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| TRUTH IS POWERFUL, |
@
6 VOLT
NEW-YORK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1825.
AND WILL PREVALL,
NO. 2
COSDNTT GN Tia RUOFORMATION.
eS
By Witt Conner.
3 ” a nglishmen.
J ml aN + (Continued from ou our ast.
- 144. To proceed now with our, “inquity ‘relative to
the effects of the -monastic institutions, we smay ob-
rve, that authorities, i in this case, seemed necessary.
‘The lies were of long standing : hy] pocritical selfish-
ness] backed by every species :of. violence, tyranny,
4 ari re
: ‘and cruelty; had, been at work for ages to delude’ the
i “the spoils of the, Church and the poor, and who wished
{ : oe still to enjoy, “the fatness vin guict, naturally laboured
Bo hss g9! persuade” the’ people, that those Who had been’ de-
“spoiled were unworthy peoples that, ‘the i ‘institutions,
which gave them ‘ so ‘much property, ‘were, at least,
useless > that the possessors were lazy, ignor nt, and
creatures, sorendi, darkness over the :
a purpose, nd ‘supported in; that purpose by the
. “State 5 and | ‘when the: reviled ‘party is, by. terrors
hardly ‘to, be. described, reduced to silence; in such a
“ éase, the assailants ‘mist prevail ; the'n mass of ihe} peo"
ye in
i ~ ey
poe
j
ae ‘ple must believe what they say,
éason,. in such a
. “state of things; i ig out of the questio Bat revit is
fase Ly immiortal and, though she? may be silenced’ for a
while, “there! ‘always; at last, _ comes something! ‘to
srauuse “her'to claim her due, a and to trhumph 0} over filse-
. “SLAB. There: is now. come “that whieh i is taleulited
4 “+ to’ give our reasoning faculties fair play. | We see the
i atid covered, at last, w ith pauperism, fanaticism, ‘and
We hear an increase, of the people talked of
as a ‘calamity 5 swe hear of projects to check ‘the breed-
ce ing of the: people” we hear of Scotch & feclosofers,?
ela prowling about the country,* ‘réading ‘lectures to the
f . >manufacturers and artisans, to instruct’ them in the
xe ience, of preventing their wives from being mothers $ ;
» > and, in ong instance; this ha’ been pushed so far as to
oo deseribe, iz print,‘ ‘the mechanical process for effect-
* bag this object! : In’ short, wé are now arrived ‘at a
, “point wl hich ‘compels us! to inquire into’ the cause. of
; a Ms inonstrous state of 11 things.” “The immediate cause
: e find ito, be the * poverty and, degradation’ of the
ain body ‘of the people; and these, through many
stages, we trace back to the { Reformation,” one’ of
the effects of which was to destroy those monastic in-
stitutions, wl hich, as we shall now see, retained. the
produce of labour. in the proper places, and distri-
. buted itin a way naturally tending to make 1 the liv es
of the people easy and happy. ‘
» 146. ‘The authorities that I have cited ought | to ‘be
of great weight in the question 5 but, supposing there
fo be no authorities on the side of these i institutions,
of what more do they stand in need than the unfet-
_tered exercise of our reason? Jteason, in such acase,
|| ject with disdain the slander that has been heaped ¢ on
‘story of "the Protestant “ Reformation; ? in England and Ire: the monastic Institutions. The: e
. i Lo land;’ in a series of Letters, addressed to all sensible and just '
ny. patriot, as lawg
both? Let.us ask, ‘then, whether reason do not res
y ‘flourished in Eng-
land for nine’ hundred years 5 3 they 3 we re _belov ed by
the peoples’ they were destroyed. by; iolenc by the
. plunderer’s ‘grasp, ‘and ‘the murderer’s knife. « Was
there! ever any thing, viciou: in itself, or. evil in its ef-
fect “held! in ‘veneration by) a ‘whole people’ for so
long atime ?. Even'in our owa time, we see tlie peo-
ple of ‘Spain rising ‘in defence of their, monasteries ; ;
and! we: hear: the "Scotch « feclosofers” abuse ‘them,
becaus : they do not like: to see the Property of, those
monasteries transferred to English’ Jews oy pes
y 147, If the’ monasteries, had been the’ cause of it
would they have been protec ed with su such care by so
many wise and yi tuous Kings, Legislators, and
Judges? “Perhaps Aurnep' was ‘the greatest man ‘that
ev er, cived.’, » What writer of emi ence; whetlier-
lawyer, or’ chistorian, has not Selected, him as the
35 a
; inall his charactérs ‘lie isy] ;
regarded ‘ as having been the greatest, ,
virtuous ‘of men.” And is it reasonable, then; Tor us to
suppose, that he, whose w hole s soul w: as wrapped up in
the hope of making h his people, free, honest, /Xirtiious, |
and happy ; is it reasonable to suppose, that he would |:
have. been, “as! he’ _was;" one of the ‘ost munificent,
founders of nionasteries, ‘ifthose institutions had Leen’
Vicious’ i in’, themselves, or had, te nded to. evil We
have not these institutions’ and their effects i immedi-
ately béfore our eyes. Wes do not ‘actually: see the
monasteries. But 'we know’ of “them; f200 things}
namely, ‘that they were most ankionsy, cherished by.
ALFRED and. his tutor, Sarr, Swirny} ‘and that they
were destroyed, by. the blsody tyrant, , ‘Henry: the
Eicari, and: the ‘not less Lloody: ruftian;: ‘Tiron As
Cromwerr.’ Upon these tir facts alone wo “might
pretty. safely decide, on _ the merits’ ‘oft these nstitic
tions... a My RIE Khare
: “148.'And w hat ¢ answer do we ever “Obtain: to this |;
argument?3‘ Mr, Mervyn Archdall, in his Preface’ 0
his History of, the: Irish’ Monasteries sisdys: 2B eW
+4 we “contemplate : the universality’ ‘of-that religi ug
“ zeal which drow, thousands from the ‘elegance’ ‘and
« comforts of * socicty to sequestered Solitudgand a ause
* tere maceration ; when we behold the: greatest and
& wisest of. mankind the dupes. ofa “Fatal deliesion,
“ ‘and | eyen the’ miser expandiig® his sty; @ to partake
“ia tho felicity. of mortified, ascetics : again, when
‘we find the tide ‘of enthusiasm subsided, and: suber
€ reason recovered from her delirium, and rendeavou
“] ‘ing, as it were, to: demolish’ ‘every. y véstige ‘of her fe
“ ner frenzy, we have a concise sketch, of the, hist
“ry” of Monachisi; | and ; <no common instance | of}.
“ that mental weakness “and Versatility which’
“the character of frailty, upon : the -human species.
“Wei investigate ‘these phenomena in the ‘moral world
: rhorials, a
with’ a pride arising from assumed superiority in in-| have the distribution of its revenues,’
the proofs or signs of this “ assumed superiority;”
this « comparison so decidediy in favour of modern
times 2”
noble, edifices, ofthe plunder and-demolition of whicl:
you give, us.an account?. Are we to find them inthe
country, with any, thing equal to thom in grandeur or
in taste ? , Are we ,to' look for this “ superiority” in
the numerous tithe-batiles, pistol i in band, like that of
Skibbereén ? Are modern times prov ed to be « dee
cidedly superior” to former «times by the law that
shuts Irishmen up in their houses from sunset to sun-
rise? , Are’ “the” people’s living upon pig-diet, their
nakedness, ; their, hunger, their dying by huadreds
from starvation, while their ports were crowded with>
ships catryi ing pr ovisions from their shores, and whilo
ae army was fed é in the country, the business of which
, army was to he sep the starving people quict + are these"
ghich you found your “ compa-
1 sd b decidedly. wvour of modern times ?” What |
‘you ‘Took, with ! & PRIDE” to the ball at the
t | Opera-house, ‘for ‘the, ‘elie of the. starving people of
Treland, the” BALL-room \“ DECORATED with a
“ < transparency, cexhibiting an‘ frishman, as large as
“ life,” EXPIRING. WITH HUNGER?” » And do
you call the greates and wisest, ‘of, mankind? ? dupes 3
do. you 2 call them “ f ‘of fatal delusiqn,” when
they’) founded j institution hich ‘rendered a thought
oO Operaliouse relief, simpossible ? - Look at the pre-
‘wretehid. and horrible State; of your ‘country $ 3
“Poa are a chu heparson, I ‘see,) you will, I-have no
dodbt, say} tat, though. the former’ “have evidently
coind fdr the latter, it was as “ sober “reason,” and not
thirst for plinder, th ‘that produced ‘those ruins, and that
it was ¢ Wenzy and mental weakness” in the « great.
est and wisest. of, mankind’ an that produced the foun-
dations ‘of whic" those Fuins are tho melancholy me-
149. ME The ospititiy and, ‘other good things pro-'
odin from ‘the mouasteries, as heentioued by the
* ®
Pfotestaut Bishop! ‘Tanner’ aro not:to_ be forgotten ;
.
der to do full justice t to these’ ‘calumniated institutions, *
Itis our'duty to shew that they were founded in great »
political wisdoni, as well as in real piety and charity,’
Phat they: were hot, asthe. false, and malignant and
seltish’ ‘Hume’ ‘has, described them, mere dolers out of ,
meut. and bread cand beer ; but that they were great
ars of gencral prosperity, happiness and content;
a
7. ‘and that one ‘of the hatural and necessary eflects was,
toy prevent | that state ‘of. things Which sees but tivo
classes of people i ina ‘community, masters and slaves,
a very few’ enjoying the extreme of lusury, ‘and mil.
stamp lions doomed to tho extreme of misery,
"150. From the land all good things como.
body must own. the land. Those who own it nmst
If those reve.
“ tellectual j powers, or higher degrees of civilization:
’
i is suill better than authorities; but who. is to. resist
decd, Mr, Ancparn..
nues be chiefly’ distributed among the” ‘people, from
« our vanity’ and pursuit are kept alive bya compa whose labour they arise, and in such a way as to af.
*rison so decidedly in favour of modern times”? In-| ford to them a good maintenance on casy terms, tho
And where are we to Took for {community rust be hoppy. if the revenues be alien.
: s
_Are we to find them in the ruins. of those
total “absence of even an: attempt to ornament your °
thep’ look agin at Your list, of rains; ‘and then (for,
¢
but we must take: a closer, view of" the subject, i in or- -
* Some. .
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