and accustomed channels. The agrecable fictions of a golden age, adorned with the beauties of poetical defcription, may charm the admirers of polite literature; and the captivating æra of. Millennium, celebrated in the traditions of theology, may delight the fancy of a pious devotee: but the philofopher, judging of the future by the experience of the paft, difcovers, in the revolutions and events of futurity, a continuation of fimilar caufes and effects, the continuity of a fyftem, variously compounded, and infinitely diverfified, by gradations of excellence, imperfection, and depravity. If the refined morality of the gofpel were rigidly adhered to in the politics of any independent community, the annihilation of its political independence would be the fpeedy and inevitable confequence. Thefe remarks are not intended to depreciate the excellence of the gofpel; on the contrary, the writer holds Chrif tianity in high eftimation, and deems it of infinite importance to mankind; but, in the prefent ftate of things, it may, for the reafons above enumerated, be thought inadmiffible, as a fixed invariable rule of conduct, in the public adminiftration of affairs, the point for which he is now contending. The object of the numerous petitions now prefenting to Parliament, though founded in humanity, feems deftitute of political wifdom and expediency Humanity without judgement, like wit without difcretion, flides without difficulty into extravagance and caprice; and being directed to no purpofe of utility by rational principles, may be either inconvenient or beneficial in its confequences. Though difappointed in the grand object of its hopes, the abolition of the Slave-trade, humanity, on the prefent occafion, by conducting the attention of the legiflature to the fubject, may prove the cafual inftrument of a judicious and permanent reform in this branch of our national commerce, which is all that can be reasonably expected. If all the maritime powers of Europe, to gether with the United States of America, would concur with the Legiflature of Great Britain in a plan for the fuppreffion of the Slave-trade, every objection of a political and pruden tial nature might foon be obviated: but to relinquith a lucrative and important branch of commerce previous to the adoption of fuch a measure, a commerce which our rivals on the continent would feize with avidity, and profecute to themfelves with dou ble advantage, is a fallacy in govern ment which no enlightened admini ftration can adopt. What should we think of a minifter fo deftitute of po litical wifdom, as to advance the profperity of the ambitious and potent enemies of his country, by refigning into their hands a branch of national commerce? This would refemble the folly of prefenting an enemy with arms that would be finally employed against ourfelves. Emulous of diftinction by her execrations and tears, humanity has been proud to weep over the fate of the unfortunate African, torn from his native country and his friends, and has expatiated on the imaginary anguish of his feelings in the mingled trains of indignation and of pity. Thofe exaggerated pictures of diftrefs, which eloquence and fancy have unit ed to embellifh, are adapted to excite the abhorrence, and to move the compaffion of the credulous and uninformed. To mitigate the violence of prejudice on this head, which thefe ingenious but exaggerated representations have produced, I fhall beg leave to cite a paffage from a Voyage to the Coaft of Guinea, undertaken by a fur geon in the royal navy, the circumftances of which, as the author informs us, were related from his own know.. ledge and perfonal information. "The bulk of them," fays he, (meaning the flaves for fale)" are from the interior parts of the country, and are stupid in proportion to their distance from the converfe of the coaft Negroes; would ca eat all day, if victuals were fet before of the Negro is perhaps more toler them, and if not, would utter no complaint; part without tears from their wives, their children, and their country, and are more affected with pain than with death." Had not the errors of humanity been entitled to fome proportion of refpect, rather than contempt, we might have been prompted to expatiate on the weakness of thofe vifionary lamentations which the enthufiafm of benevolence has diffufed through the nation; but the genius of humanity, even in the garb of weak, nefs, appears with an afpect fo gracious and fo amiable, that the poignancy of cenfure is difarmed. The condi. tion of the Negroes in the British Plantations, and the inhumanity of their masters, have been painted alfo in the darkest colours that fancy, or eloquence, or pathos, can difplay. Such reprefentations are adapted rather to move the paffions of the vulgar, than to convince the judgment of the cautious and unprejudifed; and may rather be confidered as relations of exaggerated facts, than details of hifto rical veracity. Where the influence of humanity is infufficient, or where the motives of religion are not attended to, the force of perfonal intereft, where the object is immediately in view, will generally be found fufficient to obtain the afcendant, and to prevent the exercife of any cruelty or oppreffion that may terminate to the prejudice of ourselves. Such is the condition of the Negro, that, whether he continues in his native country, or is tranfported thence to fome diftant region, he is deftined to be a flave. That part of Africa, which is known by the general name of Guinea, is divided into many small communities, each of which is governed by a petty tyrant of its own, no lefs defpotic among his people, than the Grand Signior or Great Mogul. Prompted by intereft to preserve his being, and by common humanity to treat him with fome degree of lenity, the condition able under the fervitude of his foreign masters, than under the yoke of his native tyrants; defpotifm being found the most abfolute and oppreffive, where the limits of territorial jurifdiction are the most confined. We are told by a reputable and well-informed Author of the prefent day, "That the more civilized Negroes reflect with horror on their favage condition, and do not eafily forgive the reproach of having been born in Africa, and of ever ha ving lived in a state that nature intended for them, unless fome compli ment be added on their improvements." To reprobate the commerce of the Europeans on the coaft of A. frica, as the primary fource of war and depredation among the natives of that barbarous region, betrays the groffeft ignorance of the hiftory of our fpecies, in the uncultivated periods of fociety. From the frequent caufes of animofity which arife among a barbarous people, that extenfive region, peopled by hoftile nations of favages, must have been always in a state of warfare. War is a neceffary confequence of human depravity, a calamity with which human nature has been afflicted in all ages, and in every gradation of fociety. Among civilized communities, war is a confequence of policy or ambition, the severities of which are alleviated by the genius of humanity: but among favage nations, war is an operation of the most turbulent and destructive paffions. Animated by rage, by animofity, and by revenge, neither the aged nor the innocent are spared; the infant upon the breaft, no less than the warrior in the foreft, becomes the victim of their fary. Such is the ftate of nature, which fome dreamers in philofophy, blinded by the prejudice of system, have celebrated as the most virtuous and most happy. Prejudice, co-operating with native obftinacy of temper, and nourifhed by the vanity of being diftinguifhed, clofes every avenue to con viction viction; and the bigot in philofophy, men, deftitute of property, and awed by fervitude and dependence, fet free from the fhackles of restraint, beco ming infolent from independence, and daring from the strength and fuperiority of its numbers, would be ready for the commiffion of the most flagrant enormities. The paffions of a multitude, depreffed by poverty, and overawed by fear, are like the waters of a torrent confined within their banks, ever ready to burst forth on the first occafion that prefents itfelf. Here the imagination might expatiate, without departing from the range of probability, on the fcenes of blood, of rapine, and of perfonal violence, that might follow the enfranchisement of a numerous and defperate banditti: but fince humanity refufes to proceed in the detail, we fhall drop the fcenery of this ideal tragedy. When liberali ty becomes the fashion of the day, it is of no importance to the crowd of imitators, to what object the expreffion is applied, or for what purpofe their bounty is to be employed; they will run with the current, whether it flows in the channel of reason or abfurdity ; fuch is the prevalence of popular delufion! like the zealot in religion, or the partizan in politics, continues to be the advocate of his favourite fyftem, in defiance of reafon, evidence, and common fenfe. By prefenting to the natives an object of traffic in their countrymen, the commerce of the Europeans on the coaft of Africa, though confeffedly the most exceptionable now practifed by mankind, has rendered their domestic wars lefs barbarous and fanguinary; and has changed the character of the natives from fierce barbarity and implacable revenge, into that of fraud and selfishness, artifice and precaution. The manumiffion of the Negroes in the British plantations, for which a fubfcription has been opened in the metropolis, is one of the moft extravagant projects that folly ever devifed; and may ferve to evince, that when humanity is abandoned by good fenfe, in the epidemic fever of bene volence, its exertions become abfurd and vifionary. When we confider the magnitude of the object, we are convinced of its being impracticable; and when we reflect on the diforders that might arife from the execution of fuch a plan, we are astonished at the inconfiderate ignorance of those with whom it originated. A numerous body of Cumberland, May 5. POLINUS. Particulars of the Seizure of the Princefs of Orange. Tranflated from the Report of Lieutenant-Colonel Stamfort to the Prince of Orange, dated Nimeguen, Fuly ft, 1788 *. SIR, You a OUR Serene Highness having commanded me to give you faithful account of what happened to your August Confort, relative to the impediment she suffered in her journey to the Hague, near Schoonhoven, I proceed to give a minute and circum ftantial detail of this event, as fingular as unexpected. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when her Royal Highness arrived at the banks of the Leck near Schoonhoven. Up on entering the boat to pafs this river, we faw the oppofite bank lined with a crowd of inhabitants from the town, who waited for our croffing; and Mr Bentick informed me, that he obfer. ved, at a distance, fome foldiers of the Vry Corps shutting a bar, thro' which he fuppofed we were to pafs to Schoonhoven. We agreed that, as it was probable they would ask us who we were, we would tell the truth, flattering our felves that at her Highness's name they * Gent. Mag. Would would immediately open the bar. We impatient, I defired M: B. to alight, were not mistaken. When we reached the bar, we faw an Anfpeffade with three volunteers coming to meet us, to afk us, with an embarraffed air, our names, where we came from, and whither we were going. At the refolute manner in which Mr Bentick anfwered them, and in which I defired them not to make her Highness wait, they returned to make a report to the guard, and fhortly after opened the bar to us. We faw,as we entered, the guard under arms, who faluted her Highnefs in their best manner, and Mr B. and myself thought ourselves well thro' this difagreeable way, and drew from it a good omen for the rest of our journey, but we foon found ourselves mistaken. We had proceeded a full league beyond Schoonhoven, when we percei ved ourselves fuddenly ftopped by a new troop of Vry Corps, whofe commander alked us the fame queftions as at Schoonhoven. We gave the fame anfwers, but met with a very different reception. The officer detached one of his men to inform the commander of the principal troop, who ftopped a little way behind, but now came for ward, and told us, that he had orders to let no perfon pafs without an exprefs permiffion from the commander of the line." This order (replied Mr B.) cannot apply to the Princefs of Orange, who is here with a very fmall fuite, and you will eafily be convinced of it, if you will be fo good as to inform your commander of her Royal Highnefs's arrival." As I thought I perceived that he was at a lofs how to act, and I was going to tell him to make hafte, we faw a detachment coming up of about 30 horfe of the regiment of Heffe Philipftal, which stopped when it had joined the troop of Volunteers. The officer we had been talking with left us, and fell into converfation with the Marechal du Logis, but they were at too great a diftance for us to hear what paffed. Their converfation was long; and, growing and inquire if there were no officers in this detachment, and, in case there was one, to bring him forward, that we might come to an explanation with him. Mr B. concurred with me in opinion, and joined the troop. At the fame time I got out of our carriage, to inform her Royal Highnefs or what was doing, when I saw myself fuddenly ftopped by one of the volunteers, who, prefenting his piece to me, orders ed me to ftay where I was. "Friend, (faid I) you know not what you are doing, you do not understand your profeffion; I mean only to tell the Princefs, who is in this coach, the reafon of our waiting here fo long." I was going forward, but he stopped me a fecond time, crying, that he thould pofitively oppofe me. I was obliged to fubmit, and got into the chaife again, provoked at the fellow's behaviour; and was putting in their places a pair of piftols: "What have you there?" faid the man. "Have you never seen a pair of piftols?" (faid I); I affure you they are charged." He asked no more queftions; and, a moment after, I faw Mr B. arrive with the officer who commanded the detachment, who was, I know not why, behind his troop. I defired the officer to go with us to the Princefs's coach, and he himself repeated the order which, he faid, had been given him by General Van Ryf fel, commander of the line. Her Highe nefs defired him to fend a meffenger exprefs to that General, to inform him of her arrival, adding, that fhe was perfuaded he would give no obftruction to our route. He confented with fome difficulty, but abfolutely refufed Mr B's offer to fend off the exprefs in one of our chaifes, and to accompany it, in order to haften its return. All that we could obtain of this officer, worthy by his rough manners to ferve in the Vry Corps, was to permit Mr B. ta write fome lines to Gen. Van Ryffel, with which he fent a horseman of his own company. of her Highness's waiting-maids, who had occafion to go to a place, whither, probably, no woman was ever so escorted. The officer who conducted us was, however, polite after his fafhion. He stayed, at first, with his fword drawn in the Princess's chamber; but fome of her Highness's attendants having obferved to him that this was not at all proper, he made no difficulty of putting it up again into his fcabbard. He carried his politenefs fo far as to offer her Royal Highness and her fuite wine and beer, and even pipes and tobacco, fitting crofs-legged by her fide. Her Highnefs readily forgave this want of refpect, plainly feeing that he was a good kind of brute, whom chance had made, from a fhoemaker or a tailor, captain of the Vry Corps. I next obferved, that, as it was but three leagues from the place where we were to Van Ryffel's quarters, it was not proper to keep the Princefs waiting in the middle of the road till the return of the exprefs, and I defired the officer to conduct us to fome place in the neighbourhood, where her Roy al Highness might be more at her eafe. To this he confented, and we prepared for our departure. Part of the cavalry and volunteers went behind the carriage, making such a noife as I fuppofe highwaymen would do upon a good prize. I could not obferve the leaft difcipline or fubordination in this whole troop, except what was fhewn by the lieutenant of the horse to the officer of the volunteers; he never fpoke to him but with his hat in his hand, and we saw plainly that he de- After fome hours, her Highness repended upon him for his orders, tho' ceived a vifit from the Commissioners of the latter was not at all depended on the States of Holland refiding at Woby his miferable troop. They placed erden. Her fuite went into the next themfelves behind and before the car- room; but I must observe, that, du riage juft as they thought fit. In this ring the converfation these gentlemen confufion one of the Princess's coach- held with her Highness, they kept the horfes took fright, and I expected every officer of the Vry Corps conftantly in moment they would overfet the coach the room, whence I conclude that they in one of the dykes on each fide of the confidered her as their prifoner. They road. Mr B. and I leaped out of the began by afking her Highness the mocarriage to aflift, but the Vry Corps tive of her journey, and if the meant to had the infolence to hinder us. Mean- go to the Hague. She fatisfied their while the Princefs's fervants difenga- inquiries, and did not conceal from ged the horfes from the traces, and them her furprise at what had happenwe fet off, conducted like prifoners, ed. They then made their excufes, we knew not where. On the road, and endeavoured to palliate their conwe learnt that they were carrying us duct, concluding with telling her, that to a place called the Goverwelje Sluys, they had been obliged to keep to their where we arrived at feven o'clock in orders, which were extremely strict; the evening. The Princefs and her that they had dispatched an exprefs to fuite were conducted to the quarters the States, to inform them of what of the commander of the Vry Corps, had happened, and to get their farther who was abfent. The volunteer offi- orders; that, till the return of the excers of the troops that convoyed us prefs, it was impoffible for them to let carried us all together into the fame her proceed on her journey; and that room, and her Royal Highness's at- they defired her to choose fome neightendants into another adjoining. They bouring town to pass the night in. placed centinels at all the doors, and They propofed to her Woerden or took the most ridiculous precautions, Schoonhoven. She had at first profo far as to caufe three foldiers, with pofed Gouda, which was nearest; buc their fwords drawn, to accompany one as they made many difficulties, and VOL. VII. No 42, 3 G were |