feel as if they
ought to have mafters. An intelligent firmnefs refting on principle,
muft accompany afenfe offovereignty in any people, and this firm-
nefs can never be gained but in the feafon of a revolution. When
men begin to reafbn themfelves into fortitude, their fears rife more
rapidly than their arguments A fhort hiftory of this refped for
great men will fhew at every ftage of it the extent of this impedi-
ment to republicanifm.

Our anceftors had fcen enough of great men in the events which
drove them from their native country, and furely could not refpedt
their motives ; but when the minions of his majefty came over
here with their ftars and garters,* they were treated as a fuperior
order of beings : The records of that day fhew a fervility tow.ards
his majefty and his majefty's minifters, and his majefty's gov-
ernors, inconfiftent with republicanifm. Our great men (for
we had a few of them in that day) fpoke with great reverence of

* The bed, on which Sir Edmond Andrus lodged in New-Haven, and the
chiir, in which he fat, have been prefcrved with great care, while chairs
and beds; which have contained better men have gone to decay.

1 27

thofe men, whofe fyfliems they abhorred, and the common people
treated them with a kind of homage. The bibles in ufe were dedi«>
cated to the 2:)resls ©o^ercign, moCt fjtg^ anti migfjt^ prince Siemens :
the prayers were full of compliments to the royal family, and it
was not unfrequent to recite all their names in a petition to the
throne of grace : the magna charta was efteemed a moft gracious
boon, and charters were received with the profoundeft fubmiflion.
Rivers paid tribute to the ocean ; but in fociety all was reverfed,
the people paid tribute to the lords, and thofe, who were the fource
of all power, and who might have granted a commiflion to the king
to ferve them, fo long as he behaved well, or during their good
pleafur^, very humbly received charters from him, and moft obfe-
quioufly bowed themielves to the earth in thanks for the privileges,
which he had graciouily condefcended to beftow.

That power which raifed Lazarus from the grave, was alone
able to raife our people from this fervility and to place courage in
their hearts to affert their eternal rights againft thefe great ufurpers-
It ftands on o\ir records that this power produced the courage,
dire<5led our armies and fecured our independence, for purpofes,
infinitely variant from thofe, which have been purfue4 by our great
men. The fame records give no intimation, that we were redeem-
ed from foreign to domeftic opprefTion ; from Britifh armies, Ba-
vies, feditioH, alien and ftampa6ts, to umilar meafures of our own ;
from Britifh balances to the miferable balances of Zug, Appenzel
and St. Marino ; * from the abufes of juftice in Englilh courts, to
exceffive expenfes and delays in our own ; f from Britifti to Ame-
rican hierarchies ; but we were to be a people, " faved of the Lord,
zealous of good works." When a republican contemplates what
Americans expe<5led to have been, and reileds on the ufe to which
their great men applied their revolution, he will difcern their cha-
rafters.

But the great men faid-that it was high time for a revolution ;
the people faw no more of evils than they\iow do : (the reftraints
of civil and religious liberty are invifible) the people faught, paid
and bled ; but the great men contemplated objeds, wholly incon-
fiftent with the fovereignty contended for. If their after condud:
did not prove this to be true, the man, who charges them with
confpiring againft^ republicanifm, deferves public execration. This
after conduft will be noticed in its place ; but at prefent we will
leave the people ftruggling for emancipation from perfonal and
mental fervility, and will contemplate a collateral impediment, viz.
the concealed pafiions of cur unionifts. Thefe did not die ; they
only flept during the revolution, and they had confufed dr.eams
of future national greatnefs. The fleeping lion has loft none of
his powers of deftruftion.

* See Mr. Adams' Defence of the American Conllitutlons.
f If any lawyer W'ifhes to cajl n^ic gut on tbisiubjetft, he wiil findxne per-
fedjy at home.

128

Where in that day was the ariftocracy of thofe clergy, whofe
influence balanced the overbearing democracy of Conneifticut I*
Where was the ariftocracy of the bar and the compting-houfe ?
At a feafon, when the univerfal cry throughout the continent was,
" Where liberty dwells, there is my country,'* the felfifh paflions
were prudently filent, political equality prevailed, and a general
government, iiTuing from the revolution, was contemplated : but
what was the cafe afier the fpirit of the war had fubfided ? It was
foon difcovered that God had made diftindions among men,
which focieties muft recognize, that the artificial refpe6l of the
clergy mud be reftored, that liberty of confcience was dangerous
to religion, and that civil liberty tended to infurre6tions.f The
ardors of the revolution had abated, prrfeffional influences had
begun to operate, a convention of the ilates was raifed to form a
conltitution, and here the foverei^n people were called to fee

AN AUGUST ASSEMBLAGE OF WISDOM, DEBATING ON THE

AUGUST CONCERNS OF EMPIRES. The addreffcs cxpreffing thefe
ideas, and even reftingthe merits of their meafures on thefe augvjl
fads, v/ere a lucid commentary on the dodtrinc of political equal-
ity.— Angels^view Newton and Locke as we view an ape ; proba-
bly their views are corred ; and if fuch be the correct vrews of
fuperior beings ; if revelation confirms fuch views ; if experience
teaches that in the midft of great knowledge are great errors, and
if thefe men had convened to eftabliili the metes and bounds of
their own future greatnefs, we ought to fufpend a little of our
idolatry on this avguji fubjefl.

Several of the men were torles, publicly known as fuch through
the war, feme were monarchies, fome ariftocrats, and there were
feme republicans. They debated on famples of conftitutions,
differed much, and finally prefented a conlHtution, in which the
great men were balanced under the heads of executive, iegifla-
tive and judicial, and a power of balancing them all by elections
was rcferved to the people ; which balance, if carefully kept en-
tire, would be competent to the purpofe ; but the beftowmcnt of
enormous powers to the three balances and leaving the counterpoife
only the duft of a balance heavier than the reft, expofed this iafl
to a diminution of its powers and to an eventual difufe. The
recognition of an ariftocratic principle was diftin6l in the fix years
term of the fenate. The appointmer.^ of prefident was left to ac-
cident, not to the choice of the ptlople.j; Surely it will not be

* See the Encyclopedia under the title, " Connedicut," cxtra<fled from
Dodtor IVIorft^^s' Geoo^raphy

f Shays' infurredion gave rife to this idea, and the enemies of the revo-
lution were fexpert enough in their management of it.

\ Electors vote for Prefident and Vice-Prtfident without dcfignating,
which is Intendt d as the firft cfficcr, in confequence of which it may happen
that the ir.an, who bad not one vote as Prefident may become Prefident, At
the lafl eledion the candidates were equal, each having fcventy-three vyt^^.s.

129

contended that citizens would have a free choice, provided an
e{e<5lIon of mayor and of port phyfician were to be made at the
fame time, and that the one which happened to have the greateft
number of votes fhould be mayor. In fuch mode each candidate
might be placed in a fituation, inconvenient to himfelf and ufelefs
to the people, and neither would be the choice of the ele6tors ; yet
as widely different are the qualifications and offices of the prefi-
dent and vice-prefident — extremely important the event : a difap-
pointment of the people for four years on fuch a fubjecl would pro-
bably caufe a convuiiion, yet our northern unionifls are oppofed to
any amendment. They hope to gain by this defecl: in the confH-
tution a fifth balance, viz. the power of the minority over all the
reft, which balance, if once fuffered to turn thefcales, would in-
ftantly deflroythe government.

In the houfe of reprefentatives was repofed the people's (Irength,
and here it is fafe fo long as their elections are uncorrupted, and
fo long as their prcfident and his adminiftration are republican ;
but with an ariftocratic preliderit, the majority in the houfe
will forget their conftituents, and Britifh treaties and flamp
adls will rgife their detefled heads againil: the fpirit of t^e revolu-
tion. When conflltutions are made by thofe, who are to conjiitufe
the three firft balances, we are not to wonder that any amendment,
which the people may wifn, fhall run the gauntlet of t^uo thirds o£
the fenate, t<wo thinh of the houfe of reprefeatatives and the
iegiflatjires or conventions of three fourths of the Hates. Since
it has not pleafed the minority in the fenate to accede to the ob-
vious amendment in the choice of our firfl: officers, we are not to
expert any yielding to the people. The conftitution is the bed,
which we could obtain under fuch aufpices, the firmnefs of the
people may obviate its defeds ; but the manner of its produ6tion,
its ariftocratic balances, and the refufals to amend it are fo many
arguments that the object of our unionifts was not a deftru6tion of
the power, which had ruiaed other nations, but a transfer of it to
ihemfehes. The conftitution is a title-deed drawn by their owrn
hands, ftandin^ on record, fubfcribed by feveral men, who were
the public enemies of our revolution, and by others, who are
now known to be monarchifts and the adherents of Britain. The
aiTent of the people was drawn from them by the prayers and.
eloquence of men, who had fworn eternal fidelity to the people I
And the day of its final adoption was the firft day of glory,
which church and ftate had feen (ince the opening of the revolu-

aiid the choice devolved on the houfe of reprefentatives. Prefident Jcfferfon
vfas interidcd for the iirft office. The Vice-Prefident (Burr) declined com-
petition,; yet for more than thirty times, the friends of order, our nortbem
unionifts, iliewed their contempt for the only republic?n balance in the coniH-
tution : an honeji evidence of theli' willingnefs to fee a fair experiuient of rc-
publicanifir. [

R

^3^ ■^

tion. Tfiat conftltution is the property of a republican people*
and the^r will defend.it ; but from that <3£/^?^ afTemblage of wlfdom
they could have wiflicd for more wifdom and for greater refpedt^
to the mare augujl afretiiblage of a free people.

The refolution of the great men to avail themfelves of the
habitual fervility of man and to deprive the people of their
independence only originated in this occafion. Its details are
vifible at every advance.

To deflroy the balance of the people all the fciences of gov-
ernment were introduced in ou*r national councils ; rapid difcov-
eries of the wifdom of European governments were made ; long
fpeeches were the order of the day, and the people, who'
iinew nothing of Latin and Greek and little of ancient and
modern hiftory, and who had no conception o^ a republican goV'
trnmenff managed by monarchical machinery and operated for the
chief henejit of the governors i were not qualified for a feat in our
councils. 'X'he language to them was, "Be quiet, truft to us,
" we have all knowledge, and thofe, who teach you to diftruft

A Rranje (late of things was introduced, the people underftood
nothing about it ; but they retained their honeft confidence ; the
poHtical clergy of New-England made rapid converfions to the
do6lrine of pafTive obedience, and the age of poUtical myfteries
commenced. To aid the opening fcene COnnedicut fent to con-
grefs a fenator,* whofe politics were fo hoftile to their revolution,
that he had been fent to refide at a diftance from. the fea coafl.
The pcr:ple ha^ no want of rtfpei5t for his' talents or integrity;
biu could not then conceive how their great men in the legiflature
ftiould eled him to carry into efFe6t a republican government. The
funding fyftem and Britifh treaty, and quarrel with France, were
all ailonifhing to the people : they had no conception, why gov-
ernment fliould be fupported at an enormous expence and why we
Aiould court foreigh alliances, nor could they fee lefs deformity in
an American than in a Britifh excife ; but the language was, " Be
** quiet, gictit men are at the helm, your blcfiings will arrive, if
" you have patience to wait." . .

But feveral new difcoveries were made, viz. that the objed: of
our revolution was vifionary — that a reprefentative of 30,000
people is not in fa<St their reprefentative, but that he reprelents ail
the United States, and that religion was very ,cIofely conneded
with the exifting order of things. The firft of thefe propofitions
was a grofs infult on the people^ — the fecond was a vital aim" at the
only power, which the people retained, and the third was wholly
'myfterious ; but the argument was, " Be quiet, great men are at
lielm." The men, who called the revolution viiiqi>ary, tr-e-Ated it

* Dr. ' William S. Johnfoti.

as fuch, ridiculed its. principles, outraged its advocates and adopt-
ed every meafure, which could impoverifh and humble \p friends.
When the patriotic republicans were oppofing the Britifh treaty,
our northern unionifts confidered it a glorious manoeavre in one ot
their number* to let loofe the Savages ^fuddenly in favor of the
treaty and to carry by a war of words a mealure, which a world
of woes had been indured to prevent. Patiently did ovir people
hearthemfelves called a mob ! a rabble ! deftitute of fenfe, their
own worft enemies, ignorant of their rights and having only dif-
cretion enough to feledfor their rulers the rn;en, who defpifedand
abufed them.

This was a glorious height of character for a people, who were
but" a few years before founding, " death or liberty." They had
efcaped a natural death in their conteds with Britain, and had the
honor to meet a political death and the lofs of liberty from men,
v/ho affefled to fupport republicanifm. The point wis gained by
the New-England unionilts, that the great men fhouid deal oui-
allowances to the people, and the fervility of the people, which
the revolution had for ^ moment removed, was reilored under
circumiUnces, promiling its perpetual duration : — BiA there were
other impediments to a republican government, whichfthe-northern
unionifts more particularly improved for the fubjugation of the
people. Thefe will be the fubje(5t of the next, number.

NO. FL

Further hnpecUments to RepubUcanifmy confahved.

I

T has been already remarked that the unionlfts hate
chriftianity and confj^ired again!!: it becaufe it was hoftile to 'their
pafTions and political plans, and that they did this under pretence of
regard to it. There is a great confiilency in thefe unionilh ; they
hated republicanifm, becaufe it v/as oppofed to their religious fyf-
tems and to that domination of the clergy, which had always been
fubfervient to their advancement.

To the natural fear of great men was fuperadded that of the
clergy, and this laft kind of terror, if it is ingrafted into the young
ftock, will bud and blofTom through life. The greateft fcience of
a clergyman confifts in his having realized the depravity of man,
his nothingnefs, his duty to be huoible and his deftitutioa of claim

* Mr. Ames.

to the mercy oF God or the hamage of man. IF feeling thefe
things he is perfonally humble, uniolicitous of applaule, ardent
for the fphitual good of man, and fenfibie ot his unfitnefs to guide
their political concerns : in fact, if he has modelled his character
after the fafnion of the New-Teftament, he will fecure a kind of
refpe^t ; but how many of them in New-England have been po-
litical preachers, zealous for war, for trixes, for impriionment and
for every thing, which could humble the common people.

If chriftianity is the fame as it v/as in the days of the Apoftles,
and if republicanifm is what it was in the days of our revolution,
church and ftate is neither chriltiaw or republican ; yet they have
the names and forms of both and affe(5t to praftice them as far as
the ftate of the fociety and their own tempers will^jermit ; but
this is a kind of conformity, which the fpirit of both of them
difowns.

Previous to our revolution there were fome thoufands of men
in New-England, who had a religion of the Ji?yi day of the iveek,
and who believed !r> what the clergyman faid on that day. Their
children were early brought forward to believe and the out-door re-
ligion was ^JDundant ; but if any layman undertook to believe for
himfelf or|b doubt what he was told, they were air ready to leave
their work in order to calf him out of the fynagogue. With fuch
impreffions, we began the revolution, and let the world theori:^e as
they v/ill, ^he llavery thus induced is never entirely worn oC A
man, v/hoSs early told that he muff believe certain things, and that
lie muft do it at this moment or the door of grace wiii be forever
fliut, is very apt to believe ; yet his belief under a threat that eter-
nal mifery will be the confequence of his doubting, is no better
than a promife made under durefs or a confeflion with a bayonet at
the breafl. The man, who beheves a few times in this way lofes
the freedom of his mind, and he who makes him believe, becomes
his mafter. Men may call this an infidel fentiment ; but in my
view the man, who profeffes to bdieve, and yet his mind has not
prevailing evidence of the truth or exigence of what he believes is
both hypocrite and infidel. In an atbmipt to deceive others he, be-
trays himfelf. — Bwt the people were not united in their faith : they
had ail forts of creeds ; bu.t agreed in tliis one point, that the cler-
gy of all denominations mud be revered, and the clergy of all
differing denominations appeared to unite in .approving this fenti-
ment.

No harm could/follow from this reverence, provided it extend-
ed no farther than to a rational refpeft for them in their profeffions ;
but when a kind of infallibility was attached to them even in
fpiritual concerns, chriifianity muft have fuffered by it : the liber-
ty of the Son of God is never gained by any obfequioufnefs of
confcience : but when this infallibility extended to men and
meafures of government, it was dangerous to civil liberty — and

^^

when fubtle civilians, willing to gain promotion on any bafe
terms, availed themfelvcs of this intallibility for thlir. benefit, it
was defi:ru6llvc. Yet under thefe inaufpicious impecllments v/e
began the revolution, and when we ref}e(5l what our condition was
at that time, and what it now is in refped to thefe unionifts, we
may form fame eftimate of the fincerity, with which the unionills
prayed or fought for the religious and civil liberty of ike people.
They were fincere fo far as refpe<fted foreign domination ; but all
ctheir pad lives and fyftems v/ould have been loft to tli^fm had they
fought to leave men to purfue religion as a perfonal cpncern be-
tween themfelves and their Maker, or had they aimed to depend
for political confequence on talents and fervices, inftead of relHng
on the artificial and long eftabliflied influence of church and ftate.

Viable intolerance had abated in New-England ; there was no
written law in force that none but church members Ihould be free
burgefTes ; yet the avowed charge of Chrift's chuvgk was in our
law-books, fonie nice points of theology were ^tled in our
llatutes, and the common law of church and ftate was in full
force. No man could tell what this was, any more than our lav/-
yers can tell what the common law of this countrj is ; yet the
general operation of both thefe common laws was, 3^at the craftf-
men underftood the profit of thera, and that they operated great
mifchief to the people. There was no vifible pope with his
council of cardinals ; yet in many of our parifhes^was a great
infallible and feveral little infallibles, who pronounce^ with great
wifdom on the divine counfels, which had been hid from ages,
and who decided with raagifterial certainty on controverfial points
which had been difputed by the ableft men for centuries. Civil
ofhces were fubordinate to this ftate of things, and the fpirit of
church and ftate was really more dangerous to civil liberty and
toleration, than the policy of Britain was. A<flions fpeak louder
than words ; the conduct of our unionifts fince the revolution
ihews that their objedl was to redeem the people from one ftate of
intolerance, o/ily to bind themfajler in another ; and in order to
gain this objciSt it was irnportant for our leaders to acquire that
power, which Great-Britain pofiefted, and having gainci this
power, they have conv^erted the whole of it to the ftrengthening
of their union, and in return have diredltd the acquired ftrengfh
to the deftruftion of the liberty'-, profefted to be aimed' at in the revo-
lution. Thus the people, after their fucceftes, repofing on church
and ftate, have leaned on a reed, which has pierced them through.

A precife knowledge of the chara6ler of New-England under
this head is as neceftary to a civilian as a knowledge of anatomy
is to a furgeon. Were you to difTedl a New-England man, ycu
would find about him kraps of undigefiied creeds, in which his
own reafon had no kind of agency. Our New-England mem-
bers of congrefs talk in fcripture dialed : our lay theologians

^34

quote catechifms as found theology ; our urtionifts talk of grace
by rote, and even our paragraph v/ritcrs fill infenfibly into tefta-
ment allufions, witliout the lead intention of paying court to the
clergy. We learn from our cradles a number of prejudices,
whlcti our mature exertions, added to the ableft reafonings, are
unable to abate. With thefe ideas in view, we (hall fee the por-
tion of church and ftate religion, which was \voven into the web
of our 1 evolution, and hence the impediments to civil and reli-
gious libeity, and the eafe with which our unionifts could always
oppofe tha advances of a republican government.

This impediment being explained, it remains to remark in this
numbtr a lubftantial and durable impediment connected with it,
which operates with great force, viz. the refcmblance of the gov-
ernment, for which we profefTed to fight, to the religion, which
we profeffed to approve. ■ . ,

Pure rept|||ficaaifni is as perfeftly fuited to trie political interefts
orthecomnPn people, as chriAianity is to their i]iritual con-
cerns: but it demands fuch a facrifice of the pafiions, fuch a
devotion to the public good, fuch undeviating regard to judiccand
peace, that ttven the common people cannot long preferve it in its
purity. Rq^ablicanifm ** deligius in the region of civil and do-
meftic quiet, extends its bleffings to the fields of labor, and vifits
thofe moft, who moft approve it.'' Revolutions produce a feafon
of political virtue in the oppreffed, and conceal thofe paffions,
which are liereafter to attempt the defl:ru6tion of their natural
effe«5ls. The eafe of turning this impediment to federal account
will be readily conceived.

But we had been under Englifh dominion, and had imbibed
Tqany aixtirepublican maxims of government, which were fo en-
twined with our other knowledge, ^that^it was next to impolTibie
to detach them. It is eafier to conquer well difcinlined troops
than old prejudices, and the talk is rendered more hopelefs, pro-
vided at the moment of our attempting to reduce them a pov/erful
clafs of men advance to their aid. I'he Joveretgnty of the people.,
■which is indilpenfible to republicanifm, was a principle too mighty
to be adopted in its full force by the people, unlefs their leaders
would precede them in it ; but the leaders fecretly abhored the
•principle, while in public they affcded to idolize it. The world
had fo long kept f:;rvants in chariots and mafters on foot, that to
.change this courfe required a powerful effort in the public mind.
The principle was nominally ertablidied ; but its mod vital enemies
were the ftewards of its own houfehold. Connedlicut had a repub-
lican government of a very fimple conflrudion : ele<51ions were
fcmiannual and the people enjoyed u kind of fovereignty j but all
the power in operation was fo trifling, that the fenfe of fovereign-
ty was hardly fufccptible. A popular fovereignty to be extended
■throughout the continent, balancing the jaring interefls of the

^35

flates and fiabduing ailftocracies of talents, wealth an4 ptofefFiOug,
prefented eiiibarraffments, not alarming in the feafon of the revo-
lution, but formidable when this fovereignty was committed to
men, whofe political exiftence depend on its deftruflion.

To thefe impediments may be added the zeal of our northern
people for wealth, for enterprize and for comparative .weight in
political fcales. • More of their paffions were filenced'than fub-
dued. Every bkffing of the revolution depended on good man-
agement afterwards. A vidory is worfe than notJung, if you
leave the fortreffes which you have taken to be garrifoned by the
troops which you have recently conquered.

Our artful unionifts knew this to be the ftate of the public mind :
they faw the facility of tiirning it to their account : they felt a
cordial enmity to the principle of popular fovereignty. Hence
the pailions, defcribed in the laft number of the lirft part, were
let loofs on the principles of the revolution, zr\0:z fyftem of
meafures was commenced, a fummary view of VWlich will (hew-
that our unioni/is iven as hojlile to our independence as nvas the
Brhifh courts

■ ■ • ■ i

m. Fii.

View of the fiijl overt- a Els of the' Unionifts after the Revo-

hitiin.

I

AM not in the habit of believing that^the foil, climate
and manners of this country are fo peculiarly acceptable tQ the
Supreme Being that he has fet his afFe<5iions upon- it excfufively^
but had this been the cafe, are we to believe that he woul^ have
delighted in making us the greateft and richeft nation on #anh ?
The majefty of this world has yielded fo little homage to his' Di-
vine M^jefty thaJ: he could take no intcreO: in fuch an event. He
doubtlcfs leaves nations as he does individuals with paffions, capa-
ble of yielding good, with reafon to dired thofe paffions, and has
left them to all the evils which refu'c from giving them a wrong
diredion.

Partiality for our own country fhould not exclude an admiffion
that in all feafons we have had a clafs of men, whofe feelings and
interefts -^tx^ from various caufes oppofed to thofe of the people,
and that the rights' of the people committed tl this clafs wi^l bc'in
danger. Reading and reflexion are ufeful in teaching us to avoid

^3^

evils, but it did not require the forefight of Locke or Newton to
difcern that if at any future day the tories, the monarchifls, the
political clergy and the civihans dependant on them fhould harmo-
nize in meafures, thofe meafures would be antirepublican.

As there were two clafTes of men in our country, different in
obje6ts, fo there were two paths to purfue. One was the narrow
and hiHnl>lls path of rehgion, competence and peace, the delega-
tion of thj^^ moderate powers, neceffary to fuch a condition, and
the beftownjint of confidence on men, " who like the fun would
ihine not for their own good, but for that of the fyrtem ;" a per-
petual pledge on the part of the rulers to refpeft the fovereignty
of the people and the principles of their revolution — and an unde-
viating firmnefs in the people to employ none, who refufed to ac-
cept of truft on fuch terms. The other was the high and broad
road of national glory. The courfe of the firO: was not found in
any map of ilM world nor any page of hiftory. The other was
in every mapPand every hiftory. The firft led to the fields of
labor, where gains are flow and fure, and the laft condudled to a
lottery, where an enormous prize and feveral great prizes conceal
from the adveaturers the great multitude of blanks and the chances
of lofs. It was eafy to fee that the day, on which the lafl: of
thefe paths fhould be decided on would be a dark day for the
friends of the revolution : and fuch it has proved, *' a morning
of clouds andlncreafing in gloom to the clofe of it."

The advopatcs of national glory are full of dignity : they fcorn
the low region of the afFeftions ; they annihiliate revolutions by
deftroying their infant eflTedts. The work of conciliation with the
domeftic enemies of our caufe conftituted the funeral obfequies to
our departed brethren.* This was the firft overtax of our union-
ids. I call it tbeir ad, becaufe in this policy as well as in every
general meafure, which has been combated by the friends of the
prefent adminiftration they have been united. Had this concilia-

* Do<5lor Stiles, in a fcrmou preached in 1783, exprtfles the fenfe of the
country. After reciting the names of the heroes, whom we had loft, and
the diftseffes of the war, he fays, " Can relatives forget the cruel mock-
" ings, Icourgings, aflVlTinations of their deareft connedtions ? Can they
" forget the thoufands of their captivated countrymen configncd to deilruc-
" tion ? Were thefe the kindncfles American brethren received from the
" hands of loyalifs ? Can w^c ever love Biitain again ?" This ardent patriot
lived to hear a mortifying anfwer to his quellions ! — Fedcraliih regard as
puerile fuch feRtimenis ; but theirs are not puerile; they exhibit an alarm-
ing -maturity. They were mature in the courts of kings long before they
adopted them. A marriao^e union between the leaders of nations, which
had exhaufted each other's blood and trea'fure, has ciofed with a feftival, the
defolation of war, and the uiiftrable pantomimes of courtiers haye fuc-
ceeded to tragedies, whofe imprtflioris ought never to have been loft. A
treaty of peace- Is neccffary to clofe the horrors of war ; but the firft figner
to a treaty of fiieudfl:ip, ihould be the man, whofc wcunds have be#u the
deepeft !

tfon been preceded by any confeffion of error, had it refulted
from mere humanity:, it would have deferved praife ; but it was,
as events have proved, an union of complacency, not of forgive-
nefs. The manner in which the convention was compofed, illuf-
trates this, and every cardinal meafure of the government was a
frefh declaration to the people in favor of the do<ftrines of the old
fchool.

Having prefented confiderations enough to lead you to contem-
plate the extreme probability that your rights would be violated by
the men firfl: in power, and having in view the fa<5t that /or attempt-
ing fuch violation the 'voice of the people has deprived them of confi-
dence, I fliall proceed to exhibit the progrefs of thefe violations,
difpofing in my advance of the confiderations, calculated to pre-
vent your impartial decifion.

The leader of our armies was placed at the head of our councils.
His name was a hoft in fiivor of that party, which could avail
themfelves of it, and though this name was the property of the
people, who had aflifled to gain it ; yet the leaders feized on it,
and with this advantage thty eftablifhed the funding fyftem. I
have already adverted to this : but as it was th? radical caufe of
our evils, the political fail, which fubjeded us to the lofs of an
American Eden arid to innumerable curfes, it deferves recurrence.

It has never been pretended that the prefident faw all the ten-
dency of this meafure, or that he had any conception that much of
the paper had been artfully and wickedly drawn into the hands of
Britifti agents, tories, rich capitalifts and (in many confpicuous
inftances) of men high in office ! furely he had not forgotten (he
could never forget) the interefting moment, when bidding adieu to
the brave officers and foldiers, whom he commanded, he pledged
to them his facred honor that their fervices fhould be faithfully
remunerated. Thofe, who pretend that he underftood this mea-
fare, would deprive him of a claim to the gratitude of his coua^
try.

What did the ftrong advocates of that fyftem contemplate ? Na-
tional glory ? And how were they to compafs it but by the fame
means, which experience had taughf I There was in this bufmefs
no Machiavel, no Sully, Richlieu or Mazarin. All was plain
work. Europe was full of copperplate copies on this fubjedt. A
man of fix feet in height could as well plan a funding fyftem as
one of fi5cty : a boy can copy : but it required more than the or-
dinary fortitude of a man to refolve to deprive the army of their
hard earned reward, to ftab the vitals of the revolution, to fink,
in the duft the hopes of millions, to eftabHffi in power the enemies
of the revolution, and to lay the foundation of numerous, cruel
ariftocracies. This required nerves probably more than any Amer« •

S

'38 -

itan pofleiTed. A foreigner* was prime leader of the funding
lyftem. In thofe days It ivas not criminal to have a foreigner at the
head of the treafury. It required ftrong nerves to drive fuch a
meafure againft the whole force of fouthern eloquence, againft
manifeft equity, and againft the temper of the people. The
magic v/ords of " national honor^^ were founded in vain, and the
meafure was not carried, till the monied ariftocracy, intended to be
created by the fyftem, became powerful enough to give itfelf a
being. A funding fyftem is an engine of prodigious powers, it
creates as many ariftocracies as can be fubfervient to it, and has
the complete control over them all. Thus among the firit fruits
of this meafure, America was to eftablifh a credit in Europe,
fjounded on our having purchafed, at feventy millions, paper not
worth in market fifteen ; by our having violated an eternal obliga-
tion of paying it to the nien^ who earned it, and having afTumed
the legal and precife idea of paying it to the men, who merely-
held the evidences of its having been earnt : in fadt, ly a great
political frauds we were to become great among tliC nations.

This gave glorious occafion to raife a diplomatic ariftocracy by
fending to the courts of Europe American monarchifts, who with
great outfits and falaries were to perfuade them how much we re-
Ipefted them, and how anxious we were to receive in return their
Hammonfds and Liftons to expedite us in following their fteps. —
Under this monied ariftocracy were foon ranged all its advocates
in the fubordinate ar!,ftocracies of the compting-houfe, the bar, the
delli and the fword. For all thefe no balance was provided by the
cohftitution. New-England church and ftate was forward and
vilible in all this bufmefs, and through its influence the murmurs of
the people were huflied.

When the moral faculty of a nation has been depraved, every
deftru6tive confequence will follow. The funding fyftem took
the place of the energies which it deftroyed, appointed members
of congrefs, devifed plans of expence, enlifted the preftes, and
managed all the appeals to the fears of danger, and luft of wealth,
which influence the multitude. It gave the alarm of the weftern
infurre*Sion, and fent an army of governors, and hot-bed patriots
to quell it, and exhibited in miniature all the little arts, which
were thereafter to appear in full life. All was yet on too fmall a
fcale. — No army nor navy, nor land-tax, nor fedition law ! fonie
men had the effrontery to talk of the fpirit of 1 776. The Britilh

* Alexander Hamilton. As it is cuftomary to pay a turnjiike toll of
complinients at paffing the name cf this man, and as he is decidedly and
ciiiincritly the head and plan founder of the federal party, I take occalion to
icmark, that he is probably a brave man, and doubtlcfs a man of fuperior
t?.leiits. All his plans have an ingeniovs io)rplkation of jiruBme about them,
vhich detaches the curfoi'y obferver from a view of tlicir interior movements.
'1 he fame charadler attaches to his writings, as may be fcen by reference to
his *' amours with Mrs. Reynolds," aod " his lattr to John Adunis."

^39

treaty was fet on foot. • This was favorable to all the ariftocracies,
and promifed to cut the knot of alliance between France and us.
Had the Britifli miniftry been commiffioned to manage our con-
cerns, they would have adopted the fame meafures.

This treaty, made in 1794, was entitled a treaty of amity,
commerce and navigation, and the firft article provided that there
ihould be a firm, inviolable and univerfal peace, and a true and
ftncere friendfiip between his Britanic majelty, his heirs and fiic
cefiors, and the United States of America, and between their
refpeaive countries, territories, cities, towns and people of every
degree J nvithrmt exception of per fons or places. If the funding lyl-
tem wJls the warning, this was the ftroke of death to our inde-
pendence. But a few years before, this fame king had *' plunder-
" ed our feas, ravaged our coafts, burnt our towns and deftroyed
" the lives of our people; He had tranfported large armies of
" foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, defolation
<* and tyranny, fcarcely paralleled in the moft barbarous ages, and
" totally unv.'orthy the head of a civilized nation. He had con-
" ftrained our fellow-citizens taken captive on the high feas to
" bear arms again ft their country, to become the executioners of
«* their friends and brethren, or to fall themfelves by their hands.
" He had excited domeftic infurreftions among us, and had en-
" deavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merci-
« lefs Indian favages, whofe known rule of warfare was an undif-
^^ tinguiflied deftruftion of all ages, fexes and conditions." On
fuch fa6ls our declaration of indepenbe'nce pronounced
him to be a tyrant ; yet v/ith this tyrant, Mr. Jay in the year
1794, under truly federal aufpices, united you in the bands of
true and fmcere friendfhip ! !

Had this king changed his charader, or what were his new
claims on us ? He had lent his minions and corrupted our political
integrity : he was at open war with France, with whom we were
in alliance of amity and commerce, made in order to guarantee
each other again ft the well knov/n tyranny of Britain. At the
feafon of making this treaty, governor Monroe was our minifter
i/i France, pledging liis reputation, by order of our government,
that our fidelity and friendfliip for that nation was unabated. He
had no fufpicion that federalif n was mature enough for fuch diplo-
matic work. He appeared to be the refpeded and well chofen
envoy of a republic ; but was in fad deftined to be the vidim of
federal policy, and to footh the court of France with fmooth
profeflions, while we were contracting (article 23d) to receive,
at all times hofpitably the fliips of war of Britain ! I forbear to
comment on further violences to the French or to ourfelves in that
treaty. It was oppofed by the republicans in congrefs, and has
never ceafed to be abhored by them throughout the union. It
vas approved by the federalifts in congreft, iigned with reludance

by the PreCdent, admired by the tories, Britifh agents, all the
ariftocracies, and New-England church and ftate has never failed
to give it a cordial fupport.

After reading this treaty, we need not wonder at finding in the
next page a treaty of amity with the Dey of Algiers, in which
the proiHtuted affedlions of Americans were offered to Haffan
Bafhaw, his Divan and fubjeds, and on other occafions they were
at the fervice of every petty prince, who had a J'eaport. Thus
under the management of a clafs of men, who always hated re-
publicanifm, the United States, which in 1776, declared inde-
pendeince with a folemn appeal 10 the Supreme Judge of the world
for the reditude of their intentions, took early occafion, in pre-
fence of that Judge, to violate plighted vows, to commit abom-
inations with the kings of the earth, and to embrace thofe very
principle, which had always enflaved mar* and delolated the
world.

NO. VIIL

View of fome overt-aEls of the TJniomJls under the adminifii-a-
t'lon of Mr* Adams,

\_ RESIDENT Adams, who is a confpicuous member of
the New-England church and (late union, was placed at the head
of our government, under circumifances, peculiarly aufpicious for
an experiment of his balances of government. The majority of
votes by which he was chofen, was indeed fmall, and there was
fome queftion whether fair management would not have given Mr.
JefFerfon the chair ; but Mr. Adams was the conftitutional preli-
dent for four years, and having been a confpicuous patriot through
the revolution, having held high confidential trulls in Europe, and
having been vice-prefident for eight years, he took his feat with
a weight of charafter and influence.

The revolutionary fpirit was gone, our union with Britain was
eftabiilhed, the funding fyflem was in full operation, all the ariftoc-
racies were fubordinate to cabinet meafures, New-England church
and flate was organized and ready to pray, preach or fight for
lederal meafures, the public offices were principally filled by men
cbfequious to the court, republicans were humbled on every fide,
and the idea of popular fovcrcignty was treated with foveicign
contenipt.

14^

Our intrigues in Europe had drawn us into a delicate fituation
with France, and ftrong fufpicions were entertained by that nation
that our afFe(5lions were fet on Britain — that we wifhed to quarrel
with France — that our great men defpifed her revolution, and
that multitudes of our people were in heart oppofed to the policy
of our court. Nothing on earth was more true. Our leading
men had been laboring with all their might to produce a rupture
with France. Mr. Monroe had pledged enough of his charudkr
on ailurances of our cordial friendfhip tor France : it was thought
expedient to fend a ncv/ minifler with frelh afTurances. Every
American knows that tJiis was the finefle of a court ; for previa
ous to this time, inflammatory reflections agsinft France had been
frequent in congrefilonal debates, and from the feat of government
had been ifTued, in reports and pamphlets, tht moft daring infultss
on the French nation. The new minifter, (Mr. Pinckney) was
known both here and in France to be hodile to the French char-
aderand revolution, and republicans have never doubted that this
was the reafon of his being felecled for that m^flion. I'he French
refufed him cards of hof])itaKty. He wrote difpatches. The
prefident called a meeti»g of congrefs on the 15th of May, 1797,
and in his opening fpeech, after lamenting the caiife of this meet-
ing, after giving a varnifli to the charad:er of Mr. Pinckne)^,*
and after opening the heinous condua of France, be fays, '* Such
" attempts ought to be repelled with a decifion, which fhail con-
** vince France and the world, that we are not a degraded peo-
" pie, fitted to be the miferable inftruments of foreign influence,
" and regardlefs of national honor.^' He then recommends war
meafures, (to be called meafures of defence) and engages " to
*' inftitute a frefa attempt at negociation,*' in fadf to handle the
olive branch, while they (liould be preparing for hoftility.

This fpeech excited a war fever in congrefs and throughout the
country. At that feflion the exportation of all military imple-
ments v/as prohibited, and the importation of brafs cannon, mmlv-
ets, piftols, fvvords, lead, gun-powder, Sec. into this land of

peace, religion and order, was exempted from duty 115,000

dollars- were appropriated for fortifying certain ports — the prelident
was authorized to require of the executives of the feveral ftates
to take effedlual meafures, ai fuch time as he Jhould deem necejfaryy
to organize, arm, equip, and hold in readinefs to march at a mo-
ment's warning, 80, ©00 effective militia— provifion v/as made for
a naval armament — the odious flamp.a(5t was pafTed— an ad-
ditional duty of eight cents per builiel was laid on the. article of
SALT ! — the prefident was authorized to borrow 8oo,oco dollars
— tOi^oo dollars were added, to former appropriations for defray-

madi

* Mr. i\ Jams' declaration refpeding the monarch'ifm of Mi*. Pinckney
.ds whilt the lall eiedion was pending, will not be readily forgotten,

142

ing the expences of foreign intercourfe — 8co dollars for the fala-
ries for two extra clerks in the 'war department — 200,000 dollars
for completing and equipping three frigates — 100,000 dollars for
the pay and fubfiibnce of the officers and crev/s — 39,000 dollars for
repairs and fabrication of arms and cannon-carriages, and 5000
dollars for the hofpital department !

O ! how we loved the French ! and what blefTed teftlmonies of
afFecSlion were we preparing for Mr. Adams* new envoys to carry
to France !

At this extraordinary feffion was brought forward the famous
confpiracy of Blount, which being traced to the Britifh minifter,
Liifton, was not in point for the politics of the day.

The prefident difpatched Meffrs. Marfhal and Gerry to join
Mr. Pinckney, on a miflion of explanation and conciliation with
France ; but the plain Englifh of his fpeech on the i6th of May,
and th^ ftibfequent mcafures had reached France before them,
and they were not received. The (;onfequent pantomime of X,
Y and Z need not be related ; the meafures, which followed the
difpatches fiiew conclufively the objeft of it. Every thing tended
to a rupture with France, and to the fortifying of our adminiftra-
tion againfl; the jud complaints which would follow Uie operiing of
their new fyftems.

The fubfequent feHion of congrefs was opened with a long
fpeech, followed by long debates and a humble echo, in which the
houfes had the honor to think jufl as the prefident had condefcend-
ed to fpeak. At this feflion was appropriated a further fum of
115,000 dollars to equip for fea the frigates ; 216,000 dollars tor
pay and fubfiftence ; 60,000 dollars for expenditure of ammuni-
tion, &c. — The prefident was authorized to caufe to be built,
purchafed or hired twelve velTels of twenty-two guns each to be
armed, fitted cut and manned under his direclion, and 950,000
dollars were appropriated to this purpofe — provifion was made to
raife an additional regiment of artilierifts and engineers — a navy
department was eftablilhed — 250,000 dollars were added to former
appropriations for defence of our harbours — 800,000 dollars were
appropriated to enable the prefident to purchafe cannon, fmall
arms, &c. — 8o,coo dollars for fmail gallies.

Thefe were among the preliminary war m^fures of Mr,
Adams' adminiftration, all advocated by the New -England federal
members^ approved by the tories and Britifh merchants, all
publicly hoftiJe to the French nation. Yet our political clergy
were praying for them, preaching againfl the French, charging
them with a fpirit of atheifm and anarchy, and attaching thefe
charges to all the republicans, who oppofed thefe meafures. The
country was filled with Robifon's proofs and BarruePs memoirs,
and the fealon had arrived for flriking a decifive blow at the root
of republicanifm. The federal papers announced that all piety,

J43

virtue, patrlotifm and talents were on the federal fide ; but tht
aliens were troublefome and ret^ublican papers queftioned the policy
and integrity of adminiftradon,
■ To meet ihls itate of things, to exalt church and (late, and
to humble republicans, not to defend ourfdves againjl the French,
the prefident was authorized to raife an army, in the event ot a
declaration of war again ft us, or of aflual invafion, or of immi-
nent danger of fuch hroafian difcovered in his opinion to exiji, and
provifion was made for the appointment of a lieutenant general,
infpeaor general, major generals, and great men enough to rum
a nation, and for caps, fwovds, piftols, labres, &c. and 200,000
dollars were appropriated for the firft exigencies of this bufinels.
Here was a modeft opening for patronage, and a wide field ot
rlory. This was a day of clues and plots, and the prdidcnt iaw
danger clearly enough, and appointed the late preGdent to be
norrdnal lieutenant general, Mr. Hamilton to be r../ infpeftor
general, federal pockets were foon lined with commifiions,
and recruiting officers were like locufts about the country.
The body of the people regarded this- meafure with abhor-
rence; the veil, in which this bufmefs had been wrapped,
was too thin. The unionifts boldly advocated the meaure even
on its real bafis, and Mr. Webfter has been fatd to fay th^t Gen.
Hamilton declared the impoflibility of governing this country
v/ithout a military force to aid the executive This ^ ^^f
the true ground. That army was raifed on the ftrength of , artificial,
well concerted difpatches, and was intended for the humihat.on
of republicans and for no other purpofe. If o...r envoys were
honeft, the figure dancers, under the names ol X, \ and Z, de-
fcrve death for impofiDg on them.

On the day, when the prefident approved this army biU, he
approved another, empowering himfeli; to grant letters ot marque
and reprifal to American veffels agamit the French.^Immenf.
•appropriations were made for a war eftabhfhn^nt-~the commerciai
intercourfe between France and the United States was fufpenckd-^
the alien aa was pafiid, fubjcaing the perfons of aliens, who haa
fled here for refuge, to the arbitrary control of the prefident
and to crown this energetic work, an aft was pafTed, decknng the
treanes heretofore concluded with Francr, no longer obligatory en
the United States, and Mr. Adams folemnly approved our ex-
oneration by our own a^ from ftipuIations,(olemnIy entered into
bXfelf.S^his was a daring (Iroke, confidenngal which had
rrcc ded; but federal nerves were ilrong. Next followed
a declaration of a maritime war with France, which nation then
was ad has always fmce been at peace with us, and th^ prefident
Tas impov-ed ti commiffion private armed velTcIs to f.-.ze. u.
due and capture the armed vefTels of France.

O^ hoi lincereiv we loved France, when our ei.^. .^^
fcnnhci^ ! ^^d hov/ dcftitute of aifcerament were the Frencu !

M4

In the capture of the frigate Infurgent we gave them a key to aU
this bufinefs, and fliewed them by a little, what a great deal of
federalifm means !

The vaft appropriations made at this feflion required extraordi-
nary funds and mod extraordinary ones were invented. — An a6l
was pafTed for the valuation and taxation of lands, dwelling-hou-
fes and Haves, in the ninth fc6Hon of which provifion was made
for a future window tax and in the lafl: feflion an appropriation of
150,000 dollars for the expence of this ufelefs and unequal tax,
which fum fell fhort more than 80,000 dollars of its aflual amount.
The confequence of this was an immenfe patronage of the prefident,
the country was filled with commiflioners, aflefibrs, ftirveyors &c.
and our real property was mortgaged for the annual payment of fuch
fums as admJniftratlon fiiould be difpofed to lay on them. This was
in faft feizing the fee of our lands and placing us in the condition of
lefTees tmder our liege lords of the federal cabinet. This corps of
officers might filence fome doubts about the wifdom of meafures ;
but left they might not eifed: it — the infamous fedition ad was ap-
proved on the fame day, the proceedings under which will be re-
membered with horror by every republican.

Several ads for augmenting the army were made in order to rife
in adion, as the federal fever rofe, and on eftimate of the expences
it appeared that the two millions to be raifed on the valuation would
be inadequate — the prefident was therefore impowered to borrow,
on fuch terms as he fhould judge moft advantageous, five millions
cf dollars. His judgement, always equal, decided on eight per-
cent and at that intereft it was effeded. He was alfo impowered
to borrow, at fix per-cent (of the bank) two millions to be refun-
ded from the avails of the dired tax, whi<;h tax was never likely
to be colleded, except it was from ftates fubjed to federal rigours.
Church and (late paid it cheerfully and beftowed its bleiHng on the
objeds to which it was to be applied.

The laft ad of this war feflion provided that 10,000 copies of
the inllrudions to our envoys and of the X, Y and Z bufinefs
fliould be printed and diftributed gratis in the country — and this is
all, which tiie people ever received for millions of their money
expended in the deftrudion of their principles and in the eftabhfli-
ment of a reign of terror, which if continued through another
prefidential term would have entailed on themfeives and pofterity
p-;rpetual flavery.

Thefe meafures give the length and breadth of Mr. Adams' ad-
miniftranon. The next feflion opened with a law to punifh men,
who ihould (as Dodor Logan had done) improve their private in-
£uence and wealth to obtain from foreign governments the political
or ccmmercial relations, wliich our government profeffed to wifli —
the Englifli tranflation of which was, " we were not finc'iere in our
wilh to adjuft all diffeiences with France : fuch adjuflment would

145

have hazarded federalifm and you (Doftor Logan) are a diforgan.
izer and a jacobin for attempting to effect luch conciliation." Mr.
JefFerfon was greatly abufed in the debates on this a<5t. — Further
meafurcs were taken to fufpend cur intercourfe with France — a mil-
lion of dollars was appropriated for building fix feventy-fours. and
fix floops of war — 50,000 dollars for docks — 200,000 dollars for
fhip-timber — laws were made for the government of the navy —
provifion was made to augment the army — the falarles of the pub-
lic officers were raifed to the fame f urns, ivh'ich are now allowed to
them — two millions, one hundred and two thoufand dollars appro-
priated for the navy — one million, five hundred and forty feven
thoufand dollars for the military eftablifi.ment, and more than two
millions for the additional army and imraenfe additional appropria-
tions for other military and naval purpofes. Federal New-Eng-
land was cordial in all thefe meafures and the political clergy fuf-
tained regular nominations of lawyers and feleded the moft tho-
rough-going of them to fuftain the admlniflration. We will not
be told that they did this in order to ferve the kingdom of Chriil
or to fuftain the government, contemplated by the revolution.

It is unnecefTary to purfae the meafures through another feflion.
The traits of this adminiftration were friendfkip to Britain, enmity
to France — duplicity in management — tendencies to inordinate ex-
pence — to increafing the burdens of taxation and the weight of pub-
lic debt — finking the people into a fubmiffive dependance on the ru-
lers— fondnefs for a war fyftem — eagernefs for national wealth and
greatnefs at the expence of principle and a determination to com-
pafs, by a reign of terror, fyftems of meafur---?. which republicans
abhorred.

It is notorious that the unionlds of New-England have been in
the fleady habit of fuftaining both at home and abroad men, who
boldly and ftrenuoufly advocated fuch meafures, and the quefiion to
a candidate was not, are you a chriftian and a republican .'' But
are you in favor of federal meafures ?

NO. IX.

Further view of the overt-acts of the Unionijl:,

X HE outdoor work of the federalifts during the reign of
terror deferves confideration.

While the prefident was balancing ariftocracies here and playing
the piiflioiis of the great men againft the interefts of the commoji

T

146

people, his fon was expending his outfits of 9000 dollars and annual
falaries of 9000 dollars in learning to ballance kingdoms in Europe.

Regardiefs of his own loud outcry againft France, that ihe had
endeavoured to alienate the afFe<5lions of our people from cur rulers,
Mr. Adams coolly made a treaty with Touiffant, as governor of
St. Domingo, in which the Britifh were a party^, and one fecret
obje<5l was a difraemberment of that valuable colony from France.
That treaty is now in the polTs'ffion of the fecretary of ftate, to-
gether with the correfpondences between Mr. Pickering and Mr.
S. Mayer. This was a fample of political integrity.

The agency of Lifton in the confpiracy of Blount did not coft
him a momentary hiding of the Prefident's face, though a condu^l,
lefs infidious and dangerous, of a French envoy, had nearly con-
vulfed two nations.

The Vice-Prefident (Mr. Jefferfon) was conftantly vilified and
calumniated in the federal papers and toafts ; but Mr. Adams was
guarded by a fedition aft. Federal printers rioted on the fpoils of
republican reputation ; but republican printers were the vidims of
abufes, of legal perfecutions and often of prifons. Benjamin Frank-
h'n Bache, editor of the Aurora, whofe fcience and political integ-
rity would have done honor to any cavife, was the inceflant fubjedt
©f perfecution not only from the truly federal Porcupine and the
hireling Fenno, * but from every rank of federalifts. His fuccef-
for, William Duane, whofe talents and afliduity have made him
for years the terror of the terrorifls, has been in one inftance af-
jTaulted by a band of armed federalifts, had his office inverted, and
fuffered the fevereft perfonal abufe — has been haraffed in the law
by a multitude of federal profecutions at an expence of feveral
thoufaads of dollars, and his higheft crime was an ardent zeal for
the principles of the revolution, and a peculiar faculty of infufing
that zeal into the body of the people, f The perfecution of Ly-

* Fenno, the elder, was eflabliftied in Philadelphia by Mr. Adams, and
patronized by Mr Hammond, the Britifli miniiler. Fenno, the fon. defert-
cd Mr. Adams ; but was retained by a new federal intcrcft and thus became
printer to the Sen'itc.

f As the unionifts have infilled that Mr. Duane was born in Ireland, I
take occafion to mention another country, where he was born. — He was born
in Clinton county, in the {late of New- York, in May 1760. His father died
there. In May 1765, his mother removed with him to Albany. About the
year 1774, he went with her to Ireland, where he was married, and for
fome time edited a paper as a means of fupport. In July 1787 he landed in
Calcutta, having been previoufly engaged as the editor of the Calcutta Gaz-
ette. He acquired about ^T. 10,000 fterling in a few years. Being too ardent
a republican for that country, he was (in Dec 1794) treacheroufly feized,
put on board an armed fhip and carried to St. Helena, the governor of which
would not fufFer him to land, buaufe he •was not a Britijb fuhjeSi. In England
he gained no reftitution of his property, which had been taken ; he came to
America, and is now the editor of the Aurora, to the great annoyance of the
federalifts ; and he furnilhes fome flationary for a republican Congrefs, which
-ieems to be an afflidlion to diem,— 'Such is the fliort hijftory of a man who has
ieen born in two countries.

__247

en, Cooper, Holt and others is well within the public recolkc-
tioB. Thefe were the days of conciliation I !

From every quarter were pouring in the nioft fulfome addrefles
to the Prefident, which were gracioufly anfwered. Wherever he
faffed, a fervile croud of poHtical clergy, tories, Britifli merchants
and thorough-going federalifts hailed his triumphal entries and
were ready to kifs the hem of his garments. This was a proud
day for every man who hated the revolution. All the power and
wealth of the country were in federal hands : we had an army, a
navy, a land-tax, a fedition a6t, an enflaved prefs, and church
and flate faw its beft days.

The eledtion of ftate officers in Pennfylvania gave the fir ft alarm
to federalifm. Republicans had loft their patience ; their latent
energies were brought into action ; glooms hung over the fcHion
of Congrefs in 1799 — i8co : but, it was too late to retreat: Mr.
Pinckney was to be fupported as Prefident ; Mr. Adams as Vice-
Prefident ; but this arrangement was to be concealed. Mr. JeiFer-
fon was the republican candidate for the Prefidency. The elec-
tion ball was opened, and the church and ftate unionifts rang all
their changes upon modern philofophy, iliaminatifm, atheifni and
anarchy againft Mr. Jefferfon — and upon order, religion, fteady
habits and good government in favor of Mr. Pinckney. They
faw fo much horror in having government return iato the hands of
the right owners, that they wrought themfelves into a frenzy of
zeal, and though all the meafures of the paft adminiftration ftared
them in the face, though religion had been outraged, though econ-
omy had been defpifed, though order had been deftroyed ; yet for
great men to retire to private life is like annihilation ; for great
plans to become abortive diftrefiing. Thofe political clergy, whofe
only hope was in this life, forefaw that of all men they would be
the moft miferable, if the influence of church and ftate fliould be
leflened. Could civilians bear to have their favorite fchemes of
war, wealth and taxation fail ? Could the tories and Britifti mer-
chants bear to fee a republican Prefident in the chair ?

The army and navy felt the fhock of this crifis, efpecially after
the refult of the New-York ele^ion was announced. Mr. Adams
faw the cloud gathering, and refolved on an effort to conciliate
France. He appointed envoys contrary to the advice of his min-
ifters : the treaty was effeded ; but it was too late to turn the tide
of the people. Mr. McHenry fecretary at war, retired from
oiEce : Mr. Pickering was difmiffed ; but it v;as too late ! the
meafures of 1798 could not be forgotten nor forgiven.

Church and ftate in New-England continued to deferve well of
federalifm even in its laft moments ; for at the fucceeding con-
grefs, after it was known that the republican candidates had fuc-
ceeded, its friends eftablifhed a new judiciary, which they coafider-
ed irremoveable : Mr. Adams continued to make appointments of

I4S

ofHcers, who were never to ferve under him — and in the conteft
of eleftion the unionifts, who pofitively knew that Mr. Jefferfon
had feventy three votes as Prejident and that -Mr. Burr had not
one as Prefident, refolved that the voice of the people fhould not
be heard and that a fair experiment of republicanifm fliould not
be made, voted more than thirty times for Mr. Burr ! Thefe
v/ere friends of order and good government ! friends of rehgion
and fteady habits, and fuch were the aufpicious and melting over-
tures of conciliation, which were to ufher in the morning of a
republican admlniftration.

Mr. JefFerfon's inaugural fpeech, which was principally inten-
ded as an expofition of his political creed, was conceived in terms
of perfeft^conciliation. He did not even notice the calumny and
abufe, which he had fuftered more than any other. The unionills
afFeded to confider this fpeech as a bond on his part to place full
confidence in them — to remove none of their number — to difturb
none of their plans ; but he was to be the nominal prefident "and
they had made up their minds to be conciliated, if he fhould con-
dudl according to this expofition. Thefe are the only ideas of
conciliation, which they ever exhibited and as foon as he made a
few removals, they called him the negro prefident, the mammoth
philofopher, renewed their railings and eifayed a reign of terror ;
but without an army and navy, with no weapons but the tongue
and pen, their power was fmall. The appointmient of Mr. Gal-
latin increafed their ravings — every advance of the prefident in his
labors diftreffed them. The majority againft them appeared for-
midable ; yet they continued to roar that federalifm was increafing,
and in a fliort time its increafe v/as from eight (tates down to three.

The firfl: congrefs, under the new adminiftration, prefented a
republican majority in both houfes ; the main force of federalifm
was concentered in the ftates of MafTachufetts, New-Hampfliire
and Connecticut, and in thefe it would iniliantly have periihed,
were it not for the nurting care of the political clergy. On the
repeal of the judiciary every unionirt raifed his voice, profelTing
.zeal for the Conltitution, and a federaiift was heard for onceto ex-
claim, " Spare, O fpare my country.'* Thefe worft enemies of
the people, tbemfehes, have taken the power into their own hands
and unlefs we federalilts keep up the bar, v/hich we mercifully
raifed at the laft feffion, they are ruined forever. To prevent
the dreaded crifis the heroes of conciJiation abufed the prefident,
Teflc6led on the republican members, even Bayard fpoke of them
as unprincipled inlidels, in whofe hands nothing was fafe and the
party claimed for themfelves that integrity, intelligence and pa-
triatifm, which the decifion of their country had loudly denied
them.

They had been in the habit of fpeaking contemptuoiifly of re-
piiblicanifc^, of profcribing every term, which exprelfes any per

M9

tion of our rights and of ridiculing the principles, for which our
fathers bled. To them a free government appears like anarchy,
public economy diftradion— removal of themfelves, tyranny, re-
peal of ufelefs eilablifliments, breach of conftitution. They mourn,
when freemen rejoice. They fee perfe<5t order in the confufion
of nations, harmony in the horrors of war and n&tional v/eaith in a
funded debt. To them the finger of heaven feems to point to war,
when univerfal providence invites to peace. They can difcern
a free American government in Mr. Adams' balances, morality
in Hamilton's confeflions, patriotifm in Governeur Morris, piety
in Bayard and chriftianity in the northern phalanx. After fuch
vifions we are not to wonder at their abufe of the prefident, their
abhorrence of Mr. Gallatin, their zeal for taxation and their ven-
geance againft republicans. Search you a new diftionary, where
words fhall have changed their meaning — Search you a new bible,
where men are taught to love themfelves fupremely, to profefs
what they do not feel and to perfecute all who will not bend to
ihem and you will then underft and more of federalifra.

The judiciary law was repealed — the federalifts talked of civil
war, and our church and ftate papers echoed the threat ; but the
power of " humbling in duft and afhes" had deferted them.
Nothing remained for federalifts but to improve the prefles to regain
the ground, which their meafiires had loft. Thefe publiftied, as
the prefident^s meflage, a grofs forgery — they mifreprefented every
republican fpeech and meafure, talked of the prowefs of Bayard
and Grifwold, and the confufion of Gen. Smith and Mr. Giles,
(which was a grofs fabrication.) It would be endlefs to follow
them through their ftories of French demands and railing falaries,
and the multitude of artifices, by which they endeavored to prop
the fpirits of their party and to aflift elections. In order to con-
traft their accounts with the fads and to contraft our adminiftration
with their's, I fliall prefent in the next nifmber, (from the Na-
tional Intelligencer) the proceedings of the laft congrefs. If
thefe fliall appear to you a fair expolition of the principles of our
revolution, as far as the prefent ftate of things would admit, you
will pronounce this to be the legitimate government of the United
States, and knowing the hoftility and conftant exertions of cur
unionifts againft it, you will readily pronounce them to he con-
i't'irators againji it.

NO. X.

View of the proceedings of the loft Sefjion of Congrefs,

I

T is the Tight and the duty of the citizens of a free flate
to acquire and communicate a corre(5t knowledge of all the pro-
ceedings of its government, and as far as poffible, of the princi-
ples which produced its various afts.

Whenever a portion of the people are induced by the reprefent-
ations of influential perfons to deny their confidence to the confti-
tuted authorities, it is peculiarly neceflary for the friends of the
government on its part to give publicity to its principles and meaf-
-^res, and for the people on their part to become acquainted with
the nature, defign, extent and operation of the raeafures ; that
Ihey may he enabled to judge from the fyftem and meafures them-
felves, not from ill-natured and bitter invedlives, what is the true
character of the adminiflraiion.

The people at the lad national eletflion repofed their confidence
in, and elevated to office, men whofe political principles are ma-
terially different from the principles of thofe gentlemen who com-
pofed the laft adrainiftration.

Government is inftitutcd to fecure and increafe the happinefs of
the people governed. It is the right and property of the public,
not of its adminiftrators. Therefore whenever the public with-
hold their confidence from one man and repofe it in another it
becomes the duty of every good man, as it will be the praftice of
every good citizen, to yield the fame ready obedience to the laws
and ordinances of the exifHng authorities as heretofore while the
perfons in authority were the men of his choice.

The decided majority which appeared in congrefs during the
Jafl feflion prove clearly a greater unity oi fentiment, views and
opinions, than has exiiled at any other period for the iaft ten years.
Although the federal government and thirteen out of fixteen
of the ftate governments are united in a fyftem of meafures
•which they believe beft calculated to promote public profperity and
national happinefs, ftill a difference of opinion and of political
views and principles exifts. This difference produces an oppofition
to government, headed by difappointedpartizans and fupported by
perfons well-intentioned but mifinformed. An oppofition which
attempts to diftradl the councils of the nation and palfy the efforts
of adminiftration ; which circulates with incredible induftry the
n)oft unfounded calumnies and fallhocds ; which while in power
heretofore fecured itfelf from fober invefiigation by affuming as a
h&. charged the inference or opinio.i of another, and inilided

fevere punlfhment for the pretended crime o£ fedt f ion, vrhich en-
hances the public expenditures by retarding the progrefs and opera-
tions of government, and protrads the fcfTion of congrefs by pre-
fenting every obftacle in its power with a view to render the gov-
ernment odious to the people. An adminiftration which labors to
fubditute order for confufion, economy for iavifh expenditures,
^nd the miid reign of principle for the intolerance of defpotifm,
courts inveftigation and defpifes calumny. It does not fear but
admires the plain language of truth. It never will entrench itfelf
behind the palings of a fedition a^, Confcious that it fupport^
thejuft principles of our government, and moves v/ithin itsconfti-
tutional orbit, it believes that its views and meafures, when fairly
underftood, will be applauded.

To remove all jealoufies from the uninformed, and to furnifli
the public with a jiift knowledge of the prefent improved (late qf
the nation, the following view of the proceedings of the firfi:
felTion of the feventh congrefs, with fuch executive ads as are
naturally conneifted with the fubjea and the remarks thereon, is
fubmitted to the public.

The feffion of Congrefs commenced on the 27th of December ;
on the 8th the Prefident's meiTage was delivered to both houfes.

By this mefTage, after giving a general view of the ftate of our
foreign relations and the profperity of the nation, he recommend-
ed :

Aredudion of expenditures in the civil department, and

In the army and navy departments ; _ , ^

And particularly to abolifh ufelefs offices : aa operation which
he had commenced where the exidence of the office depended on
executive difcretion.

A repeal of the internal taxes — comprehending, the excife on
domeftic diftilled fpirits — the (lamp tax — tlie tax on fales at auftion
— -on licences to retail — on carriages — on domeftic refined fugars,
and the portage of nevvfpapers. —

A careful attention to ths intereds of Agriculture, Manufac-
tures, Commerce, Navigation, efpeciaily of the carrying trade,

A revifion of the laws on the fubjed of naturalization. —

A revifion of the judiciary fydem, with a peculiar reference to
the late judiciary act, pafTed on the i3th day of February, 1801 5
and provifion for an impartial feledion of Jurors. —

The man who devotes his talents and attention to a redu<5lion
of public expenditures — to the abolition of ufelefs offices — to the
diminution of public bufmefs — to aid, encourage and promote,
agriculture, manufactures, commerce and navigation — topreferve
a due adminiftration' of juftice at a reafonable expence, and to
provide for an impartial felefliion of iurors, richly merits the confi-
dence of the Dation.

^5^

Among the nations of the earth, it was referved for America .
to exhibit to the world a government devoted to the intereft of
of the people ; a government which, inftead of increafing public
burthens, removed many of thofe heretofore impofed ; which, in-
llead of enlarging the powers already enjoyed, reftores to the peo-
ple thofe not effential to be retained ; at the head of which
prefides a man, who for the promotion of the public good and
prefervation of civil liberty, folicits the limitation of his own
powers, the redudlion of his own privileges, and the exercife of
every conftitutional check to limit the executive will.

The two hoyfes of congrefs united with the executive in the
great works of reformation and improvement.

They have reduced the army to little more than 3000 men,
who are confidered fufficient to take charge of, and to keep in re-
paix the various forts of the United States, and hereby have made
an annual faving to the nation of 522,000 dollars.

They have reduced a part of the navy eftablifliment, yet retain-
ed in fervice a fufficient force to humble the Barbary pirates. By
this redu6lion they have ieflened the public expenditures 200,000
dollars annually.

Proceeding on the principle of giving efficient fupport to na-
tional credit, and of maintaining the national faith and honor in-
violate, they have carefully compared the amount of every demand
againfl: government ; the terms of payment ftipulated ; and the
current expenditures as reduced, with the annual revenue. They
have found that the annual revenue, exclufive of the internal tax-
es, exceeds the wants of the nation. They have, therefore, re-
pealed all the internal taxes.

As the repeal of thefe taxes has been attributed to a defign to
pronwte the interefts of one fedion of the union, at the ex-
pence of another ; a few moments may be well employed in con-
sidering this fubjedt.

Excife is a tax always odious to a free people, from the extent
of power which is neceffarily given to enforce an obedience to the
law: It feems hardly compatible with the temper of a free na-
tion. It was fo abhorrent to the feelings of the people of Eng-
land, that the houfe of commons once voted to bring to condign
punifhment certain perfons who charged them with a defign to in-
troduce it. It was, however, afterwards introduced into the
nation, firft levied on a, few articles, from time to time extended
to others as the people were found to fubmit to the impofition, un-
til at lad it embraced almoft every article of convenience and many
of neceffity.

So here it commenced with a duty on d^ftilled fpirits ; but in
the cpurfe of four years was extended to the ordinary fales, for
confamption, of all fpirits, brandies and wines ; to all fales at
audlion : to all carriages for the conveyance of perfons^ and ail re-

'53

finers of Cigar. Had it been continued and the fame fyftem of
policy purfued, in a few more years, as in England, the paper for
our ■ fchool books, the dyes for our clothing, the lights for o»r
rooms, the beer for our tables and the fhoes for our feet would
have been laid under contribution. As it refpeds its effe<5ts on do-
meftic diftilled fpirits it operates, in the firft inftance, upon two
defcriptions of perfons :

I ft. The people who have emigrated from the old fettlements into
the interior, who encounter all the evils and hardfhips of opening
the wildernefs, are deprived of the convenience of market towns
or markets, and who are incapable of fypplying themfelves from
foreign market, or vending their furplus grains. With them a
circulating medium is fcarcely known ; their neceffides enforce
them to refort to the procefs of diftillation to prevent the iofs of
their furplus crops and furnifh a comfortable beverage.

The emigrants are highly ufeful to the nation ; they form a
barrier againft favages ; they extend the fphere of aftion ; their
emigration prevents a too denfe population, which increafes the
comforts of thofe left behind. To levy this tax on them is unjuft
and cruel. They require the foftering hand of a parent, not the
grafping hand of a tyrant or tax gatherer.

The middle and eaftern ftates have uniformly cherifhed and aided
infant fettlements, by freeing them wholly from taxation for a
confiderable time. The wifdom and policy of the meafure have
never been doubted.

2d. Perfons principally refiding in our large towns who enter
upon diftiliation for the purpofe of acquiring property. The fpirits
with which they furnifh the market, are derived either from mo-
lafTes, or from grains, cider, and the like, purchafed of our far-
mers. So far as they are derived from the diftiliation of molaffes,
the government derives a revenue from the article, by a duty on
its importation. So far as the fpirits are derived from articles pro-
duced in the country, the excife reduces the price of the article,
and throws the tax upon the farming intereft. When the diftiller
pays government ten cents per gallon on the fpirits he diftillj, he
will dedudt that tea cents from the price he pays for the portion
of grain or of liquor it requires to produce the fpirit. By remov-
ing the excife on diftilled fpirits, government does the moft efficient
a<51: in its power to furnifti the farmer with a reafonable market.

The demand of bread in Europe has of late years enabled the
farmer to fell his produce at a high price, but let peace once vifit
that quarter of the globe he will find an increafed proportion of the
monied capital applied to the diftiliation, and by that the price of
the various kinds of grain will be principally regulated.

The charge that it favors Virginia and other agricultural ftates,
to the injury of Maftachufetts and other ftates, is not trus j the

icport of the fccretary of the treafury, lately publifhed, evinces
the falfhood of the allegation.

, Indeed when the excife on diftillcd fpirits was laid, it was con-
fidered as particularly injurious to the intereft of MafTachufetts.
Mr. Daltcn and governor Strong both voted againfl the bill. —
Thus it appears by the journals of the fenate.

Congrefs were induced to repeal thefe taxes, from the following
confiderations : — That the remaining revenues of government
were equal to its neceffities ; that it would be an equal and great
relief to the people, not only as it enabled them to apply the
amount of the monies, fay 900,000 dollars, yearly to their private
life ; but as it would free them from the lofs of time and expence
which was neceflarijy required in travelling to and from the vari-
ous offices to furnifli them with licenfes and (lamp paper, and to
make their payments. The difference in the confumption of the
citizens' time and money in the colledion of the external and in-
ternal revenues is immenfe. The firfl: is limited to a very few com-
mercial ports where the merchants and officers refide. The latter
extends to every portion of the union. It operates more or lefs
in every town, village and fettlement. The fyftem itfe.lf creates
an embarraffment on bufinefs ; not unfrequently the expence of
procuring the licenfe on paper is equal to the whole revenue de-
rived from it.

That the expence of fjpporting the various officers employed
in coliefting it, confumes more than twenty dollars out of every
hundred dollars collefted, and amounts to 180,000 dollars yearly,
every cent of which is faved to the people by abolifhing the fyftem :
While the duties on imported articles do not require an expence
of more than five dollars on a hundred dollars paid.

That the fyftem, by creating a vaft number of officers, had a
tendency to increafe the power and patronage of the executive fo
far, that it might become, 'if i( had not already heen^ dangerous to
the liberties of the country.

That experience had fnewn governments to have been expenflve
and extravagant in proportion to the means they pofllffied. It was
therefore both juft and politic to furrender and yield up to the peo-
ple, that portion of revenue which was not neceifary to the govern-
ment. That this furrender ought to confilt of thofe taxes which
were moft obnoxious ; which nioft embarrafled the ordinary pur-
fults of the people, and which were of political afpeft the moft
fufpicious : and that the hiftory of the nations who have gone be-
fore us evinces this truth. That a fyftem of excife when once ef-
tablifhed is ufually extended from article to article, until it is
applied to all the comforts and conveniencies of life and moft of
its neccflities, when it finks the body of the nation into wretched-
nefs and poverty. Confidering the conditions of the perfons upon
whom the carriage tax operated, it appears in fome meafure defira-

ble to continue that tax ; but when it was confidered that it pro-
duced only 77,874 dollars and 41 cents, that it could not be con-
tinued without employing a vaft corps of officers at an expenfe
equal, or nearly equal to the tax, thereby preferving the feeds of
another general excife fyftem, the policy of the government forbade
its continuance. It has been faid by oppofition, that the repeal of
thefe taxes only operated to relieve the more wealthy ; leaving the
poor under the whole prefTure of all their former bur'Miens : That
if the finances of the nation admitted a rediicflion, the duty on
fait, bohea tea, and brown fugar, ought to be diminifhed. Yet
they and their friends were the perfons who levied the duties on
thefe articles, two years before they levied any excife. They have
from time to time increafed the duties on the fame articles. The
ftrft duty on fait was fix cents per bufhel ; they increafed it to
twelve cents ; on tea it was ten cents per pound ; they increafed it
to twelve cents. It was one cent per pound on fugar, they increaf-
ed it to two. Thefe duties they made perpetual, that is to fay,
to continue until a majority of both houfes of congrefs and the
prefident or two thirds of both houfes agree to remove them.

The internal taxes, whatever might be their wifhcs, they did not
venture, until after the eledion of Mr. Jefferfon, to make pei^-
petual. Thefe taxes were temporary, and moft of them would
have expired before this day, had not the defire of the party to
preferve the trappings of monarchy induced them to pafs the law
of the 25th of February, 1801, by which they were made perpet-
ual. To fatisfy the public that the defign of the oppofition in
objeaing to the repeal of the internal taxes was folely to embarrafs
government, and not to relieve the poor (who while they ufe it
with moderation, are as much comforted by fpirits as by tea or
fugar) ; it is proper to examine their condu<5l while in power, a
little more minutely. Inftead of lefTening the duties on thefe
articles, in the month of February, 1797? when they had the
benefit of the knowledge of the operation of the duties for more
than fix years, they increafed them. Every member of congrefs
fiom Connedicut, (including Grifwold and Dana) every member
from New-Hampfhire, and every member prefent from Maffachu-
fetts (excepting William Lyman) voted in favor of that meafure.
At the fame feilion a law was paffed granting relief to diftillers,
by removing the duties from the amount of fpirits- and fixing it on
the capacity of the flill. Every member from the ftates of New-
Hampfhire, Maffachufetts, and Connedicut voted in favor of
this law. Thefe fa6ts appear from the journals of congrefs.

Here, people of New- England, is a juft view of your repre-
fentatives, who would induce you to believe that the government
of the country was facrificing its intered at the {hrin.e of Vir>
ginia's ambition.

J>Sf

It has been faid that found policy required the application o(
thefe taxes to the difcharge of the national debt. To this it is
anfwered ; maintain the prefent economical eftablifhment, the fur-
plus funds arifing from the remaining revenues will pay the debt as
foon as congrefs have by law a right to pay it, and the exorbitaDt
expence of colle6ling the excife will be avoided.

It has been faid by the oppofition, that thefe taxes are repealed
and the duties on imported articles continued with a view to deftroy
commerce. Let the commercial intereft reflect. There is not
an additional cent impofed on commerce. As the taxes of the
nation are lefTened, the ability of the people to pay is increafed.
Let it be reminded with what promptitude the trade of the Medi-
terranean was protected. That government has completed a
treaty with Great- Britain whereby our merchants are enabled to
recover their loil property, and continue in the enjoyment of com-
mercial enterprize ; above all, that government relying folely on
commerce for her revenue, (lands pledged by intereft, the ftrong-
efl: of all ties, to cherifli and fupport it. The removal of the in-
ternal taxes, fo far from evincing hoftility to commerce, furnifhes
proof next to demonflration of a determination on the part of
the government to fupport it.

To clofe the remarks on this fubjed, it has been faid, the re«
peal of thefe taxes was defigned as a blov/ to the funds, and was
^prelude to extinguifhing the national debt with a fpunge.

Nothing can be more unfounded than this afperfion. The pay-
ments are made with punfluality.

The government has by a law of this feflion appropriated
7,300,000 dollars annually towards the difcharge of her debts :
the funds in the market are worth twelve per cent, more than they
were during the laft adminiftration.

Does the creditor's confidence in his debtor increafe in propor-
tion, to the debtor's extravagance and diffipation ? Does a man's
living beyond his income furniili the belt evidence of his renxaining
able to pay his debts ? Does a debtor forfeit all claims to confi-
dence by uniting rigid economy with a conftant attention to bufi-
nefs ?

Congrefs have repealed the adl pafTed in February, 1801, ef-
tciblifhing fix new circuit courts and limiting the labours of the
judges of the fupreme court to the holding of two feflions in a
year at the feat of government ; and, by another afl, have rem-
edied the evils of the former fyftem, by fpeci Tying the diftridts in
which each judge of the fupreme court (liould hold a circuit court,
and difpenfing with one fefiion of the fupreme court : by this they
have effected an annual faving of 33,000 dollars and abolifhed fix-
teen ufelefs offices.

The meafure was objected to, both as unconftitutional and im-
politic. As 10 the coniUtutionality of the meafure, the diflinvt'on

exi/ls between the fupreme and the fubordlnatc eourts. The for-
mer is created by the conftltution ; the latter by, and fubje<5t to,
Jegiflative difcretion. One may be abohflied — the other cannpt.
The objedion, that this dodrine deftroys the judicial department,
by engulphing it in the vortex of party, is unfounded. The judg-
es are not fubjed: to the will of the executive, or even of the ler
giflature. No new fyftem is eftablifhed, by which a new corps of
judges is created. The adminiflration of juftice is entrufted, as it
has heretofore been, to the judges of the fupreme court, whoi^
independence has not been affeded, or ever controverted. The
right to create and abolifli inferior courts has heretofore been aer
knowledged by the legiflatures of New-Hampfhire, MafTachufetts,
Pennfylvania, Maryland and Virginia, who have fimilar conftitUr
tions ; and no legiflature ever adopted a contrary conftru<^ion.
As to the policy of the meafure, the only queftions are, whether
the fix judges will be able to perform the fervice ; and whether an
anfiual feffion of the fupreme court is fufficient.

To decide upon the ability of the judges to perform the fervice,
let us confider the labours of one judge ; judge Cufhing, for in-
ftance. The law requires him to hold annually, in conjunction
with the diftriil judges, two feffion s of a circuit court in each of
the dates of New-Hamplhire, MafTachufetts, and Rhode-Ifiand.
Ten days may fairly be computed the full length of a feffion. The
courts will then require fixty days. His travel, in going to and
returning from thofe courts, cannot exceed 430 miles ; which,
allowing one day for each twenty, amounts to twenty-four days
more. A feffion of the fupreme court will not require more thaa
twenty-one days. His refidence does not exceed 480 miles dif-
tance trom the feat of government. As the above moderate rat*
of travelling, there mull be added 48 days more, making the
whole time, while on expence and in public fervice, 153 days, or
a little over five months ; for which he receives 3500 dollars in
each year : A lefs portion of time than he devoted to the public
fervice while a judge of the ftate courts of MafTachufetts. As to
the fufficiency of an annual fupreme court, it cannot be doubted,
when it is known that, for ten years, that court decided but forty-
three caufes : and that, at its laft feffion, the dockets confifted of
eight only ; three of which were decided.

AfTuming the faft, that there will be neither a greater or lefs
number of caufes before the fupreme court, for ten years to come,
than there was for the firfl ten years after its eftabliflinient : and
there appears no reafonable ground on which to calculate for an
increafe of bufinefs ; It is eafy to fee what the comparifon was,
between the fervices to be rendered, and the compenfation made
according to the provifions of the ad repealed at the laft feffion of
congrefs.

The falaries allowed by law to the judges of t-iat court amount

If.

annually, to 21,500 dollars ; of courfe, in ten years, 10215,000
dollars. The falaries of the clerks, for the fame time, is 2300
dollars. Total amount of falaries, for ten years, is 217,300 dol-
lars. In the courfe of ten years, 43 caufes only were decided, as
appears by the reports of Dallas. By this it is manifefl;, that un-
der the laft federal judiciary fyftem, which was repealed at the laft:
feffion of congrefs, the people of the United States would pay
more than 5053 dollars for each decifion. Does that man tx'iil
who will fay, the public money (hould be thus fquandered ?

A revifion of the laws relating to naturalization has alfo taken
place. The aft of 1798 is repealed, and the former law revived;
by which a refidence of five years ffntitles a foreigner, of good
conduct and reputation, to the rights of citizenfhip.

The juftice due to a large number of people, who emigrated
under the faith of exifting laws, and the policy of opening the wil-
deriiefs and acquiring the arts and manufactures of Europe, requir-
ed this revifion. It is only a revival of the WalTiington fyllem.

Gongrefs have continued to the officers, refiding at the feat of
government, the compenfation they enjoyed under the a<5l of 1 799.
This has been the fubjed of much newfpaper abufe ; it has been .
falfely reprefented as an augmentation of falaries.

The government has been charged with a departure from eco-
nomical principles ; and thofe gentlemen who fupported the mea-
fure but oppofed the grant in 1799, have been charged with incon-
fiffency. Thefe charges will not be accredited, when it is known
that the expence of living is confiderably higher at the feat of gov-
ernment than at Philadelphia.

To prove the fafl, it is only neceffary to refort to the ads of the
late federal, and of the laft feflion of congrefs.

The ad of 1799 afcertained, as well the compenfation of the
clerks as of the officers. When the offices were removed to
Wafhington, the increafed expence of living rendered it neceffary
to augment the compenfation of the clerks. They were accor-
dingly increafed fifteen per cent. The adl allowing them fifteen
per cent expired laft winter : it was revived. Here is the con-
current teftimony of both parties uniting in this propofition, there
is a difference of fifteen per cent, in the price of livmg. To cov-
er this difference of expenditure, the falaries of 1799 were eftab-
lifhed for two years. In fad, there was not a member of the op-
pofition who contended that the falaries were too high.

To facilitate the progrefs of information and private intercourfe,
an increafed expenditure of the revenue of the general poff-office
has been authorized ; both to enfure the more fafe and expeditious
tranfportation of the mail, and to extend the benefits of the edab-
lifliment to the inhabitants refiding upon or near almoft fixty new
effablifhed pofi-roads. It was propofed to remove the poffage
from newfpaptrs. The danger of retarding the progrefs of the

^59

inalls, and deftroying country preiTes, prevented the adoption of
this meafure. This poftage is not a tax. It does not amount to
one fourth part of the monies expended, in their conveyance^ by
government.

In addition to thefe meafurjes, the compenfations of the collec-
tors of the revenue have been reduced. This has efFedled an an-
nual faving of about 17,000 dollars.

The prompt and ready payment of the public monies, and the
eventual refponfibility of the officers of government, have been fe-
cured by an adl declaring, that each bond ftiall be a lien on tlie real
eftates of both principal and furety, and (hail be renewed once in
four years.

The objed of every grant of money has been fpecified with ac^
curacy and precifion, to enfure its juft application, and to limit
the powers of executive officers^ as far as poiTible.

The danger of war with the favages has been removed, by provi-
ding for a general ellablifhment of our boundary lines and for a due
regulation of the intercourfe between this nation and the tribes.

And lajlly^ The people of the territory northweft of the river
Ohio have been elevated co the rank of freemen and the confe-
quent blellings of felf government, by an ait authorizing them to
call a convention, form a conftitution, organife a government, and
become a member of the union.

Having concilely dated the important a<fts pafTed by the leglfla-
ture, it only. remains to give the pubKc a general view of the re-
dudion of national expenditure, fince the change of adminiftration.

Tliele redudions are of two kinds, ift. Of expenditures which
are cafual or temporary, and which ought not to be brought into
the eftimate, in afcertaining our yearly burdens, or in forming an
opinion of the different fyftems contended for. Of thefe are, the
ereding and repairing fortifications, the appropriations for the fup-
port of feamen, and the like. The expenditures of this kind for
the current year have been kffencd about 170,000 dollars.

2d. Thofeexpences which, according to the latefyfteni of poli-
tics, were permanent and annual, and may be fairly taken into
view, to determine which political party is beft entitled to national
confidence. ~ .

Of thefe expenditures, from the peace eftablilhrnent of the late
administration the following redudtlons have been made, by the ex-
ecutive, and by Congrcfs, at its lad felTion.

By the executive, in reducing various offices, Dolls. Cts.
whofe exiftence depended on his will, and other
economical arrangements, made before the feffion of
Congrefs, was effeded an annual faving of 161,695 9-'

By a further redudllon of the marine corps, juft
ordered with a view to pay only thofe who are
actively employed, has been produced » funhei' iav-
ing of 39jOoo

i6o

By Congrefs, by reducing a part of the army

By reducing a part of the navy

By repealing the whole fyfteni of internal taxa-
tion, there has been faved to the people, out of the
fees of the excife officers, I35,ooq dollars, over
and above the fum necefTary to defray the colle<5lions
of impofts, to an amount equal to the whole revenue
derived from internal taxation ; it being the differ-
ence between the expences of the two fyftems

By abolifhing the late judiciary fyftem, and eftab-
lifhing the former fyftem

By reducing the commiffion of the colledlors of
cuftoms, fay

522,000
200,000

135,000

33,000

17,000

Annual favings.

Dolls. 1,107,695 91

The benefit of the reduction of expenditure will be more felt
and appreciated by all clafTes, when they know that thefe annual
favings exceed the whole expence of all the ftate governments in
the Union ; fo that, in a pecuniary point of view, they are more
than equal to beftowing upon the people, free from expence, the
whole benefits of ftate government.

The following is ^ ftatement of the annual expenditures of the
feveral ftates : —

Dolls.

Dolls.

New-Hampfhire,

38,000

Delaware,

Il,OOQ

Maftachufetts,

320,300

Maryland,

53,eoo

Connedicut,

45>ooo

Virginia,

160,000

Vermont,

25,000

North Carolina,

35,000

Rhode-Ifland,

6,000

South-Carolina,

150,000

New- York,

130,000

Kentucky,

50,000

New-Jerfey,

35,000

Tenneffee,

10,000

Pennfylvania,

150,000

Georgia,

42,000

Total,

1,060,000

Which, deduced from the aforefaid redudions, leaves the fumi
of 47,695 dollars and 91 cents ; the excefs of the redudions be-
beyond the whole expence of the ftate governments. The ftatement
of the ftates' expenditure is not accurate ; it is fubftantially true ;
and it is believed, that the grofs amount is equal to the expendi-
ture of all the ftates. The reader will reiiefl, that in thofe
ftates where the expenditures are fmall, the relief to the people is
annually much greater than the expence of their ftate government.

Purfuing the fame fyftem of policy for twelve years, the period
of time between the commencement of the prefent government
and Lhe clofe of Ada.m'?' adminiftration, would, upon the princi-

i6i

pie, that money Is worth an annual intered of fix per centumy
lefTen the amount of monies drawn from the people, by taxation,
the fum of 18,686,760 dollars ; which, divided among the peo-
ple of the feveral ftates, in the fame proportion as they pay the
land tax of two millions of dollars, would within that time, be
a relief to the people of the feveral ftates, of the following fums :

New-Hampfhire^

Maffachufetts,

Rhpde-Ifland,

Connedlcut,

Vermont,

New- York,

New-Jerfey,

Pennfylvania,

Dolls.
726,028

2r<^33'344
350,402

1^212,463
437,869

1,697,515
9 1 9/268

2,216,045

Delaware,

Maryland,

Virginia,

Kentucky,

North-Carolina,

TennefTee,

South-Carolina,

Georgia,

Dolls.

284,324
1,425,800
3,228,028

351,722
1,809,794

175,712

i>o55.784
362,663

To an average ftate confiding of 100 towns, it is equal to a
grant to each of thofe towns of more than 12,124 dollars.

All this has been effeded by the prefent adminiftration in a little
more than one year. The citizens have been left in the enjoyment
of their civil and religious liberties. The nation has been refpec^-
ed abroad, acd quiet and happy at home. The laws have been
duly executed. The ties of morality remain in full force ; and
as perfe<5l order has been preferved, as was ever enjoyed on this
fide heaven.

Here is a juft pidure of the republican adminiftration, whicFi
many have been taught to believe would deftroy your civil and
religious inftitutions, burn your temples, remove all diftindtions
between virtue and vice, rend afunder your conjugal ties, and fub»
ftitute diforderand confufion for an odedience to law, and the due
regulation of government.

7h'is tenth number is extraSied literally from the NATIONAL iNTELtlGENCER,
(publijhed at Wajbington by Samuel Harrifon Smith) tf^e candor^ correSinefs and
valuable contents of ivhich paper -will fecure t» it the confidence of our people.
^he prefent adminijiration -zvill maintain its ground, fo long as its principles and
meafures are fo ably illtijirated.

NO, XL

Review of the paji Numbers y addrejfed to the People*

I

N this part have been prefented two clafTes of men and
two fpecies of governments, with (hort views of two adminiftrations,
A doubt cannot reft in the public mind which of thefe has con-
formed to the fpirit of our revolution* The prefent government

W

l62

is not To perfedly republican, as it would have been under the
fame men, provided their adminiftration had immediately fucceed-
ed the revolution. The evils of part ariftocratic meafures will at-
tend us to the laft moment of our national exiftence.

If the principles of a republican government are in their nature
oppofed to the tempers of our unionifts, we will not be furprized
that their meafures have difcoversd their abhorrence of them, and
in return they will not be furprized that we charge them with con-
fpiring againif fuch a government. They did every thing but levy
a civil war againft republicans. Franklin could eafier fnatch the
lightning from heaven and the fceptre from tyrants, than he could
extrad from the unionifts any portion of their vengeance againft
our caufe. Jefferfon could eafier enlighten a world with moral
and political fcience than he could turn the heart of one of our
unionifts. The invincible obftinacy and bltternefs of northern fe-
deralifm have never been thoroughly realized by men, who have
lived in countries where reafon and toleration have a reftdence. Re-
ligious bigotry, entwined for centuries with family ariftocracies,
produces powerful effefts.

I had intended to have prefented all the names of our leading
unionifts, with fafts ftiewing their conne<5tion with the union and
the profits which each derived from the connection — and to have
entertained the reader with fome extra(5ts from political fermons and
federal orations — with the toafts given during the reign of terror—.
with extracts of abufes on republicanifm from the Centinel o( Ruf-
fcl, Palladium of Dutton, Connedicut Courant of Hud/on i^
Goodwin f Spedator of JVebJIery Gazette o{ Broiunfon ^ Chauncey,
Antidqmccrat of Prentis and fome other federal papers, as far
fouthward as Uie New-England unionifts had fent their editors to
poifon the public mind ; but thefe would have incumbered my
work, and if my pofitions fliould be judged corred, New-England
is full of illuftrations.

Federalifts attempt, in every falfe and inCdIous mode, to mif-
reprefent our motives, meafures and objedls. They aim to make
imprellions, contrary to known truth. It is often queftioned,
whether this or that charge againft Preftdent Jefferfon is well
founded. Is it not enough that he has ftood like a rock againft
every attack, and that all the force of church and ftate was unable
to deprive him of his election ? Is it not enough that he has conti-
nued for more than a year to offer the olive-branch to men, who
were aiming to wound him mortally ? When you hear merchants*
and attornies' clerks calling him names and abufmg him, can it be
worth your while to exert yourfelves to perfuade their mafters that
he deferves his ftation ? His charatfter is not put in iffue to a federal
jury : it is fubmitted to the decifion of an impartial public. The
political clergy and their affociates cannot aad willjlQti tell Uie truth
;ibout him, hcau/e tUy hak him (fad hk caufe.

i<^3

rU fer^eralifts would prejudiee republicanifm, becaufe Biiona-
pW is concentering the powers of ariftocracies in a confulate for
life ; but does this prove their cafe ? He has ouly done on a large
fcale fuddenly what they did on a fmall fcale gradually. He is
trying conciliation with the Pope of Rome, with the emigrants, with
the kings, and he will foon have a funding fyftem and treaties, and
^vill go the grand round of the paffions ; but as foon as the people
{hall difcover that the ir revolution is defpifed and that the leaders
are feeking perfonal glory at their 2xpence, they will have a new
adminiftration, and the French repubUc will be the wonder of the
world. Their unionifts, civil and ccclefiaftlcal, who are now
rifing up like the, plagues of Egypt, will oppofe the new order of
things, will call it atheifm and anarchy ; but their defeat will be as
certain as that the great God never caufed a million of men to b eed
in order to produce fuch a miferable effea: as placing ><apoIeon
Buonaparte on the throne of France in the room of Lewis Capet. ^
Men, who play their liitle paffions againft the manireft order ot
thincTs, againft the ftate of fociety, and againft the temper and m-
terefts of a fovereign people, may be full of brilliant profpefts for a
feafon ; but will be as furely defeated as infeds, who fliould at-
tempt to retard the revolution of the earth. Small portions of
earth may be eafily conveyed from eaft to weft ; but the great globe
will revolve, and republicans (who have been called athCifts) as
fully expea that this country will, under divme guidance, conti-
nue to be a republic— that France will be a republic— that the re-
publican principle will prevail— that kings will lofe their crowns—
that civil and religious liberty are to prevail, and that the work ot
emancipation is begun, as that the earth will contmue to revolve.

After a revolution the patriot paufes to lament over the wa te ot
blood and treafure, and over the fate of his friends, who did not
live to enioy the bleffings, which his ardent mind contemplatt:s,
and before he can realize them, in ftep the fubtle courtiers, who
hated his 'caufe, join hands with his enemies, enflave him anew,
and often years elapfe before he collets himfelf fufficiently to iid
himfelf of thefe new tyrants. It muft be confoling to republicans
that fuch tyrannies foon expire hy reafon of their cwti energies. 1 hey
rife artfully and advance eafily, becaufe not oppofed. Succels am-
mates them, and as foon as all the enemies ot a revolution have
formed an alliance offenfive and defenfive, the fpirit of a free peo-
ple rifes and fcatters them to all the winds of heaven : but they will
rally again, and the only fecurity for republicans is, that the princi-
ples of popular fovereignty and political equality be well underftood
by the people, that the claffes of men, who are hoftile to them,
fhould be diftinaly known, and that the arts of delufion, by which
they maybe defeated, be thoroughly apprehended.

FederaHfts pretend that we are oppofed to colleges, merely be-
caufe we are unwilling to have tho poifon ot fcderaUfm mfufed iuta

the minds of youth, who are preparing for p^iHic (Vations — that we
are oppofed to rich men, becaufe we are unwilling to have ariftocra-
cies of wealth, politically afTociated for our ruitt — that we are oppo-
fed to all the clergy, merely becaufe we are unwilling to nurfe a
clerical ariftocracy— -that we are oppofed to great men, becaufe we
are unwilling to have them formed into folid columns to deftroy the
body of the people. Here it may be proper to explain. We haye
great men in our adminiftration ; but their greatnefs is, during their
continuance in office, depofited with the people, to be forfeited, in
cafe they violate their trufts. They came into office on terms and
profeffions, and they are bound to the whole amount of their great-
nefs to be true to republican principles. This was not the cafe with
the iaft adminiftration : without any profeffions to the people, they
were bound, to the amount of all their pride and paffions, to make
great treaties, to adopt great plans, to incur enormous expenfes, to
glorify themfclves and to himible in duft and afl-^es the people — and
never did a clafs of men work more faithfully. The annals of 1 798
will bear witnefs of their induftry !

But what is New-England church andflate now doing ? They
are fending a regular fupply of miffionariestocongrefs to oppofe eve-
ry raeafure of admioiftration, and in this way to make a fair experi-
ment of a republican government I and they have decided, previous
to fuch experiment, that republicanifm is deteflable and th?.t the
old order of things is to be refloied, and from this they pretend
to exped religion. Surely if it be tjiat religion, which was exhib-
ited under Mr. Adams' adminlftiaticn, not one chrilVian ever wi(h-
ed to fee it. But who are the leading agents in fending thefe men ?
THE POLITICAL CLERGY ? And what pIous feleftlon of men have
thefe felf-ftiled ambafTadors of the Prince of Peace made for thefe
honeft purpofes ? That very clafs of men, who have uniformly ad-
vocated war and every thing elfe, which the Saviour declared hof-
tile to his kingdom-— that clafs of men who have been fo notorious
for infidelity in all countries that if one really appeared to be pious,
the fa(5l was the fabjedt of an epitaph — that clafs of men, who moft
difturb the peace of fociety, who expofe the people to fevere ex-
pences in order to obtain ju-ftice — federal lawyers, of whom if
your impreffion is not inftant, that they are the lajl men in the luorld
to he entrujied ijcith the concerns of religion and liberty y a volume of
arguments would be ufelefs.

But, fay the multitude of con^regationalids (who are the (landing
privileged order in New-England) " We do not approve of thefe
*' men and meafures ; but if we fufFer our ranks to be broken, the
*^ epifcopalians, the baptilh, me.tho'lirrs and other diffienters will be
" in the midftofus. Biffiop Bafs * will be (ex officio) one of the
•' governors of Harvard college, and bilh'jp Jarvis f oae of the cor-

* Of Maffachufats. |- Of Conncdl'cut.

i6$

**:poration of Yale college, and all denominations will get in^tooup
" council and congrefs, and who knows but a baptlft will be on the
'* bench of the fuperior court. All will be confufion if our ranks
«* are broken. We have no folid ground but federalifm. Guaran-
** tee to us our privileges and we will be republicans." Ye are a
very pious fet of chriftians ! " You calculate well. If your^s was
not the (landing order, the numerous difturbances among ymi would
drive off multitudes to churches, where the prayers would be at
leaft unexceptionable, and where there is no hazard of being infult-
ed by political profanations of the Sabbath. Ep'Tcopal churches
and baptift meeting houfes would abound, and political clergy
would afFed to wonder at the figns of the times.

The different orders, which have always been humbled in New-
England, have a right to afTert their corporate {landing, and
united with the republicans they have ftrength enough to do it.
Thefe lad profefs to wifh fuch an event, becaufe this union has
been deftrudive to free fuffrage, to liberty and to that portion of
reai religion, which they have the grace to wifli that the congrega-
tional federalifts pofleffed.

But another clafs of men is ftrongly Interefted in this fubjedl,
viz. the tens of thoufands of our brethren, who have no more
voice in our councils than the black flaves in the Indies ; men of
full age and capacity, Induftrious, intelligent, ufeful members of
fociety, who hap}:»en not to have property enough to entitle
them to a vote. Thefe the bleilings of our independence
have never reached. They never enjoyed a reprefentative govern-
ment. They have no- prefident, no governor, no legiflature.
They are aliens in a republican country, becaufe they are not rich
enough to vote ; but they are rich enough to do military duty, to
be warned to labor on highways and to pay, in proportion to their
means, a greater portion of taxes than any other clafs in the com-
munity I The federallfts will not lighten the burden of their poU-
t.^ix by laying on carriages the fame tax, which congrefs relin-
ruiflied to the flares, although one argument for fuch relinquifh-
•lent was, that the fiatcs fnight by thu aid he enabled to lighten the
:ixcs on heads and lands. The ariftocracy of our colleges can
burft through the forms of law, and diplomas take rank of labor ;
but the cunning federaliil will be careful never to raife an ariftocra-
cy from the plough and the hammer.

Thofe mafons in New-England, who a6l with the unionifts, are
not doing great honor to their craft by aflociating with the Robifon
and Barruel terrorills. ^

Thofe chrgy, who wifli to lead their people Zionwards, would
do well to leave federal tracks, becaufe in every nation thev have
led to another couritvy.

There is but a fmall number of men in New-England, whofe
intereft is tven partially on ^he ffdera! fide. Thef- are the politic-

i66

■ -' ■■■ ^■' '—^

al clergy and federal civilians, whofe unmefciful abufe of repub-
licans has led them beyond retreating ground- We Jhould anchor
ihefe at head andjlern, lejl they come round to our fide y for their de-
pravity is total, their influence is ivholly undejirable. To thefe men
are joined a clafs of worldly chriftians, who fee no chance of
profit or promotion but by their infliience : add to thefe their fub-
alterns and the leaders of thofe ariftocracles, which always aim
at the deftrudlion of freedom. Tyranny is uniform, its favorites
are few and none but the leaders even of arillocracies can boaft
of its fmiles.

Church and ftate are fubtle : they will pretend that they are
gaining ftrength even in the midft of debility : but their ftrength
will be that of convulfions. They will precede your ele6lions
with falfe reports of forced loans and augmented falaries or fome
others equally falfe and to their pfrpofe — they will abufe republi-
can candidates — they will intimidate the weak — they may reduce
us for a feafon : but we begin to work with folid capital — the re-
publicans, who a<5l with us openly, will be conftant — thofe, who
are oppofed to us., mud be knowingly oppofed to the government of
a majority and to every general principle, which their leaders for-
merly taught".

Their caufe, their pafl: means, their certain duplicity are fo ma-
ny arguments that they mud fail. The political clergy

ARE THE WORST ENEMIES OF THE CHURCH. ThE FEDERAL
LEADERS ARE THE WORST ENEMIES OF OUR REVOLUTION, AND
BOTH ARE ENEMIES TO THE COMMON PEOPLE.

This declaration is not the fentiment of one man only, but of
many thoufands in New-England, whofe united force and refponii-
bility will be competent to its defence.

CORRECTIONS.

Page 24. wary/sr weary.

105. altitude /or attitude.
114. motives y^r nations.
17,1, rational for national

H 91

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