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[VOL. L] BY DANIEL STARNES «t Co. WEST END OF BRO \D.STRKF.T. proposals, »Y dA SIFL STARNES & CO. . . *eMj N',vsp*?r UTt* CITY OF AUGUSTA, TO BE ENTITLED Mirror of the T. imes. TIIK Ui i'ersal promulgation of Ami etneral deftribution of know ,n,' h nhieJ S of the firft importance in ntrAhere liberty ha, left traces V .«. D . under every government -*r “(S’,l.e h,,,M>i,,efs of Man iie.’ laid the Great Lord Bacon fcKmw.edg witb virtue ” j t certainly .„p°»c r , ignorance reign* there i« iiher'v. despotism governs. A* *"7 m L enlightened authority will be B,r racralityreltorcd— Knowledge & to,t f r the base, of freedom-the one in our right, the ether tcache* four duties; the firft (hews us how to Su, the heft poihbie form _cf govern 1, the' -(»require, us to obey it when con- J ni, therefore advantageous every but ia a Rtfublic it is abfo'utely rc , tt)i!t corrttft information fhculd he "SV.ffufcd and eafilv obtained: For the people who govern. 7i>y never btentionaily choose had leaders or approve TOwmcafure,, yet they are hahle to errrr them true detail, end they w.ll judge corieAly for on plain grounds the people al iform }4 opinions ; whenever they mis. Itiketheir own interest ‘tis owing entirely to >int nf information in the many or want of lencSy in the few. But extenjkv political in- Icrajaton is net to be acquired without much hHiur, ard few have leifurc to study the ftiltios,compare the opinions, & peruse the pgM of l.ocke, Sydney, Gibbon, Hume & Vittel. If an acquaintance with the true pnnciplesof government & duties of a citizen tru'd be acquired only from huge folios It dtffuferrcatifes,it wcqld he fe'dom fought niff.tight, the plough, the hatchet, and die saw molt stand ftiil. Some cheaper and tifitr means of fatitfying curioftty and prc.enring information mttft therefore be Wed lor; and where is intelligence, thcipneft and convenience united with more I stallage, than in the closely printed col- I wins of the'humble News paper ? Our ■ mimrymeti appear so well ronvinced of I ufctuli efs of periodical prints, and have ■ bwf)'liberally encour-ged them, that we Vicon it unnecefTary to insist on their merit, I tsdalmiift hesitate to request public pat ■ r.agc for another News-paper establish- I Knt. I be tan promise little circpt what atten ■ ton,honefty k industry can perform. The I fociple, of our Paper, like our own. will be ■ hpuiVican, “ but the fame freedom of opin ■ wiwlich we claim for ourselves, we with I dlother*to enjoy.” Civil and RcP™ I jberty t» the btrh right of evry man," and 1 halio will not extend the fame induHence ■ Jt 1 <ll pat ties, and allfetft, wliich he wiflies |rr bsown, is already or delcrvcs to be a I To fepport Religion and morality will I * Ctr P ri(1 f—to encourage literature our ■ j v “” l ? C(,mmunic *«i« n » calculated to 1 1J" W rCfufc(l; DO hintwi, l be I Z'r ; ln . a f y ee country it i, necessary ■mV >W fllou dbe nei, her vrgue nor I t; n .,r ! ! Public * oft be sfate leg ■ Chi reforcbepul,liflled asthc y I iTf 0R 0F THF. TIMES Will he 1 CanVafs ‘ i,,b '' c measure with -'I dm the condutf of 1 WlkooiV ir i° f ? r ' vcrnrncnt —it 1 t '*drr, J° yu> m y c °“” t 'y> I CONDITIONS. I • ° F THE will he 1 Cnf ever T- ™ a I Type. mll ‘ D ‘ and good 1 will be three ■ advl ncc PCr anmim ’ pa ' d ba,f )' earl 7 '« I) Vut' P l' C r f ° r advcrtifi ng will be fifty I «nhi rtv f fqUare , I ° r the insertion I! AS^ naud 3 halff °r each con- n ?übfcribe P r a T;!' 'i eliv rcd ,0 Town R 'Wef or d . ,rp atT “° fabo< ’ e a nd m j r- packer aTr T viilhed ',A ft C-fSct and del,Vertd ti c P oft P ■ RAINBOW, No. IV. 1 HKVOLUTION ; I LiEm P of Bonaparte. I [Concluded] ■' P ni' h; V errlhle convu lsion ’ ihe' Ca - ?, arth( l uake > which ■ ft ' u! -t,wh : i' Un:Zed tanh to ils iHhvAA extrem ‘lies treixi ■ u. tumbled into si- l C Wri V Ve ' Sht anf| in *Wc iSCr, • lf l n * u, ptndou3 pro- C Fr , cnch revolu. of it y Cnded in ‘he dca- P r « p ce, ... <nrt f mrt e—what will ft'"' r “ <i ihe BC^’ 1 a ° S -' )r^in rt by Itl l°n li»''sn‘,K ir:J ■ k e «n:e ~f 1,. ■ COm - lf£,ncc » I ,c wuh , u si . MIRROR OF THE TIMES tuation under the first of the 80. ndpatfc’s. Jurists have long since made a compendious division of the absolute rights of man—/</>’, tibertpy k property. These rights are completely secured only in the U. States ; Great Britain ranks next in the scale of Ircedom. But the question before us, is not which government of the earth most effectually secures the rights, but whether they were best secu red by the government to which Louis XVI was born, or, hv those institutions which Napoleon I. has established. Among- others, of inferior consequence, there seem to be six points of comparison, by which the two governments may be judged. 1. The oriom of the two despotisms. 2. The nature of the nobility. 3- The hierarchy, or church establishment. 4. The administration of justice. 5. The financial arrangements. 6. The feudal system. First , as to the origin of the two despotisms.— And here I must premise that by the word origin I do not mean the actual, real origin of the two gov ernments, but the ideas of the ru ler, and the received popular no tions respecting his right to com' mand , arid their duty to obey. Un der the old system, kings were the immediate vicr-gertnts of God. They considered and avowed, that they were accountable to him albue for their actions. Dim et mon droit —God and my right, was their appeal. The people were lost in the dust while the monarch was elevated to the clouds. Lou is was the Lord’s anointed ; the nobles and die ptiests were bis slaves ; and the peasantry again were the beasts of bunden for these. When the king and the people were brought into compar ison, the latter were considered as dust in the balance . The ease of one man was thought of more im portance, than the happiness of twenty-five millions ; and many a summer's day . and many a winter's night, “ wretches have been hung up, in long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang.” But Napoleon is neither the vice gerent ol God, nor the Lord’s an ointed ; he is not the sovereign, but the chief magistrate of the people ; for among the host of de fects observable in the new order of things, we yet find some im portant principles recognized : the sovereignty of the people, with their right to alter Et abolish their governments at pleasure ; equali ty of all men in respect to their tights ; religious toleration •, taxes m proportion to property; these, with some other principles, decla red and acknowledged in the bet ter times of the republic, are still sacredly regarded as inherent in the nation. Louis was literally king of France; without any legal or literary fiction, upon certain contingencies, the whole territory of France might be forfeited to the monarch ; he was the propri etor &. the nation, from the prince to the asant, were his tenants. But Napoleon is Emperor of the : French ; the soil of France be longs to the people o*t France ; and ; the last title which he has assn ; med, merely expresses the politi i cal relation in which the governor stands to the governed. This is great point gained ; not only to France but to mankind in gene ral. We hear no more of divine ; Tight, or any other right than that : ol the sovereign people ; and tho’ 1 tJle y may abuse it, as they have j tecemlv done, yet the barfe ac j knowiedgement. that such a right , exists, and its being recognized by j *he governing Jpower, as the only I legitimate ongtn and basis of his ; a rithonty. is a material advauce in practical politics. Second and third —the nature of the nobility, a;,d hierarchy, or l church establishment. Ido not ; t-peak ol the nobility and hierarchy ! ‘l lelaten to their tcudel privi “ hold the mirror up to nature.”— Shakespeare. ledges ; these will* he ' consolered presently ; but as hoary, civil and sacerdotal aristocracies ; whose power and pretentions were view ed with awe and reverence, by an ignorant anti superstitious peasan try. The lotd, who occupied rhe manors and the mansions, which his ancestors had occupied in sue. cession, so manv centuries before him, was easily impressed with a belief, by the circumstances of his birth and education, that there was an immeasurable distance be tween the feelings and the rights (if such were allowed) of the po|. ished baron and the rugged pea sant. The peasant too, servant to the son of that lather, who had been served by his father, before him, & whose ancestors had from time immemorial, been in th; re lative situation, with their barons, of master and slave, could not but believe that his lord was a superior being, invested by nature with all the rights, while the services (mi serable birthright !) alone belong ing to him. These sentiments of domination on the one side, and' debasement on the o 1 he», were greatly aggravated, whenever the peasant’s lord happened to be an ecclesiastic. Family distinction was united with priestly hauteur ; but the unbending austerity of sa cerdotal pride is proverbial. There is a wide difference be tween the preceding, & anv order of nobility, hereditary distinction, or religious establi ihment, which is now to be found in France.— Any nobiiitv which Bonaparte can estahiish, if, which we mn>t sup pose, he chooses them from among his adherents, will be an upstart nobility. The people of France will witness their creation. They will see their old companions, brewers aad bakers, htwers oi wood and drawers of water, made members of the legion of honor, from their alertness as spies, oi or their perseverance as blood hounds. And while it has a ten dency’ to extinguish every spark of veneration and respect for no bias , it elevates them, in then own imagination*, by exhibiting so pal pably that between the peasant and his lord there are only artificial distinctions. It therefore has a double effect, in raising the class to which the peasant belongs, in his own estimation, (which is im portant ; for the moment a man believes that he moves in a lower circle than his merits entitle him to, he becomes restless and unca say—) while it depresses the or der to which iiis comrade has been elevated. He very naturally and a * very justly imagines that he has the same rights as his quondam friend- the brewer ; nor will the pageantry of power be able to beat this imagination from his brain.— The present religions establish ment in France, is widely dissimi lar to the old hierarchy. The do. mains of the church have been sold and the sale repeatedly legal ized and sanctioned by successive factions, from Robespierre to Bo naparte. A new division of dio cesses has been made by Bona parte, in concert with the Pope ; and a new division of Parishes by the bishops ; the government no minates the latteTj who, in their turn, nominate to the parishers. — All ministers of religion are paid from the public treasury. The su. periority of the present establish ment will he seen at a glance.— Formerly, immense landed estates were attached to each diocese, or bishop’s see, connected with which, were myriads of idle pre tensions, oppressive priviledges & cruel extortions. A French bi shop of Bonaparte, compared with a French bishop of Louis XVI. is as powerless and insignificant as a Virginia parson. In this point of view, therefore, in suppressing the ridiculous veneration for nobles, & the impious idolatry tor priests, the French Revolution awl Ltnpe. rorsnip of Bonaparte, has been 'ineularlv happy, not orlv for France, but for the progress of bberal thinking. Fourthly —1 he administration of '"Mice, m the old and new govern• •nents. It j s indeed a perversion Terms to call the judicial pro. C: cotngs, under the old govern ments, nn administration of jus t,ce* the shocking degree of corruption and venalitv vvlvch per i l diese courts, cannot be par ' c tc. in ;jpy oiß t>r or coun •'x ■ Instead of employ ing honest aml anomies, fairly and inge nooiisly to state (j ie ma t,^ r ; n f jj 9 . P. ut , e » to an impartial jury and up '•b'H judge, there was notoriously and avowedly, a certain class of lenities, who, under the name of Le\ SoHciteuses , were bribed, by rival clients, to corrupt the court bv the most infamous sacrifices. But there is another feature, in the ancient regime, which tends more pointedly to shew the dreadful in security of the lives and liberties of all classes of men. I all tide to the lettresde cachet. These were a species ol blank mittimus. The date of the warrant, the name of me victim, and the price of im prisonmennt, remained blank.— lois price may be supposed to have varied, according to the wealth, rank or power of the per son to be immured. When this was ascertained and paid, the blank warrant was delivered io the purchaser, who inserted the name of his enemy, and delivered it, thus fraugh with misery, to the officers of Justice 1 It is difficult to imagine a more horrible instru ment of despotism than the lettres de cachet. The unhappy victim, unconscious of his crime, and ig norant of his persecutors, seized at the silent hour as mid-night, & spirited awa\ from human society, is forever immured in the dark E< loathsome dungeons of a subter anean prison. This was a fate to which almost every man in the kingdom was subject. But the lives of the lower orders, were not secured even by the flimsy cere mony of lettres de cachet. They were considered as of no greater value than beasts of the field. In the time of Louis XiV. the Count de Charolois sometimes amused himself by shooting his peasants. The only reparation which was offered by the tyrant king, who had before frequently pardondtd the count, for his venial excesses, was, this royal witticism—“ 1 a gain pardon you, but at the same time I promise the like favor, to him who shall kill you.” As late as the yeariry9, an ecclcsiaatsc named de Baufiremont, is said .to have been still fonder of this lively sport ; and so ct itunon was it in a particular district, that it obtained the name of la chasse aux vilains. The situation of France, with respect to the administration of justice, has been totally changed by the revolution. The civil and criminal code has been greatly re formed and ameliorated: In ca ses of meum and luum the tribunals are no longer venal. It is beiiev. ed that they are much inferior to those of England and America , but vastly superior to those cf the old government. From what has appeared upon the subject in the French papers, ihtire is no reason to believe that the proceeding 1 ! have been unfair :* l here is now but one man in France who has the power of committing murder with impunity ; and this is Bonaparte : and in doing this, under the plea of public necessity, he i* obliged to resort to the forms of law which, although it is a better mockery to the persecuted individual, evinces that the emperor of the trench, in the zenith of his power, is com pelled to pay that outward respect to tho laws of the country which his predecessors of the Bourbon • From Cobbctl’t R*gifter, June *«. MONDAY, Novcmobcr &#-, 1808 . _!U u. rare divlained. It is a threat point jra’nrd to the nation, to possess a code of equitable laws, even if these laws are imperfect and oc casionally abused. General regu lations, in their nature, cannot de scend to the detail of cruelty which the caprices of individuals are wont to exercise. The murder of the Duke d’Knghein. although no man is less disposed than myself to palliate such atrocious ccnduct, ought no more to be considered as a proof of the corrupt administra tion of justice in France, than that of Jonathan Robbins should de cide upon the excellence of our criminal code. The illusuiout victim makes the case more stri king, as it respects him, but the life of the brave tar was a sacri fice equally great, in the eye of strict justice. Both cases only prove that where governments in terfere with ihe prescribed course of national jurisprudence, courts are too apt to be compliant. It is probable that where the govern ment is not concerned, the admin istration of justice is better in France than in any other country, Kngland and the United State* excepted. It is true that We lwar of imprisonments and executions by the ministers of Bonaparte { hut never at the instance of indi viduals ; we never hear of the avowed sale of blank warrants of perpetual imprisonment, under tho name of Itttrcs Je cachet. The Count tie Cbarolois, and M. do Bauifremont, who were so fond of hunting peasants , have vanishedji with the execrable institutions which authorised such horrors.— It would seem therefore that irt the administration of justice, the revo lution has produced important and auspicious changes ; immediately beneficial to the French nation, and remotely to mankind £ since every improvement in the condition of* people, whose language and influ. ence aie so fashionable and exten sive, nmy be considered as reach ing every corner of the globe. fifthly, The system ol finance, under the old and the new govern, ment. Under the old government, three fourths of the territory of 1< ranee, independent ol the feudal bondage, under which the whole of it was held, belonging either to the king, the nobility or the clergy,_ The royal domains, as well as the estates of the nobility and clergv were exempt from taxes; The burden of these fed entirely upo„ the peasantry who were least ab| c to bear it. It follows, therefore, that all the taxes of the old govern, ment, were levied upon one quarter of the property of the nation • which property was parcelled out, in diminutive and scanty portions among twenty millions of meagre, squalid bondsmen ; that the re maining three fourths, in the hands ol the king, the nobility and the c * er o>’» contributed nothing to the revenue, “ wrung from the hard hands of peasants” by everv species of indirection , wa s squandered by those very priviledged orders whicii had ~ot paid a sous toward it. Now the emperor of the French has no domains ; no hereditary no bility, or dignitaries of the church, are proprietors of the soil ; for the royal domains, the estates of the emigrant nobles, and most of the lands of the church were confisca ted and sold during the revolution ; and this sale is sanctioned, bv the same instrument, which has made Bonaparte emperor. There is now, therefore, in France, no part of the territory priviledged from contri buting us portion of the revenue 1 axes are levied in proportion to the ability ot those who have to pay them. And although there is un deniably a very shauietul misappli-. cation of the immense sums winch France pays to Bonaparte ; yet the mode ot levying the taxes, as well as the person* and property upon whom they tail, is infinitely nure equitable than under the ancient regime. T his may be considered [No. VI. j