Newspaper Page Text
From Tajf’s National Shamroc,
A !art Irifh publication.
REBELLION.
Wluf is rebellion ? who is the
übcl ? This is another of the
on words (hat are bandied about
f rom one partv to another. Like
the words heretic and orthodox,
they mean juft what any party
chafes. They vary their mean
ing according to countries and
times. Nay, in the fame coun
try and age, rirrumftances may
totally charge their fignification,
A vi6lory or two, for example
will change rebels into High
Mightineftes, &c The Swi fs,
the Dutch, the Americans, the
Frg ifh, were all rebels ; fucccfs
abfoived them from the imputa
tion. But does the equality of
aftions depend on the event ?
God forbid; that may influence
the judgement of the rirh and
poor vulgar, well drefted and
ragged fools, but cannot alter
the good or evil qualify of ac
tions.
The word implies, taking up
arms a f condtime, after acknow
ledging defeat by fuhmiftion to
the will of the conqu ror. But
that definition convevs more fa
tisf ftic-n rfian the fo'iner; it
woudeondemn refiftanre to any
robbery, or tyranny, howev* r
eftablifhed, or by whatevermeans
fupported.
Does rebellion mean refiftance
to the eftablifhed authority ?
That explanation will not ho'd
water neither partly for the rea
lons afligned in the foregoing ;
partly becaufe the revolution
would thereby be condemned as
r ebellion The reft oration of
( harks by general Monk, would
be rebellion; for thofe two events
were in the teeth of eftablifhed
authority.
Will it be fat'd, that it is re
ft fierce to kgal au f horiiy that
c« nftitutrs rebellion ? But that
is equally vague and inconclu
fn e with the foregoing. Every
ufurpation, every tyranny wdll
call itfclf legal. A royal cdi6l
is a law in o»e place; the vote
of a few hundred men, no mat
ter whether bribed bv place and
per lion, or impelled by third of
opprelhon, is called law in ano
th i place, however wicked, un
jufl, or contrary to the law of
God and nature the votes may
be.
Having proved that refiftance
to the will of a conqueror, to
eftablifhed governments, or to
governments calling thcmlelves
legal, cannot be qualified rebel-
li that word means unjuft
refiftance, let us lee what rebel
lion or unjuft refiftance really
means. And lull of 1 \w.
Law is a rule of aftion, dila
ted by light realon, as rnoft con
f irnabL to the nature of man,
and of human (ociefv ; and moll
conduc ve to piivate and public
happinefs.
Hence, in never cafes To hind,
whether cna£ted by vote or not
enafted. The will of man, or
of all mankind, has no power
over it ; decrees and votes in
oppofnion !o it are null and void
bv the very fad. The Solus Po
fiuh, the will being of the whole
(ommunhy ; in all that concerns
the comf its of life, induftry,
I freedom, education, morals, in
a word, the greater good of the
greater number, with as little
drawback in the article of ex
pence, punifhmcnt, or reftraint
as poftible, is the fovercign fu
preme law of civil fociety ; the
whole fyftcm of law mufl be in
conformity to this cardinal point,
and bran h from it as corollaries
Any governors, or f nators,
who fhouid prefume tofubftitute
their own capricious will and
temporary convenience forthefe
everlafling decrees of God and
Nature, are guilty of trealon
againft God and Man. If the}
further dare abufe the power
and revenues emrufted to them
for different purpofes, to enforce
their own tyrannical and illegal
a6ls, in oppofition to law, to the
great interefts of lociety, they
aie rebels. For oppofition to
the laws of moral nature, and
to the great cbjeds of civil foci
ety, is rebellion.
What then is the ufe of a le
giflative aliemblv, if they can
nut decree what they pleafe ?
If their every a£l is not Xpfo fafto
law ? I anfwcr. It is a duty to
dilcover the moral relations of
nun to man, of man to his Mi
# # I
ker, and to lociety. The tics
that conned the nation together,
and the prelent with palt and
future generations ; when they
have diicovered thofe moral re
lations, they may juftlydedare
them laws. They mull lludy
the wants, mterclls<md reloun es
of lire lociety and apply tlr fe
laws to particular circumft rnces.
In this fundion there is loom
for dilctetion, becaule the nai
rownefs of the human faculties
precluding in many cafes evi
dence, they mull often make
their opinion, with doubt and
helitation, between encountering
probabilities. When they have
ddcharged their duty, in diligent
inveftigauon, and Iciupulous
upr ’ght decilion, they have done
all th t can be requited of man.
Pelponfibi ily, in cafe of failu e,
ftrould not be enforced w ith too
rigorous a feverity. Were tuey
endowed withomnifeien e, there
would be no room left for the
choice of diferetion ; the good
they evidently fa;v they would
be bound to pur fue, and it would
be treafonable to give up a great
er for a Idler good. How abuled
and wicked tiierefore to pretend
to raile the fabnc of abloiute
power on the loundatrcn of their
mtclledu 1 weaknels, or mifeon
ceived notion ol legillative pow
ei ? Becaule we cannot exped
evidence and preciiion in ail
calcs; becaufe in dubious and
difhcultcalesthey mull be allow
cd to chufc. Therefore they
arc in all cafes tornake their own
will the law of the land; to make
their will the measure of right
and wrong ; that is* to decree,
that right is wrong, and wrong
is right. Many fenates have
been very bufy at this kind of
pious woik, whom the Lord
will reward in his own good
time. How uniform in its end,
tho* various in its means is the
foolifh and wicked ambition of
man ! That very omnipotence
formerly claimed by a few hun
dred individuals, on the founda
tion of their intelk&ual infir
mity, and the plea of a pun.
Avauit, rebels, the iovereignty
that never belonged to you, you
cannot transfer,
PARIS, 'January i.
A Journal announces that the
ultimatum of the kmg of Pruflia
has leached the confulatfc, *nd
that that prince had declared to
the belligerent powers, that in
lefs than two months if they do
not accept the conditions pmpo
fed, he will join his forces to
thofe of the French Republic
Peace was figned between Bu
onaparte and the Chiefs of the
hou ins now at P:ris, on the
30th December. 1 heir bifhops
and their curates are to be le
ttered to th<m : that of St. Bmix
is in the number of thofe who
will be rettored. On their fide
t e royalifts are to ccafe from all
hoOility, and to furnifh 40 hof
cages, See
■ "January 5.
Accounts f om Genoa dated
the 19th December, contain the
following intelligence :—We
have received letters from Naples
which confirm he news icceived
byway of Tufcany with refpedl
to the infunedion of Calabria,
La Pouille, and Abruzzo. The
inluigcnt* made themfelves maf
ters of Naples where they flaugh
tered a great number of Lazza
mni, who had joined the Ruf
fian and Neapolitan troops who
co.npofid the ganifon. The
latter were defeated and difperf
ed and the governor of the
place, with the chiefs of the
rf yal party, efcaped with difli
cu’ty the fury of the infurgents.
LOUISVILLE,
TUESDAY, March 25. 1800.
CAUTION !
From an Alexandria paper—Fe
bruary 27.
The money brought from
New-Orleans by james Elliot
and o hers, and which on exa
ruination proves to be counter
feit, are of the United States
paper—dated Philadelphia, Fe
bruary 1795, June 1796, April
1797, February 1798, for
the 100 dollar bills, and marked
A and red E. The fifty dollar
bills are Toll Notes, dated Phi
ladelphia, Apiil, 1798, and
mailed B. The bills arc v.ei;
imitated, but the paper infciio r
to that of the Hue bi'l; the f lfn
ing hard to be known from thj
true bill, except the G in t (
calhiet’s name, and Simp/on, and
written larger and (he ink paler
than in the real bil'—( omc rf
them are Cgned John Kean
calmer. 1
The public are warned that a
great quantity of this paper j s
in New-Orleans, and coming on
to the United States
Two men who arrived here in
thefehooner Two Brothers,from
New-Orleans, were apprehend
ed on Monday, for palling bills
of above defeription— on
examination one of them was
difmifled, it not appealing he
had palled any of the bills, and
the other, (the above named
lames Elliot) kept in cuflody
for further examination,
Mr. Holt, the Connefbcut
champion of republicanifm, con
tinues his meritorious career;
unawed by perfection and in
different to his threats. PolfelTed
as this excellent patriot is of fu
perior taients to the femle he>d
of Kew-Et-gland editor-, had
he /looped to flatter the haughty
piiclls and the would be aiido
cracy of that country, he would
have obtained a lucrative pa*ron
age, but being a man of firm
integrity, he is totally unlike the
lyrophantic ciew, who change
him with not being in as affluent
circurnftances as themhlves.
Theie the wifeacres blundered,
as they thereby publilhed the
value of the man, and informed
the public that principle, and
not interefted views, aduated
him.
Federal malice long fought to
check a man who was fuch a
Humbling block in the wav of
defignirg intriguers. Placed a
a wood of lupple ofiers, he has
flood like an oak difdaining to
bend, cither to the vvirldwmds
01 the gentle zephrys of p' wer.
I he axe is now perhaps ftiatp
ened to fell the ftudy, unvicld
ing tree ; it will be wielded by
a ftrong arm, but whether it will
be ab'e to lurvive themedita ed
attack or not, depends upon the
fpirit of its cotemporaiies.
■———
PETER PORCUPINE.
The following, taken from the
Farewell Addrefs oj / eter Por
cupine. will account for the dij
continuance of his Gazette , end
Jhow with how much re/fS he
thinks it necefjary to treat the
Executive of the United States.
“ I began my editorial career
witli the Prelidency of Mr, A
dams, and my principal object
was to render his adminiftration
all the alfiflance in my power. I
looked upon him as a (lately,
well armed vclfel, failing on arl
expedition rocombatand deflroy
the fatal influence of French n -
trmue and French i
and I flattered tnyfeif with t. a