marvellous mysteriousness of character, which all former ages have considered as essentially connected with the intellectual powers of man.

The doctrine, that man is incompetent to provide for himself, is fallacious and extremely destructive. It is one of the legitimate bequests of antiquity; it is a fragment of the ancient regimen, and reason has marked it as an object meriting the universal execration of mankind. Political despotism vociferates this incompetency of human energy, and superstition re-echoes the awful sentimeut: political despotism declares man to be in a state of infantine tutelage, and religion joins in the general calumny; the tyranny of the world, copying the wish of Caligula, has set its foot upon the neck of man, and religious superstition boldly exclaims, I am your coadjutor in the work of human subjugation. It is time, however, to specify in what respects we can relyupon the competency of human power.

First, then, man is physically competent to supply his physical wants; secondly, he is competent to the acquisition of such portion of moral knowledge as will regulate with justice his social intercourse; thirdly, he is competent to acquire, defend, and preserve his civil and political liberty. If these three positions can be demonstrated, the triumph will be in favour of man, and the general interests of the world. It is intended, in the present enquiry, to adhere with philosophic respect to the physical and moral power of human life. Every depreciation of individual capacity has on it, the mark of superstition, or has resulted from timidity. I am obligated, I am restrained, I am dependent, is the universal language and the general sentiment of modified life; but reason and philosophy demand an explanation to this question, on what are you dependent? The answer is, on power superior to our own. The answer is partially right; but the application of it is productive of serious and injurious consequences. The earth is twenty-five thousand miles in circumference, its diameter of course is about eight thousand miles; its bulk or mass of matter can, therefore, be pretty correctly ascertained. Every thoughtful and contemplative philosopher will justly appreciate the magnitude of this being. It will be perceived, that all control over the physical energies of the earth must be impossible; but it will also be perceived, with indubitable clearness, that intelligent beings, moving upon the surface of the earth, are, in no shape whatever, placed in a state of responsibility, and that No. 18, Vol. X.

the materials of which they are composed, while under specific modification, must possess an independence which defies the acrimonious resentment of every adversary. These reflections are exhibited for the purpose of inviting the thoughtful enquirer to take his stand upon the high ground of contemplation. The foolish pride of man has led him to adopt opinions, which nature rejects and abhors! It is time to elevate his perceptions, and to exalt his views, above the contemptible selfishness and individualities, which have hitherto been impressive upon his life, and which have formed the essence of his social institutions. Truth is sometimes alarming; but truth is always preferable to error. Virtue sometimes has its persecutors; but virtue always claims a dignified and exalted preference over vice. The avenue which leads to truth and virtue is the path to human happiness; and a knowledge of the physical predicament of man in the universe will serve to strengthen and fortify the timid and otherwise wavering activity of intellect. Fear is one of the great drawbacks upon human improvement, and it is the indispensable duty of reason to invigorate imbecility, and to give to the benevolent powers of man a more extensive operation.

Reciprocal and existing relations, among reasonable beings, must for ever constitute the foundation of a code of moral laws, from which no one can be permitted to depart, without serious injury to the best interests of the social state, and which no one can violate without plunging a moral dagger into the bosom of the community. Is this code of moral law, however, concealed or exposed? Are the principles of it so plain as to be perceived and understood by the great mass of mankind? It is believed, that they are sufficiently detected, and so universally promulgated, that they cannot be essentially mistaken by the most ordinary capacities. The misfortune, however, is, that, from the earliest time, down to the present period of human existence, the two great engines of human slavery and depression, church and state, have been fatally operating, and working with serious mischief to conceal from the view of man, the principles on which his felicity depends. The Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, made great progress in the science of civilization; the era of their existence is justly marked with comparative splendour; but their eternal wars-their deficiency of knowledge in regard to political constitutions--their national animosties, and, above all, their total ignorance

of the art of printing, formed the most powerful drawback upon the beneficial effects, which would otherwise have been expected from their institutions. The nature of man requires, that the collateral support of circumstances should be given to his active and inherent energies. The press, at this moment, is such a powerful instrument in the hands of nations, that its effects are really incalculable! Conjecture and anticipation are lost upon a subject of this nature. It is fair, however, to presume, that reason united with the art of printing, will ultimately unfold and propagate over the whole earth, the important principles of social economy, and the art of securing human felicity. Whoever will take the trouble of looking at the rapid advances in science, during the three last centuries, will scarcely have temerity to affirm, that society is incompetent to obtain such portion of moral knowledge as will answer all the purposes of its preservation and its happiness. The power, that has done so much to embellish human life, is hereby not limited in its future productions; the understanding, that has made man partially happy in a small part of the globe, is surely competent to extend its benign effects; especially, when it is considered, that the stock of public information is every day accumulating and acts in the ratio of compound interest. Where, it is demanded, is the power that can ultimately stand against such augmenting and concentrating force? Surely the character of ancient despotism can, in this instance, give no durable consolation to its adherents. You are too ignorant to govern yourselves, exclaims the fanatic; you must come under our protecting and paternal controul, says the civil tyrant; we pity your ignorance-we commiserate your misfortunes, and we will take upon ourselves the trouble of conducting your affairs. Ye calumniators of human competency, your villainy is detected, and your proffered services, proceeding only from self interest, shall henceforth be too contemptible to deceive the understanding, or to destroy the life of man.

Interested despotism has determined to hold, in a state of civil bondage, the life of man. It proceeds upon presumed facts, and regulates its conduct by existing circumstances; it decides upon the evidence of human infirmity, and never places a just estimate upon the renovating powers of intelligent life. Modern facts, however, speak to the enemies of mankind an awful lesson, they teach the necessity of a qualified submission to the progressive operations of intellectual

power; they have furnished the demonstration of invincible attachment, and give to the character of science, a triumph over the inveteracy of ancient prejudices.

The conflicting operations of despotism with human reason will not speedily terminate; the strength of the former and the degraded condition of the latter, in almost all the countries of the globe, render the combat unequal, and will annex to the mighty controversy, a duration, not to be ascertained by any human foresight whatever.

In the eastern hemisphere, the character of their governments, the despotic and the degrading influence of their ecclesiastical establishments, their pretended intercourse with supernatural powers, and their eternal wars, have left to unfortunate man, neither time, inclination, nor property sufficient for the general cultivation of bis understanding. The influence of the double despotism of the world is shown in nothing more forcibly, than in the uniform attempt to divert man from the great sources of his felicity. The physical and intellectual industry of our species would be completely adequate to answer every important purpose, were it not, that church and state have given to the mass of human energy a wrong and an unhappy direction. While man ought to be looking to himself to nature-to his just relationships in society; despotic power and rival princes point him to the settlement of their own quarrels; they demand all the activity of his genius, all the strength of his existence for the reduction of a province, the capture of an army, or the destruction of a fleet. Society perceives not, in this scene of human misery, that a few designing men, comparatively few in number, are the only persons who can reap any possible benefit from such fruitful animosities. This terrific influence, however, of civil and ecclesiastical power, must eventually yield to the force of reason, and the constantly accumulating and diffusing activity of science. There is not a single country on earth possessed of the smallest knowledge of letters, where individuals are not either openly or secretly attacking the strong holds of despotism and gradually wearing away the pillars which gave to ancient theocracy such durable support, and to modern superstition an invulnerability of character, which defies the piercing energy of thought, and the accumulated science of the world. Time and persevering activity of mind must ultimately become the legitimate saviours of a lost and ignorant world.

CHAPTER II.

On the Liberty of the Press-In what does that Liberty consist? THE press is the great political machine of nations; the instrument in the hand of man, to chase tyranny from the earth; it is the severest scourge of despots, the bitter enemy of error and of superstition, the lever by which to elevate the moral world above the horizon of ignorance, and to present a luminous day, cheering to the hopes of every rational being. Possessed then of this great instrument of human improvement, free nations are destined to enquire into the best possible means. of modifying its operations, to answer the important purposes of liberty and science. But before we proceed to the developement of the principles necessarily connected with this enquiry, it will be useful to ascertain the cause of that universal opposition which governments have constantly made to an unrestrained liberty of the press.

There is no country in possession of the art of printing, in which this opposition has not shewn itself, in a greater or in a less degree; and the resentment exhibited on these occasions has been in exact proportion to the degree of the monarchical principle, or aristocratic sentiment, incorporated with, and existing, in those different governments. It is, therefore, evident, that the cause of these political prohibitions has been the love of power, united with the wicked intention to destroy liberty. A government, conscious of no intentional errors, and acting upon the pure principles of political rectitude, would have nothing to dread from the severest scrutiny of its measures, and the boldest publication relative to its legislative and other proceedings. It is an old maxim, and a true one too, that guilt needs no accuser; it condemns itself; and a vicious imagination is ever awake and ever active in the anticipation of mischief. It might therefore be established as an incontrovertible axiom, that the government which attempts restrictive laws upon the liberty of the press, is conscious of having abandoned the great principles of justice and social order, of having formed the destructive design of gradually annihilating freedom, to establish a tyranny ruinous and detestable to every citizen of the state. In a society well constituted, therefore, and under a government well organized upon the principles of equal rights, what regulation should