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94' nut , Page !:,. 'THE STAiU B10G2LiPm . ' ,. memoirs or gibbon: , - A mongthe recent production of iW pmi, , . few art more amusing than the Jfem'cirt qT " Gibbon, written by himself, followed m'ucel . laoeoOs election of letter and minor piece published by Lord Sheffield since -his d:ath. .The distinguished historiatt of the Decline and Fall of the Roma Empire will long lire in the gratitude of those who liave been in structed and delighted by his lcarofng.andi elo quence The private occupations of such a man, his 'opinio of men and things, he por ' tioo of happiness he enjoyed roust all be ob jects ol nigti literary curiosity. In ranging .over the wide field of seven octavo volumes, compiled by the diligence of Sheffield, they will, lika the discriminating bee, exercise the prerogative' of neglecting many a weed, but they will likewise be regaled by the nectar of jnany a delicious Brwer. For the entertain Jnent of our readers we shall offer them a few extracts, which will qnicken their curiosity to K j'ead the whole of the memoirs, which could .be comprised in a moderate duodecimo, and ,is well worthy of a republication in this couu xy. National Intelligencer. My introduction t6 the historical scenes, which have since engaged so many- years of my hie, .must be ascribed . to an acci "dent. : In the summer of 1751, I accompani Yd my father on a visit td Mr. Hoar's in Wilt- ihire j but I was less delighted with the beau- . ties of inouchead,- than with discovering in the library a common book, the Continuation of Echard'a Roman history, which is indeed .executed with more skill and taste than the previous work. To me the reigns of the sue - cessors of Constantine was absolutely new "and I was immersed in the passage of the Goths over the Danube, when the summons "of the dinner bell reluctantly dragged me from " 'my intellectual feast. This transient glance served rather to irritate than to appease my curiosity j and as soon as I returned to Bath I procured the second nu third volumes oi Howel's History of the World, which exhibit the Byzantine period on a larger scale. .Ma ' hornet and his Saracens sdon fixed mv arten lion and some instinct of criticism directed roe to the genuine sources. Simon Oakley an original in every sense, first opened my eye and j was led frorti one book to another till I had ranged round the circle of Orienta history. t Before I was sixteen, I had exhaust ed all that could be learned in English of the Arab and Persians, the lartarsand lurks and the-same ardour urged me to guess the f xench ot D Herbalet, and construe the bar baroua. Latin of Pocock's Abulfaragius. Such vague and multifarious reading could not teach me to think, to write, or to act : and the only principle that darted a ray of light in . to the indigested chaos, was an early and ra tionai application to toe oruet ol time and " a , place. The mans of Cellar! us and Wells iin .Vr printed in my mind the picture of ancient geo " graphy j from Stranchius I imbibed the ele ; ments of Chronology : the tables of Helvetius "and Anderson, the Annals of Usher and Pre ., dieux, distinguished the cdnnection of events and engraved the multitude of namvs and date: in a clear and indelible series: But in th discussion of the first ages 1 overlooked the bounds of modesty and use ; in my rhildis balance I presumed to weigh the systems o Scaligerand Petavius, of Marsh a in and New ton, which I could seldom study in the on "gmdiiind my sleep has been disturbed by tne dimcuity oi reconciling the oeptuagent with the Hebrew computation. I arrived at Oxford with a stock of erudition, that might have puzzled a proctor, and adep-rre of ignor ance, of which a schoolboy would have been ashamed." Speaking of the University of Oxford, Mr Gibbon observes 41 It might at le.astie expected, that an ec clesiasttcal school should at least inculcate th orthodox principles of religion. But our ve nerable mother had contrived to unite the op posue extremes oi Digotry inclilkrence ; heretic, or unbeliever, was a monster in h eyes but she Was always, 6r often, or some times, remiss in the spiritual education of he o-vn children. ' According to statutes o the university, every student, before he is ma. tnculated, must subscribe his assent to th thirv-n'n.e articles of thwehurch of England which are signed by more than believe them IVfy insufficient age excused fne,howtver,from tne 'immediate performance of this lega ceremony'; and the vice-chancellor directed me to return, as soon as I should have accom plished my fifteenth year 5 recommending me, in the mean while, to the instruction of my college. My college forgot to instruct t I for got to return, and was myself forgotten by the first magistrate of the university -, Without a ingle lecture, either public or private, either catholic or protestant without any academi cal subscription, without any episcopal confir , roatioo, I was left by the ditq ltght of my cate chism to grope my way to thechapel and com. munion table, where I was admitted, without a question, how far, or by what means, I might be qualified to receive the sacrament. Such almost incredible neglect was productive of a the worst mischiefs. From my childhood I 1 had been fond of !religiousdisputation : my . poor aunt has been often puzzled by the mvs- , terjes which she strove to believe j nor had the v clastic epi iSg been totally broken by the weight tb atfccinW of Oxford. The bl.nd ac tivtty cf Irenes urgea me o - out armour into the dingefou maif s ol con troversy, and at the age of sixteen, 1 pewii- dcrrd tnyeif in thecrrour ot me couru i The ororres of mt eonversion may tma; ... r 0 . .. to illustrate, at least, tne msiory 01 my "-y mind. It was notlongince Dr. Middleton a free rnquiry hsd sounded an alarm in the tne- ological world : much ink and much gnu riaa been spilt In the dtlrnce ot primitive mira cles ; and the two dullest pf their champions were crowned with academical honoui by the university of Oxford. The name of Middle ton was unpopular ; and his proscription very naturally led me Jto peruse nis wriiis those of his antagonists. " His bold criticism. which annroaches the precipice ofinndelity. produced on my mind a singular effect ; and had I perserved in the communion ot wome, should now applv to my own lortune tne prediction of the Sybil. prim ulutis, Quod minime rem, Gril pandetur b trtic. " The ele'irance of style and freedom of ar gument wee repelled by a shield of prejudice. still revered the character, or ratner me . re names, ot the saints ana utner wnom ur. Middleton exposes 2 nor could he destroy my implicit belief, that the irift of miraculous powers was continued in the church, during the first four or five centuries of Christianity. But I was unable to resist the weight of his torical evidence, that within the same period most of the leading doctrines of popery were already introduced in theory and practice : nor was my conclusion absurd, that miracles are the test oF truth, and that the church must be orthodox and sure, which was so often ap proved by the visible interposition of the Dei- tv. lhe marvellous tales wnicn are so ooia- ly attested by the Basils and Chrysostoms, the Austins and Jeromes, compelled me to em brace the supcriour merits of celibac)-, the in stitution of the monastic life, the use ol the sign of the cross, of huly oil, and even of ima jres, the invocation of saints, the worship of relics, the rudiments ot purgatory in praye", for the dead, arid the tremendous mystery ol the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, which insensibly swelled into the prodigy ol transuastantiation. In these disponitions, and already more than half a convert, I form ed an unlucky intimacy with a young gentle man of our college, whose, name I shall spare. With a character less resolute, fir. had imbibed the same religious opinions ; and some Popish books, I know not through what channel, were conveved into, his possession I read, I applauded, I believed the bngush translations of two famous works of Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, the Exposition of the Ca tholic Doctrine, and the History ot the Pro testant Variations, achieved my conversion, and I surely fell by a noble hand. I have since examined the originals with a more dis cerning eye, and shall not hesitate to pro nounce, that Bossuet is indeed a master of all the weapons of controversy. In the Exposi tion, a specious apology, the orator assumes. with consummate art, the tone of candour and simplicity 1 and the ten-horned monster - -- - - - - .-r - - - - - first iaterview h aoon discovered that persf km was needless." After dindti( the rpo thei and merit of my convert ion, be consent-cd-to admit Vne into thepafecf thechurthand at hi fet, on the 8th 0 June 17J3, ( olmn ly, though prirately, abjured the rrroura of Heresy. ; The seduction of an English youth of famiJf sitoriuCCTM -ct of much danger af glory t but be bravely overlooked the danger, of which I wa"pot ufficienily in formed. -Whe're a person is reconciled to the sec of Rome, or procure other tq be re conciled, the offence(ay Blackstone)amounu to high treason. And if the humanity of the age. Would prevent, the execution of this an guinarv statute, there were other law of a less odious cast, which condemned the priest to perpetual imprison ment, and transferred the . . . ... nmu i-i't ttr to hit nearest reution. - ad elaborate controversial epistle, approved by my diiector, and addressed to my father, an nounced and justified the 4tep 1 had taken. My father was neither a bigot nor a philoso pher i but his affection deplored the lo of an only son ; and his good senie was aston r,ti-d at my atrange departure from the rengiou 01 mv countrv.' In the first sally of passion he divulged a secret which prudence might have suppressed, and the gates ot Magdr ?n 01- f 1. . lege were forever snut againsi. niy rem.- Many years afterwards, when the name of Gibbon was become as notorious as that of Middleton, it wa industriously whispered at Oxford, that the historian had formerly "turn ed papist-:" my character stood exposed to the reproach ot inconstancy 5 and this inviai- ous topic would have been handled without mercy by my opponents, could they have se parated my cause fiom that of the university. For my own part, I am proud ol an honest sacrifice of interest to conscience. I can ne-v-.r blush, if my tender mind wa entangled in the sophistry that seduced the acute and manly understandings of Chillingworth and Bayle, who afterwards-emerged lrom super sution to scepticism POLITICAL. is transformed, at his magic touch, into lhe milk-white hind, who must be loved as soon as she is seen. In the history, a-bold and well aimed attack, he displays, with a happy mixture of narrative and argument, the faults and follies, the changes and contradictions of our first reformers ; whose variation fas he dexterously contends) are the marks of histori :al errour, while the perpetual unity of the Ca tholic church is the sign and test of infallible truth. To my present feelings it seems in credible that I should ever believe that I be lieved in transubstaniiation. But myv.con querour oppressed me with the .sacramental words, 44 Hoc eat corpus mccum" and dashed against each other the figurative half-meanings of the protestant sect : every objection was resolved into omnipotence ; and after re peating at St. Mary's the A thanasion creed I humbly, acquiesced in the mystery of the real presence. To take up half on trust, and half to try, Name it not fuith, but bung Tinfr bigotry. Botb knuve anil fool, the mtrchunt we in: y fa'l To pay great uni8, and to compound the .mail. For who would brcuk with Heavtn, and would not break for all ) " No sooner had I settled my new religion than I resolved to profess myself a Catholic. Youth is sincere and impetuous ; and a mo mentary glow of enthusiasm had raised me a bove all temporal considerations." " By the keen protestants, who would glad ly retaliate the example of persecution, a cla mour is raised of the increase of Popery : and they are always found to declare against the toleration of priests and jesuits, who pervert so many of his majesty's subjects from their religion and allegiance. On the present occa- ion, the fall of one or more of her sons di rected th'13 clamour against the university ; and it was confidently affirmed that the Popish missionaries were suffered, Under various dis guises, to introduce themselves into the col-It-ges of Oxford. But justice obliges me to declare, that, as far as relates to myself, this assertion is false ; and that I never conversed with a priest, or even with a papist, till my resolution from books was absolutely fixed. In my last excursion to London, I addressed myself to Mr. Lewis, a Roman Catholic Book- seller in Rnssel street, Covent Garden, who recommended me to a priest, ot whose name and Ore' l am at present Ignorant. In' our The Inadmissible Principles or THE KINO OF EXGIJXD PROCLAM ATTOV or Oct. 22. 1807 by Jonw Adams, late Presi dent of die United Suites. TEXT. The proclamation of the kinir of G. Britain, rrtuhinir the return ol nil subject, Uie teamen especially, lrom fo reign coun'nci,.io aia in uui aour 01 peculiar danger, ui dcience of their own." "But it bemff an acknowledired principle that every nati on has aright to the service of its subjects in time of war, : hat prociumauon could not lurtusn the slightest ground for an embarffo." . ' This partial deicnpUon has a tendency to deceive many, and no doubt has deceived thousands. It iV concealing the at1 in a batket of Jig. The dange rous, alarming and tatal part 01 the proclamation i kept creuilly out ot sight, f reclamations ot one kind are of immemorial usage ; but the present one is the first of the kind, Proclamauons of the firs! kind, issued usually in the beginning of a war, are 111 effect tiut simple invitations to subjects, who hap pen to do abroad, to return home, lo deny the right of the king to issue them, would be as unrea sonable as to deny his right to send a card Of invita tion to one of his subjects to civc with him on St. George's day. But in neither case is the subject bound by law to accept tht invitation. None of these proclamations, till this last, ever asserted a right to take Bnush subjects by lorce, irom the ships of fo reign nations, any more than from the cities and provinces of foreign nations. On the other hand, it is equally clear, that Entish Subjects in foreign coun tries are under no indispensable obligation of religi on, morality, law or pohcy, to return in compliance with such proclamations. No penalty is annexed by English laws to any neglect ; no, nor to any di rect or formal disobedience. Hundreds in fact, do neglect and disobey the proclamations to one who complies with them. Thousands who have, form ed establishments and settled families, or become naturalized, or made contracts, or enlisted on board merchant shtys, or even ships of war in foreign countries, pay no regard to these orders or invitati ons of their lormer. sovereign. Indeed, all who have become naturalised in foreign countries, or entered into contracts of any kind, public or private, with governments or merchants, or farmers or munufac tures, have no right to return until diey have fulfilled their covenants and obligations. -The President of the United atates has us legal anthoritv to issue si nulur proclamations, and they would be as much res pected by American citizens, all over the elobe. But every American would say his complLnce was voluntarily, and none, whose engagements abroad were incompatible, would obey. But " it is an ac knowledged principle, that every nuon lias a right to the sen ice of its subjects in time of war." iJy whom is this principle acknowledged ? By no man I believe, in the unlimitted sense in which it is bprJ asserted. With certain qualifications -and restric tions it may be admitted. Within the realm and his own diminions the king has a right to the ser vice of his subjects, at sea and on land, by voluntary enlistments, and to send them ubrorj on foreign voy ages, expeditions and enterprises but it would be difficullto prove the tight of uny executive authority of a free people to compel free subjects into service by conscriptions or impressments, like galley-sluvcs at the point of the bayonet, or before the- mouths ol field artillery. Extreme cese and imperious ne cessity, it is saKl, havc,no raw but such extremities and necessity must be very obvious to the whole nation, . freemen will not comply. Impressments ol seamen from Bnush merchantmen in port or a sea, are no better than the conscriptions of sokliers byNarx)leonorLeW,sXlV.who set him the ex ample. So much for that part of the proclamation, which the toKt produces to public view. Now for the other part, which it has artfully concealed. Thurlow, when he was chancellor, hazarded a saying to a committee gf the city of London, that u. , impressment ot seamen was leiral s iJrdslis op:iion, but wa roust dftLr; of a very different opinion i" rd rjir k peared to be applauded by the 100. r rt re continually opposed .and resisted tt sailors, whenever they jave the mean or t! t bopc of escaping. Nry oflWer and men rr times killed, and there no infusition I- 0 blood. iA litti$ fwiae as poskibic h nfe s'. (. f;U known to be jusuLile houikkie hu - " life of an ass-iUnt in the necessary defer t L nun' liberty. -There is not a jury in F-nLitd would find a verdict of murder or mansLu"!,-, r "I gaiiut any sailor, on Lnd or at sea, who li.ou! : 'k ' any one of a ores rang in the txcessarj defvue his, liberty from' impressment Press shore ar often resisted by the people, fired a, of them wounded, sometimes killed. Yet no qtysition is made for this,- The practice is ht in abhorrence by the-rfen-of-wr"-nen tbt iv S , . The boatswain of the Rose frigate, after thjnji Ul of the four Irish sailors, who were prosecute J a speriaal court of admirJly at Boston, for killir.; gallant and amiable officer, lieutenant Panton, j . M this is a kind of work in which I have been titno constantly engaged for twenty yeirs,L e. in Cghtu -with honest s-iiors, to deprive them of their libenj' I always suspected that 1 Ought tobe bunged for but now I know it" , ..Since I have alluded to CJ case, it may not bo a miss to recollect some otkr circumstances of it. ; -; - A press-gang from the Rose, eoromanjed Lr lieut. Panton, with a midshipman and a OumUr of ordinary Seamen, visited and searched a-merchant ship froth Murblehead, belonging td Mr. Hooper at sea. The lieutenant enquired if any ,EngSiih H'-h or Scotchmen were on board? Not atks,a j with the answer he received, he prepared to search the ship from stem to stern: At last he found f ,T Irishmen reared and concealed in the forespcik. Witil sword and pistols lie Immediately siege to tne enclosure ana summoned the men to surrender. Corbett, who had the cool intrepidi of a Nelson, reasoned, remonstrated, and laid dawn the law with the precision of a Mansfield. I know who you arc You are the- lieutenant of man of war, come with a press-ang to deprive ir.c of my liberty. You have no right to impress ir.r' have retreated from you as far as I enn i I tan r , no farther. I, and ray comparuons- are determi I to stand upon bur defence. Stand off." -The lor within and without employed their usual Lv guage to each other, and a midslupraan, in the con fusion, fired a pistol into the forespeak and brole n arm of one of the tour. Corbett, who stood at the entrance, was -engaged in a contest of menaces . and defiances with the lieutenant; -He repeated ' what he had before said, and marking a line with a harfioen in the salt, with which the ship wis loaded, ' said, " tou. are determined to deprive tq4 of my li- -bcrty, and I am determined to defend it If you step ' over ttat tine, t shall consider It as k proof that you ' are determined to impress me. and bu the tUmU God.qF Heaven, you are a dead man.' Ave hit K lad," said the lieut I have seen many a brave fel- Inur lurrM Knur n T.lini. ki. ..ITl. m..-, IAi . pocket, and taking a pinch of snuff, he very deli- berateiy stepped over the line and attempted ta . "-v... Tl. 1.... J ! t . , t f bi,u utii. 11c uiuci, umwiug oau Ills Willi and driving his harpoon with all his force, cat off f the carotid .artery and jugular Vein, and (aid tho I ucuu ycau ui us icci. a ne iiMr sera a remiorce ment to the press-gang; brok down the bulkhead, ' and seized the four Irishmen and brought them ' to tna tor piracy and mnrder.f AThe court consist 1 L. . ... uuv M.o uHuuunee anawered him respectfully but tirmiy, Uiougb in the presenco of the king in cotm ciW' weacknowlegetho 4.igh wthority 0f ycUr ed of governour Bernard; rovernour Wehtworth, J chief justice Hutchinson, judge Achrmirjf, commo- 5 aore flood him sell, Who then commanded all tne ' stups of war on the station, now a peer of the Bri- ' tish empire, and twelve or fifteen others, cbuncel lors of Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Rhode-' ' Island. After the trial, the president, , gdvemour Bernard, pronounced ,the judgement of the Court, that the action of the prisoner was justifiable hom icide, and in this opinion the whole court was unan- i imous. The sailor who was wounded in the arm, brought' an action against the midshlpmaA, and commodore Hood himself interposed and made : compensation to the sailor, to his satisfaction, after- ; which the action was withdrawn. - Such was the -impressment of seamen, as ii stood, by hw, beforo our revolution-iiThe author of my texti tlien, tx-; ries Ids courtly complaisance to the English govera- ' meet, farther than the governours Bernard and nutcninson, anu even than lord Hood camea n when we were a part of the British .empire".; - Ha thinks, that, as every nation has a tight to the ser vice of its subjects, in time of war, $ie proclama tion of the king of Great Britain, commanding his naval officers to practise such imoressmen ts, on board, not only the vessels of his own subjects, but, ' j of the U. States, a foreign nation, could not furnish , ; the slightest ground for ah embargo! ItjsPire ." I :essary for ine to say, that any thing covd famish J aaufficient ground for an embargo,, ftr ahylonc f I ume, tms, Ueave to the responsilihy of e4rpre4i t dent, senators, aiid representatives in congress- But, I suyi with confidence, that it furnished s suuV ! cient ground for a declaration of van Not ths',' ; murder of Werce. nor ll tK ht i I Chesapeake, nor all the other injuries ahd insults we have received from foreign nations attfocioUs ' as theyhave been, can be of such dangerous,! last ' uig and jiemicious consequence td this country, a , 1 tins proclamution, if we have servility eaough to ; submit to it. . .M:"- . q , 'iny April, 18, 18C aia I have, received your favour of April StW 1 1 I agree with you that our Prosperity rasheeii a.tefwt; ; ' as that of any people that ever existed ifhd that, our I . Massachusetts and national Constitutions are better ' , than any that I have known or read, u long as they ' f are adnutustei ed by the people and their RepreSen. ; UUves according to their spirit and true pnnciplev . itow long this will bedependsupon the people them- , sclve. If the peopfe and their Representatives cnhce thecliaraerlandiiestroythe iiifluenceofthe . best, most enlightened and most disinterested men' J ; by cammnics, and Tii-nrt heads nor hearts fitr their stations and are actus- J ted only by motives of avarice nd ambition," MwH f not be very long before our prosperity will be ex- f changed tor Calamity and our fre cotistitutionsconw J verted into Tyranies. v ) :lc j That I neitheir wish for a;Monarchynor Greci- J an Democracy nor a Grecian or Roman Aristocracy I m these U. btates is most;ertain and mostovident f to this whole nation iithcy have eyer aUcrtded tomr. I'r"0"8 or W"B for'fifly ytsara Iii Janui iy 1776 I primed my opinion - of a' proper form of T government under the tide ofthoushUoaGoveai., U.e: 177 d lad lect two In yeai Vet Dal en tal or wi fau! ' I cVi ".I tun . pi ' sed ec1 n pj rt b( ai Si ai h it fe d a C ' a I m t ?...'-'
The North-Carolina Star (Raleigh, N.C.)
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May 18, 1809, edition 1
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