tors!"-"A country," say they, "although now presenting a prospect "frightful to the eye of humanity, yet once the nurse of sciences, of arts, "of heroes, and of freemen; a country which, although at present appa"rently devoted to destruction, we fondly hope may yet tread back the steps "of infamy and ruin, and once more rise conspicuous among the free nations "of the earth."

But of all the addresses, none seem so zealous on this subject as "the "republican natives of Great Britain and Ireland."-" While," say they, 'we look back on our native country with emotions of pity and indigna"tion at the outrages human nature has sustained in the persons of the "virtuous Muir and his patriotic associates, and deeply lament the fatal "apathy into which our countrymen have fallen, we desire to be thankful "to the great Author of our being that we are in America, and that it had pleased him, in his wise providence, to make these United States an asylum, not only from the immediate tyranny of the British Govern"ment, but also from those impending calamities which its increasing "despotism and multiptied iniquities must infallibly bring down on a "deluded and oppressed people." What an enthusiastic warmth is here! No Solemn league-and-covenant prayer, embellished with the nasal sweetness of the Conventicle, was ever more affecting.

To all this the Doctor very piteously echoes back "sigh for sigh, and groan for groan; and when the fountain of their eyes is dry, his supplies the place, and weeps for both."

There is something so pathetic, so irresistibly moving in all this, that a man must have a hard heart indeed to read it, and not burst into laughter. In speaking of monarchies, it has often been lamented, that the sovereign seldom or never hears the truth; and much afraid I am, that this is equally applicable to democracies. What court sycophants are to a prince, demagogues are to a people; and the latter kind of parasites is by no means less dangerous than the former; perhaps more so, as being more ambitious and more numerous. God knows, there were too many of this description in America before the arrival of Doctor Priestley; I can, therefore, see no reason for boastings and addressings on account of the acquisition.

Every one must observe how the Doctor has fallen at once into the track of those who were already in possession of the honourable post. Finding a popular prejudice prevailing against his country, and not possessing that patriæ caritas which is the characteristic of his countrymen, he has not been ashamed to attempt making his court by flattering that prejudice. I grant that a prejudice against this nation is not only excusable, but almost commendable, in Americans; but the misfortune is, it exposes them to deception, and makes them the sport of every intriguing adventurer. Suppose it be the interest of Americans that Great Britain should be ruined, and even annihilated, in the present contest, it can never be their interest to believe that this desirable object is already nearly or quite accomplished, at a time when she is become more formidable than ever in every quarter of the globe and with respect to the internal situation of that country, we ought not to suffer ourselves to be deceived by " gleanings from Morning Chronicles or Dublin Gazettes ;" for if we insist that newspaper report is the criterion by which we ought to judge of the governments and the state of other countries, we must allow the same measure to foreigners with respect to our own country; and then what must the people of England think of the Government of

the United States upon reading a page or two from the slovenly pen of Agricola ?

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"It is charitable," says this democrat,*" it is charitable to believe many who "signed the constitution never dreamed of the measures taking place, which, "alas! we now experience. By this double Government we are involved in unnecessary burdens, which neither we nor our fathers ever knew: such a monster of a Government has seldom ever been known on earth. We are obliged to "maintain two Governments, with their full number of officers from head to foot. "Some of them receive such wages as never were heard of before in any Govern"ment upon earth; and all this bestowed on aristocrats for doing next to nothing. A blessed revolution! a blessed revolution indeed! but farmers, meIchanics, and labourers, have no share in it; we are the asses who must have "the honour of paying them all, without any adequate service. Now let the im"partial judge, whether our Government, taken collectively, answers the great "end of protecting our persons and property! or whether it is not rather calcu"lated to drain us of our money, and give it to men who have not rendered adequate service for it. Had an inspired prophet told us the things which our eyes see in the beginning of the revolution, he might have met Jeremiah's fate; or, "if we had believed him, not one in a thousand would have resisted Great Britain. "Indeed, my countrymen, we are so loaded by our new Governments that we can "have little heart to attempt to move under all our burdens. We have this con"solation, when things come to the worst there must be a change, and we may "rest satisfied that either the Federal or State Governments must fall."

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If "gleanings " like these were published in England, would not the people naturally exclaim, What! the boasted Government of America come to this already? The poor Americans are dreadfully tyrannized by the aristocrats! There will certainly be a revolution in America soon! They would be just as much mistaken as the people in this country are when they talk of a revolution in England.

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Neither ought we to look upon the emigration of persons from England to this country as a proof of their being persecuted, and of the tyranny of the English Government. It is paying America a very poor compliment to suppose that nothing short of persecution could bring settlers to its shores. This is, besides, the most unfortunate proof that could possibly be produced by the advocates of the French revolution for if the emigration of a person to this country be a proof of a tyranny existing in that from which he comes, how superlatively tyrannical must the Government in France be? But they say, those who emigrate from France are aristocrats; they are not persecuted; they emigrate because they hate a free country. What do they really come to America because they hate a free country? Did the governors of Martinico, &c., make a capitulation to be sent here, to avoid going to a free country? The Democratic Society will certainly oblige the world very much in explaining this enigma.

I am one of those who wish to believe that foreigners come to this country from choice, and not from necessity. America opens a wide field for enterprise; wages for all mechanics are better, and the means of subsistence proportionably cheaper, than in Europe. This is what brings foreigners amongst us: they become citizens of America for the honest purposes of commerce, of turning their industry and talents to the best account, and of bettering their fortunes. By their exertions to enrich themselves they enrich the state, lower the wages, and render the country less dependent upon others. The most numerous, as well as the most useful, are mechanics. Perhaps a cobler, with his hammer and awls, is a more valuable acquisition than a dozen philosophi-theologi-politi-cal empirics, with all their boasted apparatus.

*The Constitution of 1787.-ED.

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BONE TO GNAW FOR THE DEMOCRATS.

THE proceedings of the United Irishmen, like those of the American self-created societies, contain general accusations against every branch of the government. An advantageous distribution of the words liberty, tyranny, slavery, &c., does wonders with the populace; but the intelligent reader looks deeper, general accusations do not satisfy; he seeks for instances of oppression, before he will believe that a government is oppressive. Let us extract, then, the instances of oppression complained of by the United Irishmen, from the bombastical rhapsody in which they are buried, and see to what they amount. They tell us that Butler, Bond, Rowan, and about four or five others, were detained some months in prison; and that Muir,* Palmer, and Margarot, with two or three more, were transported; and all this (they say), for having done no more than what the good of their country dictated. I am sure the reader is very well satisfied, that these men were all guilty of the crimes laid to their charge; but to avoid disputation with respect to this fact, I shall suppose them all innocent, and then the sum total of the tyranny against which the United Irishmen exclaim, will amount to eight or nine false imprisonments, and five or six unjust sentences of transportation. This is certainly a great deal too much; may the hand be withered that ever wields a pen in its justification! but, as the United Irishmen wished, as a mean of avoiding such acts of oppression in future, to overturn their monarchical government, and establish a democratic one in its stead, it becomes incumbent on the reader, who would not be their dupe, to contrast the conduct of the government which they wanted to overturn with that of the one they intended to adopt. They have represented the British Government as being arrived at its last stage of tyranny, it will not then, I hope, be esteemed unfair, if I oppose to it the democratic Convention of France, when about the midway of its career.

It is not my intention to give a general character of this assembly; that would be superfluous: nor will I give way to that indignation which every man, who is not by nature a slave, must feel at the very mention of such a divan. General charges against any man, or set of men, as they are very seldom accurate, so they are little attended to, particularly when

Mr. MUIR was prosecuted in Aug. 1793 under the libel-law in Scotland for seditious libel. He had imprudently gone to France in that year, but not, as was falsely stated, a deputy from the Scotch Reformers to the French Republic. It caused a prejudice against him for which only we can account for the denunciation contained in the paper here republished, which is an unjust attack, and was thought so by its author when he became more acquainted with English politics. His fate was lamented in a pathetic letter to him by Dr. PARR, and a narrative of his life, trial, and sufferings, has been published by Mr. MACKENZIE, where it will be seen that he was one of the first victims of PITT's apostacy.-ED.

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addressed to a reader, who is rather inclined towards the party accused. For this reason, I shall confine myself to a particular epoch, and even a particular spot. Lyons affords us the properest scene to be described on the present occasion; not because the dreadful deeds committed there surpass those at Nantz, and many other places; but because, taking place within a short space of time, they admit with more facility the form of a compact relation.

In the perusal of this relation the candid reader will make me some allowances; my taste is far from the tragic; scenes such as these must lose half their terrors when drawn by a hand like mine: Melpomene alone should record the actions of the National Convention.

Some time after the death of Louis XVI, the city of Lyons was declared, by the Convention, in a state of revolt, it was attacked by a numerous army of democrats, and after having stood a siege of above two months, was obliged to surrender. What followed this surrender, it is my intention to relate; but first, it is necessary to go back to the causes that led to the revolt; for though no earthly crime could justify the cruelties inflicted upon the brave and unfortunate Lyonnese, yet those cruelties do not appear in their deepest hue, till the pretended crimes of the sufferers are known.

*

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By the new constitution of France, the King could not be dethroned, unless found at the head of an army marching against his country. This was to be regarded as the highest crime he could possibly commit, and even for this he could be punished no otherwise than by being dethroned. "No crime whatever," says the constitution, shall be construed to affect his life." This constitution every Frenchman had sworn, "to obey, and to maintain with all his might." When, therefore, it was proposed to the Lyonnese, by the emissaries of the National Convention, to petition for the death of the king, they replied almost with one voice: "No; we have sworn, with all France, to maintain the new constitution with all our might; that constitution declares that no crime whatsoever shall "affect the life of the king. For any thing we have yet seen or heard,

we believe him innocent of every crime that has been laid to his charge. "The mode of his trial is unprecedented in the annals of injustice, the "Convention being at once accuser, evidence, and judge. We believe "him perfectly innocent; but whether he be or not, the constitution "that we have, by a solemn oath, bound ourselves to maintain with all "our might, declares that no crime whatever shall be construed to affect "his life; that life, therefore, we cannot, we will not demand. The rest "of the nation may sport with engagements which they have called the Almighty to witness, they may add the crime of assassination to that of "perjury, they may stain themselves with the blood of their innocent "and unfortunate prince, the Lyonnese never will."

Reader, you will hardly believe that this answer, so full of good sense, justice, piety, and honour, drew down on the gallant Lyonnese the most dreadful chastisement that ever was inflicted on any part of the human Read and be convinced.

race.

No sooner was the determination of the Lyonnese made known to the Convention, than the latter began to concert schemes of vengeance. A numerous army was prepared, while the democratic agents of the Convention, who still had the executive authority at Lyons, spared no pains

*The Constitution of 1791.-Er.

in endeavouring to drive the city to what they termed open rebellion, and thus to furnish a pretext for its destruction. The doctrine of equality, so flattering to those who possess nothing, had gained them many converts among the lower classes of the people. To these was committed all authority, civil and military, and it is hardly necessary to say that they exercised every species of tyranny that envy, revenge, and popular fury could invent. All this was borne with a degree of resignation that has been justly regarded as astonishing in people who have since exhibited such unequivocal proofs of inherent valour. A sense of more immediate danger, however, roused them from their lethargy.

There was held, every night, a meeting of the leaders among the partizans of the Convention. It consisted, in general, of men of desperate fortunes, bankrupts, quacks, the dregs of the law, apostate priests, and the like, not forgetting some who had been released from the galleys. In this infamous assembly, which took the name of Democratic Club, a plot was laid for the assassination of all the rich in one night; but this plot, notwithstanding the precautions of the conspirators, was happily discovered; the President Challier, and two others, were tried and condemned to die, the democrats were driven from all the public offices, and the former magistrates reinstated.

This act of self-preservation was called a revolt against the republic, and in consequence of it, the Convention passed decree upon decree, bearing death and destruction against the Lyonnese. Thus, those very men who had formed a constitution, which declares resistance against oppression to be a natural right, passed an act of proscription against a whole city, because they had dared to lift their hands to guard their throats against the knives of a band of assassins!

The city now began to arm for its defence; but being totally unprepared for a siege, having neither fortifications nor magazines, and being menaced on every side by myriads of ferocious enemies, the people were backward in declaring for hostility, knowing that in that case death or victory must be the consequence. There were, therefore, but about ten thousand men who had the courage to take up arms; but the desperate bravery of these amply made up for every want. During the space of sixty days they withstood an army of fifteen times their strength, plentifully provisioned, and provided with every instrument of destruction. Never, perhaps, were there such feats of valour performed as by this little army; thrice their numbers did they lay dead before their injured city.

The members deputed from the Convention to direct the attack, left nothing untried that might tend to the accomplishment of their object. They succeeded at last, in opening a communication with their partizans in the city, and in seducing many of the mob to espouse their interest. This was the more easy to effect, as the besieged were, by this time, upon the point of starving; the flesh of horses, dogs, and cats, had been for some days their only food, and even that began to grow extremely

October, 1793. The decree of the Convention contained these clauses : "Lyons shall be destroyed: Nothing shall be preserved but the poor-house, the "manufactories, shops of handicraft, the hospitals, and the public monuments : "the city shall no longer be called Lyons, but, the free Commune (Commune affian"chie): On the ruins of Lyons a monument shall be erected, bearing these "words, Lyons revolted against liberty; Lyons is no more!'"-THIERS, V. p. 251. The deputies from the Convention set the example of destruction, by giving a blow with a hammer to one of the finest houses in the city, and immediately 800 workmen went to work to demolish the streets.-THIERS, V. p. 282.-ED.