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the vanity of a few miscreants. Although my mind is impressed with far more interesting matter; than that which is merely political, I cannot nevertheless forego suggesting a few thoughts on that subject, which may be instructive, although I have not the most distant expectation of their being productive of any general utility. Were kings to rob their fellow mortals of their property, and spare their lives and liberty, the innovation would not be so great; but alas, this is not the case. As a punishment to the people for their servility and abject adoration of their cruel kings, and a just re-action of Providence on these kings for their usurpation and tyranny, we always find kings torturing kings, armies murdering armies, and robbers robbing robbers; the conqueror considering the conquered his property. Pugilists always require only an acknowledgement of being vanquished, on the part of the conquered, to restore harmony, but not so with kings; after they

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have murdered their thousands, they enslave their tens of thousands, and doom their noble as well as ignoble prisoners to torture or to death. Oh the perfection of villany! the scenes of horror, the mountains of human carnage

this wretched world has groaned under! which angels blush to behold.

There are many servile and sycophantic wretches, even in America, who plead the cause of kings and apologize for their brutality, and even have the impudence to bring forward the Scriptures of truth to consolidate their assertions. But this is only one instance* in millions where mạn

* This brings to my recollection the assertion a cooper, (who lives on Mill-hill, near Trenton, N.J.) made in my presence a few years ago, namely, that the American government was not to be compared to the British, and that taxes in America were far greater than those in Britain. I will not pass a reflection on his principles or expressions, as every free man will indignantly feel what delicacy forbids me to express, his name principle forbids me to mention.

has become vain in his imagination, and has called sweet bitter, and bitter sweet, put right for wrong, and wrong for right, truth for error, and error for truth. Such men in kingdoms I pity, although I despise their principles, because the prejudice of education is so great, that it is next to impossible to eradicate it even by the worst of tyranny. But in republics, such men deserve to be cashiered, because they have not the excuse of ignorance to plead in their favour. Many religionists profess to be the friends of peace, and yet support with all their power, governments or rather monarchs, who for a feather, do plunge their fellow worms into all the horrors of war; surely this inconsistency, exhibits a baseness of heart, an hypocrisy of pretension which reason would shudder at, and religion disown. So effectually has the tyranny and antiquity of custom domineered over the minds of even what are called religious men, that it seems almost impossible to reform their political

condition. Most men are afraid to think, much less to vindicate their natural rights; hence we may fairly conclude, that most men in despotic governments do not think for themselves, and are therefore under the influence of the prejudice of education, and not opinion; and we cannot wonder at it, when we remember that the object of tyrannical governments, in order to stretch taxation to excess, and circumvert the mouth of labour, is to plunge nations into all the horrors of war, shackle the press, exhibit a great shew of grandeur and pomp, encourage such songs and toasts as are likely to enslave the mind, and suffocate reflection. From the government of Nimrod, to that of Bonaparte, war (or rather robbery) has been their trade, plunder their object, and personal aggrandizement their pursuit. Hence, the peace and tranquillity of millions of servile wretches, has, from time immemorial, depended on the whim, the caprice, the pride, even the nod of one arbitrary

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man. Let any person view the history of ancient times, and say if it is not a continued scene of war and bloodshed, murder and devastation, human butchery and wickedness; surely then he must be either a rogue or a fool, who will think or say, that monarchy was ordained by heaven, and whoever he is, the Bible gives him the lie in form. Although some people will presume to assert from Scripture, that monarchy was established by God himself, yet I can prove by a few Scriptural quotations, that the requiring a king was one of the most fatal sins the Jews* ever committed, and was

* The curse of monarchy is cogently delineated in the resolute remonstrance of the Prophet Samuel, and for a literal fulfillment of his prophecy, we have only to take the most superficial glance at the histories of the Jewish kings. The very best of them, David the just, not only robbed one of his most faithful ser: vánts of his beautiful wife, but also (which was ten fold worse) bereaved him of his existence. Solomon the wise, doomed 999 beautiful women to perpetual

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