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missed,' said Philip, he must be a madman; no one in his senses would speak ill of a king who had done him no injury. Query. How many mad men would that monarch have found in the United States?"

RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

21 Memoir concerning the Commercial Relations of the United States, with England. By Citizen Talleyrand. To which is added, An Essay upon the advantages to be derived from New Colonies, in the existing circumstances. By the same author. Boston, T. B. Wait, & Co.

22 An Essay on the History of Civil Society. By Adam Ferguson, LL. D. Boston, Hastings, Etheridge & Bliss.

23 A Discourse delivered before the Lieutenant Governour, the Council, and the Houses composing the Legislature of Massachusetts, on the day of the General Election, May 31, 1809. Boston, Russsel & Cutler.

24 An Address delivered before the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, June 2, 1809. By Alexander Townsend, Esq. Boston, Russel & Cutler.

25 Solemn Reasons for declining to adopt the Baptist Theory and Practice, in a series of letters to a Baptist Minister. By Noah Worcester, A. M. Pastor of a Church in Thornton.

26 The New Testament, in an improved version, upon the basis of Archbishop's Newcome's new translation, with a corrected text, and notes critical and explanatory. Published by a society for promoting christian knowledge and the practice of virtue, by the distribution of books. From the London edition. Boston, W. Wells. 1809.

27 A vindication of a discourse on the death of Doctor Priestly, in reply to the Rev. John Pye Smith, in letters to a friend. By Thoma Belsham. To which is annexed the discourse on the death of Dr. Priestly. By the same author. Boston, J. Cushing.

28 The Military Instructor, or New System of European Exercise and Drill, as now practised by the British army, according to General Dundas; and comparative notes between the same, and the Regulations for the Militia of the United States, according to the System of Baron Steuben; clearly demonstrating the superiority of the former over the latter, and the facility with which it can be obtained. In three Parts. Recommended for the adoption of the Militia of the United States. By E. Gillispy. Boston, J. Cushing.

THE

ORDEA L.

No. 24.1

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1809.

[Vol. 1.

"Yet not unconscious of this awful age,
I mark what new conflicting systems rage,
Systems which laugh to scorn th' avenging rod,
And hurl defiance to the throne of God;
Shake pestilence abroad with madd'ning sweep,
And grant no pause, but everlasting sleep."

MANNERS AND CHARACTERS OF THE AGE. THAT the people of the United States, or at least a considerable portion of them, have a tendency constantly to complain of every thing like the coercion of salutary laws, every thing which appears like regular government, will not be denied by any extensive and acute observer of the state of society in the country. It is a kind of democratick impulse which requires restraint; an embryo licentiousness of political feeling, which may germinate into civil riot and confusion. The following observations from an European work will serve to place the cause of such a disposition among a people upon a right basis.

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• I am very ready to admit, that our improvements in civilization and literature have, in many respects, produced an advantageous effect upon our manners. We are certainly entitled to say from experience, ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes, emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros? But if we take a comprehensive view of the subject, and poise the scales with impartiality, I believe that we shall find no cause to felicitate ourselves upon a comparison of the present with the former times. I fear, that upon such a comparison, the age in which we live will appear to be distinguished by a great and alarming increase of infidelity, and by a growing profligacy of manners, particularly evidenced by the most frequent, flagrant, and aggravated violations of the nuptial ție. Nay, when we observe the loose and indecent attire, in which our half-dressed females present themselves, without a blush, to the publick eye, it is impossible not to conclude that Vol. I.

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shame, the last barrier of virtue, is taking its leave even of that part of the fair sex, who would scorn any imputation on their character. But, in another point of view, the present times exhibit a still more unfavourable and alarming aspect.

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'I am not conscious of a cynical disposition; but I must confess, that according to my observations, the character of the age is a mental indifference and apathy-and insensibility of dispo sition-a selfishness of so narrow and contracted a kind, as to defeat its own purposes-an absence of shame--a contempt for opinion-a disregard to appearances, to events, and to consequences. It seems to me that the human mind is becoming callous, and approaching to a state of torpor. This dreadful change may in a great degree be attributed to a long series of prosperity -to habits of ease and indulgence, as well as of luxury and dissipation to the facility with which not only the necessaries, but the comforts of life may be obtained. The vigour both of mind and body depends upon exertion; and both become debilitated in proportion as their powers are suffered to lie dormant, great improvements which mankind have made in commerce, agriculture, and arts, enable them to acquire the means of subsistence at a much less expence of labour, than heretofore was necessary for the same purpose; and every class of society is in the possession of enjoyments, which were formerly confined to those of a superiour station. Hence it is, that those habits of industry, economy, and self-denial, which are calculated to infuse vigour into the mind are considerably weakened, and the langour and love of ease, which have succeeded to activity and diligence, have produced habits of life, which are calculated by a kind of reaction, to increase the cause from which they proceed. Among those habits, may be reckoned that new arrangement of time, which excludes the invigorating influence of early rising and early rest, and which obliges us, that we may be able to drag through our business, to delay our meals until the stomach has almost lost its powers of converting them into the means of nourishment and strength. The consequence of all this appears to be but a change of vices-a change, in my opinion, much for the worse--a change analagous to that which takes place in the human body, when, instead of the raging fever, which indicates a vigorous constitution, the deadening palsy exhibits a melancholy proof of the decay of the animal power.

To this alteration in the character of the age, may be ascribed the alarming progress, and indeed the existence of Jacobinism, which, as naturally proceeds from such a cause, as contagion from putrefaction. What else could have engendered such characters as the modern Philosopher and the cold hearted Jacobin, who, without a feeling of repugnance, or an emotion of pity, can continue and accomplish the destruction of the whole human race? What else could have produced a system of such boundless mischief, as that which has for its object the overthrow of all the political and religious establishments of the earth-of the social order of the whole world. The obvious want of spirit and energy to defend those establishments could alone have afforded occasion to so flagitious a project. Such a design would, probably, never have been conceived, if the human mind had been in its full vigour. But certainly it would never, in that case, have been attended with such success as we have now occasion to deplore.

But, perhaps, it may be asked, do not the conception of so daring a project, and the energy with which it has been pursued, abundantly refute my hypothesis of the mental apathy of the age? I answer, that these circumstances only prove the proneness of human nature to what is evil. The soil, from which labour alone can derive a rich harvest of nutritious grain, will spontaneously produce, in great abundance, the rank and noxious weed. And at all times the smooth and flowery descents of vice have presented an easy and tempting passage to those who have wanted resolution and vigour to ascend the craggy steeps of virtue. But the infernal system of jacobinism is so contrived as to call into action every corrupt and criminal propensity, and even every foible and weakness of human nature. It not only holds out a gratification to every species of vice, publick and private, but it can assume the semblance of virtue, in order to cajole those who are conscious of no other wish than to promote the happiness of their fellow creatures; but who, for want of sound and sober judgment, and by their credit for good characters and good intentions, are easily rendered the greatest foes to that happiness. It can enlist in its service the mad speculatist and the fanatical reformer, as well as the most dissolutę of mankind. It can address itself to every description of perIt flatters the young with an carly independence-the

sons.

vain with consequence-the ambitious with power-the restless and discontented with a change-the vicious with an indulgence of their passions-the inferiour orders of society with an equalization of rank and property, and every one with a removal of those restraints which he finds most irksome and grievous. No wonder then that this insidious and active principle, combining into one action, and directing to one end, the endeavours of all, who, from whatever motive, are dissatisfied with the subsisting order of things, and favoured by a relaxation of every religious and moral principle, by a licentiousness of manners, and by a list. lessness and lukewarmness on the part of its opponents-no wonder then, I say, that this principle of jacobinism should have made so alarming a progress toward the overthrow of every social institution. On the contrary if the well disposed part of mankind do not instantly rouse themselves to a sense of their danger-if they do not open their eyes on the gulf which is before them, and (laying aside that pernicious moderation, candour and liberality, which have fostered the mischief into its present magnitude), if they do not call forth all their powers to avert the impending ruin-the only wonder will be, if in a very short space of time, they do not see the whole earth become one vast theatre of anarchy, carnage and desolation-one universal exhibition of those tragical scenes, of which the French revolution has been but the rehearsal, and which will terminate in the subjection of the miserable and spirit-broken survivors of the human race, to the merciless domination of the vilest of the species.Indeed, when I think of the astonishing unconcern with which mankind contemplate the tremendous example of France, and of every country where either French arms or the French, principles have gained an ascendancy, I cannot help giving way to an apprehension that such infatuation is the result of supernatural influence, and that it has been decreed by Providence, for the benefit of posterity, to make the example more complete, and to warn future ages, at the expence of the present race of men, against the adoption of those principles, which, under the imposing names of Philosophy, Philanthropy and Freedom, attack the very foundations of society, by inspiring a contempt for all authority, human and divine. Heaven grant that this melancholy apprehension may be unfounded! At all events, it is our duty to exert our utmost endeavours to counteract the growing mis

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