According to these and other like propositions of Mr. Locke, a legislature must be a body constituted by a people to specify and determine, in particular cases, circumstances and occurrences, what is the law and will of God, (for God alone has an absolute right to our obedience) and what rules and customs are conformable or repugnant to the divine truth,

In defiance of their commission and presumption, the right will still continue to every man to act, as freely as ever, in whatsoever is innocent, kind,

and just; neither can any one be commissioned to defeat this native freedom; neither will any human decree whatsoever alter the natural equality among men, or make man other than he is;-and since to ordain a thing repugnant to truth is the

simul est cum mente divina. Cic. which begun not then only to exist when revealed as such, but from the very time when the divine bounty first begun to exert itself towards him; and this begun at one and the same time with the decreed beneficence of God to the sons of Adam. To this you object, that "a man may part with his natural rights, because such natural rights are every man's own, and no other's property." I reply that this proposition has never yet been proved; but if it were even true, that every man's natural rights are his own property, and such as he may relinquish personally, and for himself, yet he cannot relinquish them for posterity; and to relinquish them at all is in effect, at least as far as we are able, to give away what belongs to posterity; and experience and history shew us, that, by tame surrenders of this kind, posterity is usually enslaved; and where otherwise, that we may however embarrass and distress posterity with such difficulties in the recovery of their native rights and prerogatives, by us so sordidly conceded, as import the highest degree of injustice doue them. It may be presumed, that to part with the prerogatives given us by God, is an act injurious to his divine bounty, affrontive to his majesty, and such as may obstruct his great, generous and secret purposes in us; but it is known that, in condescending thus, we hurt posterity as superlatively as we possibly can, for the natural gifts of God are more valuable than all other goods, potior metallis libertas. Hor. Liberty is preferable to riches. Also, posterity being daily born, such injury becomes daily multiplied, repeated, diffused, exaggerated.

In short, (for this point is only a corollary in my dispute with you, I cân nơ longer dwell upon it) unjust laws continued, being a continued act of injustice, must amass vast guilt by continuance, and prove a crying curse in the court of heaven, not only against those who instituted them, but also against those whose duty it is to have them abolished. And every legislature must be blind who sees not this truth so evidently as to be animated with all zeal, indignation, expedi tion and resolution, to erase such laws at all events and hazards, as abhorrent to the will of God, (which is the one true law throughout the universe) and detestable in his sight.

same thing as to ordain that what is true shall be false, and vice versâ, such absurdity must denote an extreme blindness and brutality in nowise better than a disqualifying mad

ness.

Also, intrusted power and property, are only fiduciary, or to act for certain ends; therefore whenever the end is manifestly opposed, or defeated, the trust is forfeited, void and insignificant. In this case, the power devolves into the hands that gave it; for, the law of self-preservation being unalienable, no one can have any right, even by donation, to defeat it. So soon as persons intrusted with power act against that trust, and by and according to their private wills and interests, they thereby degrade themselves, perhaps into debtors and criminals, at least into single, private persons, without power, without command, and without any right to obedience: the members of a society owing no obedience immediately to any other than the public will of the society. Lib. II. Ch. xiii.

That, AS TO RESISTANCE,

Every intrusted power, when found to be no longer a remedy against the evils it was given to redress, but to he vainly increased without effecting its business, ought to be suppressed by wise and good men. But much more ought every man's power to be suppressed who seeks his commodity with the injury of others, and is found to be aiming at interests separate from those of the individuals or members, who are his constituents. If it be a part of civil society to prevent their Constituents being injured, much naore is it so to prevent their being devoured..

Therefore when men in trust have quitted their reason, aud renounced the way of peace which this teaches, they have revolted, from their own kind, to that of beasts, by making force to be their rule of right; and are as liable to be destroyed as are other wild beasts, or noxious brutes, with whom Bankind can have neither society nor security. Lib. II. Ch. xv. That, AS TO WAR AND CON

QUEST,

As voluntary agreement gives a political power, and constitutes the condition of a free people, so a just forfeiture, by a state of war unjustly

begun, gives despotic power, and constitutes the condition of slaves. Although a man may forfeit his own life or liberty by invading or threatening another's life or liberty; yet the aggressor's posterity or children can not forfeit thereby their lives or liberties; the miscarriages of the father being no fault of his children. An unjust aggressor can never gain a just right by conquest; as a robber, who breaks into your house, and forces you, with a dagger at your throat, to scal deeds conveying your estate to him, gains not thereby any title to your estate. For your plundered property is equally your right when in your plunderer's hands, as while in your own custody, and ought to be restored to you during every minute he withholds it; and while withheld, it amasses the guilt of a continued robbery. Also, the promises extorted by force without right, bind you not at all; in that the law of nature, laying an obligation on you only by the rule she prescribes, cannot oblige you by the violation of her rules.

The trustees of the public may not only forfeit their power to their constituents, but put themselves into a state of war against them; and this they do whenever they manifestly endeavour to destroy the people's authority, or to invade their rights and properties, or to reduce them to a state of dependence, which is slavery, and unnatural. And this endeavour, when overt and manifest, will justify the forfeiture; because when a man's chains are on, it may be too late for him to complain; and to bid him then to beware of his liberty, were mockery instead of relief. Lib. II. Ch. xix. No body of people can, by the faults of others, lose their natural rights.

whose right they invade, they are rebels with the greatest aggravation of guilt, and the true causes of all the disorders and bloodshed occasioned in the society by its members' efforts to recover their rights. The consequent evils are the effects of the unjust invaders' acts, and must and will undoubtedly be chargeable upon them. Lib. II. Ch. xix. Usurped power having no title to a people's obedience, the rebelling against it is innocent; so we read 2 Kings xvii. 17, "And the Lord was with Hezekiah, and he prospered, wherefore he went forth, and rebelled against the king of Syria, and served him not." If to shake off power gotten by force, and without right, were in itself wrong, it would follow, NOT ONLY, that people are sufferers by being innocent, and that they forfeit their natural right of self-defence and protection, because they deserve to enjoy it; BUT ALSO, that it is right for the innocent to quit their all, for peace' sake, to every plunderer; and then the labours of mankind would be pursued, and their peace maintained, only for the benefit and enjoyment of robbers and oppressors; which is absurd. Lib. II. Ch. xvi. xix.

That, AS TO REBELLION, The use of force without authority puts him who uses it into a state of war, and renders him liable to be treated accordingly. The word rebellion imports a putting one's self into a state of war. He who begins this state of war, by exercising force without right, is the rebel. When they who rebel, or bring back the state of war, by exercising force without right, are the very people chosen to be their protectors and guardians,

These are the principles of Mr. Locke, and I might cite many other approved writers, speaking the same things; but Mr. Locke's universal credit, and renown all over Europe, is a sufficient evidence, that the little above advanced by me on this subject is no novelty, it being fully comprehended in these quoted passages from Mr. Locke, and, I apprehend, justified by them.

June 4, 1817. What is Blasphemy?

F this horrid crime, Sir, our Sa

Oviour has frequently accused by

the Jews, who were so blindly attached to their established church; and he forewarned his disciples, that if they called the master of the house Beelzebub, much more would they those of his household. And so indeed it has been. Those who have been most courageous in exposing error, and most active in disseminating truth, can best speak of the tender mercies of those institutions which arrogate to

themselves the name of Christian state, or speaking irreverently conchurches. cerning curious specimens of composition, which derive their religious character wholly and entirely from acts of the English legislature, is blasphemy.

Our Saviour frequently foretold his disciples, that they should be persecuted, imprisoned, brought before tribunals and kings, &c. for his name's sake, but he never told them that they should serve others so, if ever it should be in their power. How is this?

But what is blasphemy? Until lately, it was blasphemy in England, a country of boasted freedom, to speak against, or deny, the doctrine of the Trinity; but thanks to the bishops, the English meaning of the word blasphemy has undergone some little modification. We are now allowed to speak against that mysterious and unintelligible credendum. But a sapient critic, if I remember right, has told us by way of monition, that we must use this liberty very gingerly: and so it seems.

Blasphemy is, to speak injuriously of or concerning God, his attributes, his works, his word or his providence, and that intentionally; for without the intention there can be no injurious meaning, no impiety in the speaker. A person may speak in an injurious manner concerning God through mere ignorance or prejudice; in that case, however, he is chargeable with error, not with blasphemy.

In this free and happy country (who will not blush for England?) it is the daily, habitual practice of more than one half of its inhabitants to commit the sin of blasphemy intentionally. For what is the profane language which assails our ears so incessantly; the impious oaths, the savage curses, the hellish imprecations? And the blasphemers are totally destitute of the plea of ignorance and intending well. On the contrary, their habitual conversation possesses all the character of presumptuous sin, of spontaneous wickedness, of wanton guilt, of professed conscious profligacy. In this I am not aware that there is one syllable of exaggeration. No; blasphemous curses urge down the vengeance of heaven on every city, on every town, on every village, on every hamlet, and almost on every house in England. Where are the informers? Where are the prosecutions?

According to the usage of the times in which we live, denying the truth of the Christian religion, or of a future

It must be confessed, that on comparing the evils respectively stated in the two last paragraphs, the latter are much more aggravated than the former; and no one surely can be surprised that their demerits are so admirably appreciated in so enlightened an age.

But how in the name of common sense and consistency, are the Voltaires, the Humes, the Gibbons, the Rousseaus, allowed the privilege of a free toleration, and appear to be welcome guests in the highest circles, in the most genteel society; while poor Tom Paine, and Wat Tyler, and such unfortunate urchins, must hide their diminished heads?

I will next, Sir, state what I am afraid is blasphemy. If a poor preacher, having been himself convinced by the authority of Martin Luther, the renowned Reformer, the potent reasons of the late Dr. Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle, father of Dr. Law, the present Bishop of Chester, and of the late Dr. Francis Blackburne, Archdeacon of Cleveland, that the soul has no separate existence from the body, that with the body it dies, and that it will be raised again with the body-should deem it his duty to declare the whole counsel of God to his audience, and this among the rest; and if some blundering wrong-headed animal, with just as much theology in his head as charity in his heart, should choose to understand this as denying a future state, and should make a deposition before a magistrate to that effect; I am afraid, Sir, it would turn out in the end to be blasphemy.

If a person tired with the dulness and ill-success of reasoning soberly against a favourite abracadabra, consecrated by the prejudice of the learned and the ignorance of the vulgar, should amuse himself with burlesquing it, in these good times, he would be charged with blasphemy. And though there should be in this self-same abracadabra some impious expressions, this would by no means alter the blasphemous character of the travestie; it being in that case the blasphemy of a blasphemy. And that certainly must greatly en

It is a joyous place for the young,joy and happiness however are not synonymous. They come hither from school, no longer to be treated as children; their studies and their amusement are almost at their own discretion, and they have money at command. But as at college they first assume the character of man, it is there also that they are first made to feel their relative situation in society. Schools in England, especially those public ones from which the universities

as (at are truly

A History of Lorenzo de Medici appeared here about eight years ago, which even the Italians have thought worthy of translation. The libraries