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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^j v^ - 
 
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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