Kingston Chronicle (Kingston, ON1819), February 4, 1832, p. 1

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kingston ttvtnttm shillings and swnct per annum if seat by mail twenty smffngs vol 13 tfo 32 nec regb nec populo sed utroque hronicle t ublihed every saturday by james maefartmz at his office in frontstreet kingston u c saturday february 4 1832 for the chronicle a fragment we sat together at a quiet hour when all around was hushed into stillness the ear of nature heard alone the converaa which in a whispered accent passed between us who oft had met before when ouryouitg minds were vacant and nought we felt could hinder youths enjoyment or cast a damp in wandering on through ufrfa new sojourn nappy we once were friends but had been disunited and dismal forests waved between our mansions and many years had rolled since last we parted and newer objects to our eyes had flitted still were our souls wound into one another and former sympathies were unforgotten 1 oft had been with him he beine scarce my elder in other times with htfpee enthusiastic with passions yountf ajmmively treading the fields n radial bounty swelling i oft with him had roamed through ihe woodlands or by the chrystal stream and felt delighted his soul was not averse to friendships offering jor had pride gained ascendance in his bosom thrusting away each high companionable virtue and leaving only empty selfimportance he knew the sway his genius ever carried he towered superior vat was he ever kind and gentle nor slighied one who felt to him devoted i do remember well a time iwas sunset oer the forest the balmy winds the leave were lightly stirring st lawrence flew in hasty pace before us with playful fishes leaping from its wateis he felt enlivened after study tedious and neath an elm whose branches circled oer him he wrote the verses which are now before me 1 marked his visage as in thought inspired he penned the flashings which his fancy gave him i marked his eye cach lustre from the sunbeam as rangine ronnd he saw it glories setting i marked his pale but lofty forehead working as drpims intuitive cast their sncll upon him now changed alas from what i then but saw him we sat together and in mournful manner he ave account of what to him had fallen he spoke of griefs of batflcd hopes and pros- ofwa8tingwopsandheartfdtblflsttnganmiiih of ruined healihand winding sheet forebodings and deemed on earth we neer might meet a- hisefaeek was flushed but oh its hectic told roe of waning hfe and scorrhin suffering he took my hand and painfal was the parting and soon he met the king of terrors awful and lies enclosed in hii dark habitation griefs briny fountain soon was dried up new accnescw friends have hsd their influence but never blotted from my mind shall be the form of him on whom i once relied s war an fnr the chranicu hft chuumcu i humbly conceive thai i cannot now offer any thing better for xhe perusal of your renders thao a few ex irftctsfroni borkes reflections on the resolution in france which were writ ten in the eventful period of 1790 the extracts 1 propose are so exceedingly good ami so rery apropos for present state of affairs in this province that i am sure jou will insert them in your paper with pleasure i offer them with a double pleasure that of laying before the rend ers of the chronicle the thoughts of so great and good a mao and that of being con- acioas that my own feeble attempts are amply pported thereby 1 beg leave to speak of onr church es tablishment which is the first of our preju dices not ft prejudice destitute of reason but invoking in tt profonnd and extensive wi4oa i apeak of m fort tiksfirm 4 lat and midst in our minds for taking ground on lb religions system of which m are now in possession wo continue to actos the early received and uniformly coattuued sense of mankind that sense not only like a wise architect hath built up dib august fabric of states but like a provident proprietor to preserve the struc ture from profanation and ruin as a sacred temple purged from all the impurities of fraud and violence and injustice and ty ranny halb solemnly and forever conse crated the commonwealth and all that of ficiate in it this consecration is made that ah who administer in the government of men in which they stand in the person of god himself should have high aod wor thy notions of their functions and destina tion that their hope should be full of im mortality that they should not look to the paltry pelf of the moment oor to the tem porary and transient praise of the vulgar but to a solid permanent existence in the permanent part of their nature and to a permanent fame aod glory in the exam ple they leave as a rich inheritance to the worw- such sublime principles ought to be in fused into persons of exalted stations and religious establishments provided that may continually revive and enforce them every sort of moral every sort of civil every sort of politic institution aiding the rational aod natural ties that connect the human understanding and affections to the divine are not more than necessary in order to buildup that wonderful structure man whose prerogative it is to be in a great de gree a creature of iris own making aod who when made ns he ought to be made is destined to hold no trivial place in tho creation but whenever man is n 0vf men as the better nature ougfc ev to preside in that case more partu he should as nearly as possible he approxima ted to his perfection the consecration of the foy a state religious establishment is necessary also to operato with an wholeto awe upon free citizens because ip order to secure their feedom they most flijoy some determinate portion of power to them therefore a religion connected with the state and with their duty towattf it be comes even more necessary tht iu such societies where the people by tlu terms of their subjection are confined th private sentiments and the maungemett of their own family concerns all peons pos- mmtoc any portion of power oimit to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust aod that they arc to account for their conduct u that trust to the odc great master author and foun der of society 11 this principle ought even u bo more strongly impressed upon the minis of those who compose the collective sivereignty thaoupoo those ofsioglo princes without instruments these princes cm do no thing whoever uses instrument in find ing helps finds also impedimetts their power is therefore by no means compleal nor are they sofe in extreme nhtfce such persons however elevated by littery ar rogance and self opinion must he sensible that whether covered or nut ly positive law iosnine way orother thfry ainccount- nble even here for the abuse of their trust if they are oot cutoff hy a rebclluu of their people they may be strangled by the ter jnnienrie kpt fur invir mniy n gainst all other rebellion thus we have seen the king of france sold by his soldier for an increase of pay but whero popu lar authority is absolute and unrestrained the people have an inftoitely greater be cause n far better founded confidence in their own power they arc themselves in a great measure their own instruments they are nearer to their objects bcsidcfi they are under less responsibility to one of the greatest controlling powers on earth the sense of fame aod estimation the shareof infamy that is likely to fall to the lot of each individual in public acts is small indeed the operation ofupioion being in tho universe ratio to the number of those who abuse power their own approbation of their own actshasto themthe appearance uf a public judgement in their favor a perfect democracy is therefore the most shameless thing in the world as it is the most shamoless it is also the most fearless no man apprehends that in his person he can be made sol ject to punishmeot cer tainly the people at large never ought for as all punishments are for example towards the preservation of the peoplo at large the people at large can never become the sub ject of punishment by any human hand it is therefore of infinite importance that they should oot be suffered to imagine that their will any more than that of kiugs is the standard of right and wrong they ought to be pursuaded that they are full as littlo entitled and far less qualified with safety to themselves to use any arbitrary power whatsoever that therefore they are oot under a false shew of liberty but in truth to exercise an unnatural invorted do mination tyraoicaliy to exact from those who officiate in the state uot an entire de votion to ther iotorest which is their right bat an abject submission to their occasionnl will extinguishing thereby in all those who serve them all moral principle all sense of dignity all use of judgement and all consistency of character whilst by ihu very same process they give themselves up a proper a suitable but a must contempt ible prey to the servile ambition of popu lar sycophants or courtlcy flatterers 14 when the people have emptied them selves of all tho lust of selfish will which without religion it is utterly impossible they ever should when they are conscious that they exercise aud exercise perhaps in a higher link of the ordor of delegation the power which to be legitimate must be ac cording to that eternal immutable law in which will and reason are the same they will be more careful how they place pow er in base aud incapable hands jn their domination to office they will not appoint to the exercise of authority as to a pitiful job but as to an holy function uol accor ding lo their sordid selfish imcrest nor to their wanton caprice nor to their arbitrary will but they will confer that power which aoy man may well tromblc to give or to re ceive on those only in whom they tnay ditccro that predominant proportion ofne- tivo virtue and wisdom taken together and fitted to the charge sveh as in tho great aod inevitable mixed mass of human im- perfections and infirmities is to bo found- the s roscd in f spread par- wbeo they are habitually convinced y ebnd where t took nrly the sme that no evil can be acceptable either in the for the kingston chronicle the ape tho pyramid has stood long enough mr chronicle 1 resume the subject of my jon iislwse it mut now be turned upon itsujcx letter dated december the 10th 1831 for the pleasures of variety i am heartily glad actor io the permission to him whose es- scuceis good they will be bettor aide to extirpate out of the minds of ad magistrates civil ecclesiastical or military aoy thiug that hears the least resemblance to a proud aod lawless domination but ouo of the first and most leading principles on which the commonwealth aod the laws are consecrated is least the temporary possessors and liferenters of it unmindful of what they have received from their ancestors or of what is due to their posterity should act as if they were the entire masters that they should not think itamoog their rights to cut off the entail or commit waste on the inheritance by de stroying at their pleasure tho whole origi nal labric of their society hazarding to leave to those who should come after them a ruin instead of a habitation and teach- that the sun runs above trie reach of our inno vators moral and political direction the sin and op- i kngland hss had her rousseau in the singular- pre 8 bi on of church and state exercised its wrath ly gifted but misguided byron the field of bis as in france and burke whose pure patriot- herculean labourshas also been tho passions of ism and whose clear and comprehensive views oi all such subjects it were a species of blasphe my lo gainsay complains of the part in the bu siness that tvas acted in some of the dissenting pulpits he nays paiticular attention to the la bors of the rev doctor richard price mention ed in my last communication he observes m i am as incapable of as i am of keeping terms with those who proffers principles uf ex tremes and who under the name of religion teach little else than wild and dangerous poli ticks the worst of these piftcs uf revolution is this they temper and harden the breast in order to prepare it for the desperate strokes which are somctimns used in exreme occasions the human heart the passions aud affections are the proper theatre of moral conflict if they be fairly enlisted on the side of evil the metal man may be regarded as placed under the gui dance rf thedemon of depravity the strength of byrons genius like that of rousseaus while it seized upon the passions grappled also with the moral man but rousseau was the deeper profligate of the two he hated humanity it self and by the magic incantations of his evil genius he lured back his fellow creatures to wards the horrors of the savage state such a retrograde however especially if it be sudden and rapid must be eclanutous in proportion and the dark reverse of he onward murch of real but as these occasions nwv refer arrive the i improvement byron haled his country and de mind receives a gratuitous taint and the moral sentiments suffer not a littie when no political purpose is served by the depravation th3sort sorted it while yet he volunteered in defence of the oppressed of another clime his vices were those of a proud spirited and scornful dclanchec ofpeople arc so taken up with their theories a- j but the other could have destroyed the human i bout the rights of man that they have totally i family saving that his vanity was greedy of its forgot his nature without opening one new a- venue to the understanding they have succced- ympahes of the human breast this famous sermon of ti old jewry their successors as little to respect their j cootrivnuccs as they had themselves re spected the institutions of their forefathers by this unprincipled facility of changing the state as often nod as muh aud in as many ways as there are floating fancies or fashions the whole chain and contiuuty of the commonwealth vouldbe broken no one generation could link with the other men would become little better than the flies of a summer and first of nil tho science of juris prudence the pride uf the human intellect there must be a magnificent stage effect there which with all its defects redundancies must bo a grand spectacle lo rouse the imagin- anil errors i ihe collected reason of ages ation the preacher found them all in combining the principles of original justice the trench revolution this inspires a juvenile admiration still the moral tendency of their writings has been in the same direction by- td iu stopping up those that lead to the heart- rons poetry its descriptions splendid as they they have perverted in themselves and in those arc and its sentiment deep as he digged into that attend to them and all the well placed human nature to find them are the more calcu lated to enslave and derange the passions and disarm virtue of her only strength its power that tins state of things will always last it were folly to believe that it will con tinue for a time yet to come we have bow- ever uo reason to douht large bodies when once heated require time to coob perhaps it is among the wise plans of providence that all great aberrations from the principles of truth should be followed by a visiting the sios of tbe fathers upon the children j ihe mean time truo principles must be kept atjvo in tbe world by the friends of truth and order that whoa the passions of men allow them to listen to truth and reason they may find a centre of uuion as tbe resting f place of homao desire aod hope a sacred depository of tbe best affections of the soul and well were it is the friends of truth should learn by rever ses to use it as they ought aod recommend it by their actions his somewhat remarkable that professed infidelity has never sought to attach itself to tbe principles i have sought to maintain for tho hurt of religion with a lew which mny be called philosophic exceptions infidelity has invariably sought todepriva rehgonof the support of the state and to compel it to walk alone that its national degradation might disgrace it in the eyes of mankind the opposers of church and guiltless liberty appear flat ami rapid to their taste there must he a grtat change of scene as a heap of old exploded errors would he no longer studied personal selfsufiiciru cy and arrogance iho certain attendants of all those wb have never experienced fc wisdom pviiu than rlieirowo would u- surp the trihutnl of course no certain laws establislin in variable grounds of hope aud feat would keep tho actions of men in a ccrtqn conrse or direct them to acertaineod nothing stable in the modes i have lived to see a diffusion rf knowledge of holdiog prcerty or exercising function i which has undermined superslitioa and error could form a wlid ground on which aoy havc iivod to 8cc thcri of men better un- parent could pecuateon the education of crsood than ever and nations pantingfor li- stateotghtto reflect on this singularcir- cumstancein the history of infidelity and utiousof adopting in the pretended rcithcs nothing but th is spirit thr all the polit- cf irritation is wonderful but he that is moved 3up 0 religion the first rule th leal part plots massacre assassinations j by it can hardly tellhow or why it is calculat- l aj seem to some people a trivial prior for obtaining i d io produce an indefinite uneasiness and dusa- thftinfi a revolution a cheap bloodless reformation a hsfaciton with self and the whole world which vsjr now the impudence to claim a negative if not positive state patronage to tbe exclu sion of religion as the readers of the chro nicle may have observed in the affair of the national lyceum were the constitu tion of church aod state destroyed in en gland the infidels would iostaotly claim the same there aud attempt to furmana- tiooal party in the legislature as they did in france in both tho revolutions for france is now strictly ao infidel nation indeed i should not be surprised at somo future day to witness the same in canada the chaplaincy business is of a character predictive of n moral good to thecouotry tho it may gratify mr all denomina- it looks just lisfitction with self and the whole world which tends toatcrlain recklessness of mind there is nothing in it to soothe or mollify or tranquil izer heal it may inspire a bravery but not that of reason or virtue it is rather a stern un yielding hardihood of obstinate passtonateness which nothing can tame or subdue but the iron wih the infinite variety of human couccros warmth thro his whole frame hu enthusiasm i hand of resistless force which beats it to atoms kindles as he a ivances and when he arrives at how far this spirit of byrons poetry may have ns peroration it is in a full biazc then viewing from the fisgah of his pulpit the free moral influenced the moral feelings of his countrymen it is perhaps impossible to determine the ea- happy flourishing and glorious stale of franc gerness with which it was read for a long time as in a birdeye landscape of a promised land he hy so many of oil classes warrants the conclu sion that its influence has been considerable doubtless many have read it as drunkards take their drink for the depraved pleasure of inordi nate excitement its predominant effect would be a reckless selfishness a deadly determina tion to gratify the ruling passion- an occasion breaks out into the following raptuie ft what sn eventful period is this 1 am thankful that i have lived to see x i could al most say lord lettett thou tl servant cfr- part inpeactifor mint eyes have sea thy salvation ins offspring or in a choice for their future establishment iu the woiid no princi ples would betarly worked into the habits assounns tho most able instructor had kin triomphi and an arbitrary monarch completed his laborious course of institution surrendering himself to his subjects instead of sending forth his pupil aceom- another of these reverend gentlemen who plished in a virtuous discipline fitted to was witness to some of the spectacles which procure him attention and respect in his paris has lately exhibited expresses himself berty which seemed to have lost the idea of it i have lived to see thirty millions ofpeople indig nant and resolute spurning m slavery and de manding liberty with an irresistible voice their j tion it has the advantages of a sudden and unlooked for movement of almost countless tion it looks just as if the majority of combimns something of the maneilons which t l i- high excrement al4- effects wou only be reg s00d apostate tbao be guided by truth aud rea- sonsoonor abandon christianity altogeth er than receive ju miniptrationi and in structions from those who had not tb power to trample them uoder their feet i have remarked that justice is a most ea ays wanting to give that passion exercise and direc tion the circumstance of multitude also is a needful accessory for such a display such an occasion has presented itself in the reform que and delicate sense of honor to beat almost with the first pulses of the heart when no man could kftftft fffeit wtotikwle the tttft ftf honor in a nation continually varying the standard of i coin 7 no partof life would retain its acquisitions barbarism with regard to scjenco aod literature unskil- fulness with regard to aris and manufac tures would infallibly succeed to tho wao of a steady ey ad settled principle aod thus thee i would iu a few ficnei crumble away be dis connected ini the dust aod powder of in dividuality hbd at length dispersed to ail the winds of heaven to avoid therefore the evils of iocon- staocy aod versatility ten thousand times worse thao those of obstinacy and the bliod- est prejadiff ne have coosecrated the state that no road should approach to look into its defect or corruplioos but with due caulioo that he should never dream of be ginning its information by its subversion that he should approach to the faults of the siato as to l wounds ofa father with a pious awe and trembling solicitude by this wise prtvj n0 ar0 i to look with horror m hose children of their couo- try who are prompt rashly to hack that aged parent i pieces aod put him into the kettle of mngiciaus in hopes that hy ihcir poisouq weeds and wild iocanta- tions they regeuerate tho paternal constitution m renovate their fathers life willi what indigoation would the auihor of these scnii have contemplated the hacking and hewing nod a wild iocanta- tions of tho qiaie magicians who of into have attempted to teai io pieces ihe brit- tisli constitution ad empire aod scatter them to al w ofheavod vour obdl scrvt one of the people ii gratification it certainly could not have been an appear ancc of gttudeut ft jsb tftf peftiwmwi sacriligeous comparison the preacher liken ing bimselfto aged simmn and the french re volution to the awful thu joyous events of the redemption of the human race it will be remembered that at this period eve ry thing went in framg by the scale of the marvellous there was marvellous mania for universal education and universal knowledge was to be placed within fa reach of alk every thing was to originate in the circumstances judgment feclingsiind editions of the people the people were flattered by the demagogues of the day as grossly as the royal family nobility and gentry were insulteland outraged church and state was as great atrime then and there as it presently became wh a certain class of preachers in england and it appears that the impetus given by the freach infidels against the 11 adulterous connexion lias by no means subsi ded at this day it aciccally animates a great many preachers and religious editors and infidel editors at this very time neither has that nui sance of the marvellous and of extravagant ani mal excitement been wholly abated on the contrary it has experienod of late a u powerful revival sobtrr truth wiil no longer please the fastidious appetite it most get into a bluster ing rage to gain a favoraho hearing and then it mul profess the most humiliating submission to the voices of the people would it not have staggered the faith of rotuscau to have been told that the fire with which he kindled the passions of mankind should be filched from the polluted altars of atheismfor the purposes of re- vixing the dying embers of christian zeal and of building a new constitution for the british empire from which religion and morality should bo systematically excluded i have known men in the transports of anger to destroy their clothing and household furniture so it appears that the men of this generation also under the in flucnee of some malignant star are hent upon demolishing all that they have received from ihcir forefathers and fabricatinj entirely new furniture intellectual social civil and political correspondent with tho p oiling pasatono of object too has had its posi tion somewhat like the object ofa few of byrons heroes they have fancied a right to something ttey ha md feumt 8rf the mh ten hi the risk of all they do now or ever may possess hereafter some of the reform journals have committed more substantial crime in causelessly maddening the unreflecting multitude than the press can expiate in a hundred centuries it must also be remembered that as id the old rcvolutioo a party in eofi has followed io the wake of france ah tho infidels aod all of tbe school of the rev doctor richard price aodaome others are of that number they triah to playoff something graud and astounding aod irom not scruple to imitare sarnsoa agooistes himself provided they could see the otd fabric of church and state reeling from its foundations before the demoniac wrath of the people the late revolution in france proceeded upon the system of blind animal excitement set in motion originally by rousseau the old revolution was felt deenly io egglaod hut not so movingly as the last because the excitement system aud he scheme of universal koowledgo through the fugitive reading of ephemeral periodicals have more extensively corrupt ed the public mind aod inflated the multi tude with an exalted opinioo of their infal lible wisdom and irresistable power a prostitute press had oot then so far com pleted its work of degradation- but in the nature of thiogs it is hardly possible that the moving spirits in these times of excite ment will all escape a reaciioo from tbe very mob they have so alarmiogly madden ed they who teach the art of insolence hy authority must expect to see that same authority set at naught or trampled upon by those who have profited by the instruc tion the man who taught his sons to fight each other io their childhood had no cause of complaint when rhey turned their prac tised hands upon their unnatural father multitude and of a claim to the interests ofpo- 1 material part of religion of course th lineal vitality and existence in the last degree i our jurisprudence and legislaiion should the majority of oraors editors and senbblers qol bj regarded a5 who havc encaged in tannin the name of ex- i j u a u ir having no need of the spirt of that out of citement appear to have acted lo the life some r which they ought to grow- a manufacto- of laws for the ends of justice and for the service of religion in their kindly oper- on on human society in ihe direction o igion and virtue from which all the ser vices and acknowledgments of religion aro excluded is at best of an anomalous aod doffbtfol character it appears to ma sii national declaration of independence on the god of truth and justice an assetion that human laws need oo higher sancon thao iho voice aod uie will oftoe it- pie aod oo higher source of srigidvfer matter aod substance than men hurnea iogeooity aod i hope i shall be pardonv cd for here quoting a passage from burkey reflections oo he revolutioo io france let the reader make the application these enthusiasts do not scruple to vow their opinioo that a state can phugftj without aoy religion better than with one aod that they are able to supply tbe peace of aoy good which may be io it by a prto- ject of their own namely know ledge of the physical wants of men progressively carried to ao enlightened self interest which when well onderstood tfiej tell ui will ideotify with ao ioteresi more enlarg- ed and public tbe scheme of this educ tioo has been long known of late they- distinguish it as they have got ao entire oew nomenclature of technical terms by the oaineofa chic education i make these extracts to show the simi larity there is between the politico- religi ous doctrines of the french atheists and numbers of the present day who call them selves christians on the chic education plan our legislature end our government might be composed entirely of infidels and our laws might never recognize the ex istence of o deity without aoy infringe ment upon christian liberty or a public murk of disgrace set upon the chisttao faith religion has no connection with public justice nod our duty to the state tho state is the creature of the multitude- nod holds over tbem no moral jurisdiction- has no coocero io their moral welfare

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