Part 82 (1/2)
There is, however, one of your _Inconsistencies_ that consoles me a little, which is, that tho' _living_, you give one another the characters of Devils; _dead_, you are all Angels! It is delightful, when any of you die, to read what good Husbands, good Fathers, good Friends, good Citizens, and good Christians you were, concluding with a Sc.r.a.p of Poetry that places you, with certainty, every one in Heaven. So that I think Pennsylvania a good country _to dye in_, though a very bad one to _live in_.”
TO REV. JOHN LATHROP[131]
Philad^a, May 31, 1788.
REVEREND SIR,
... I have been long impressed with the same sentiments you so well express, of the growing felicity of mankind, from the improvements in philosophy, morals, politics, and even the conveniences of common living, by the invention and acquisition of new and useful utensils and instruments, that I have sometimes almost wished it had been my destiny to be born two or three centuries hence. For invention and improvement are prolific, and beget more of their kind. The present progress is rapid. Many of great importance, now unthought of, will before that period be produced; and then I might not only enjoy their advantages, but have my curiosity gratified in knowing what they are to be. I see a little absurdity in what I have just written, but it is to a friend, who will wink and let it pa.s.s, while I mention one reason more for such a wish, which is, that, if the art of physic shall be improved in proportion with other arts, we may then be able to avoid diseases, and live as long as the patriarchs in Genesis; to which I suppose we should make little objection....
B. FRANKLIN.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FEDERAL GAZETTE
A COMPARISON OF THE CONDUCT OF THE ANCIENT JEWS AND OF THE ANTI-FEDERALISTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
[1788?]
A zealous Advocate for the propos'd Federal Const.i.tution, in a certain public a.s.sembly, said, that ”the Repugnance of a great part of Mankind to good Government was such, that he believed, that, if an angel from Heaven was to bring down a Const.i.tution form'd there for our Use, it would nevertheless meet with violent Opposition.” He was reprov'd for the suppos'd Extravagance of the Sentiment; and he did not justify it.
Probably it might not have immediately occur'd to him, that the Experiment had been try'd, and that the Event was recorded in the most faithful of all Histories, the Holy Bible; otherwise he might, as it seems to me, have supported his Opinion by that unexceptionable Authority.
The Supreme Being had been pleased to nourish up a single Family, by continued Acts of his attentive Providence, till it became a great People; and, having rescued them from Bondage by many Miracles, performed by his Servant Moses, he personally deliver'd to that chosen Servant, in the presence of the whole Nation, a Const.i.tution and Code of Laws for their Observance; accompanied and sanction'd with Promises of great Rewards, and Threats of severe Punishments, as the Consequence of their Obedience or Disobedience.
This Const.i.tution, tho' the Deity himself was to be at its Head (and it is therefore call'd by Political Writers a _Theocracy_), could not be carried into Execution but by the Means of his Ministers; Aaron and his Sons were therefore commission'd to be, with Moses, the first establish'd Ministry of the new Government.
One would have thought, that this Appointment of Men, who had distinguish'd themselves in procuring the Liberty of their Nation, and had hazarded their Lives in openly opposing the Will of a powerful Monarch, who would have retain'd that Nation in Slavery, might have been an Appointment acceptable to a grateful People; and that a Const.i.tution fram'd for them by the Deity himself might, on that Account, have been secure of a universal welcome Reception. Yet there were in every one of the _thirteen Tribes_ some discontented, restless Spirits, who were continually exciting them to reject the propos'd new Government, and this from various Motives.
Many still retained an Affection for Egypt, the Land of their Nativity; and these, whenever they felt any Inconvenience or Hards.h.i.+p, tho' the natural and unavoidable Effect of their Change of Situation, exclaim'd against their Leaders as the Authors of their Trouble; and were not only for returning into Egypt, but for stoning their deliverers.[N] Those inclin'd to idolatry were displeas'd that their _Golden Calf_ was destroy'd. Many of the Chiefs thought the new Const.i.tution might be injurious to their particular Interests, that the _profitable Places_ would be _engrossed by the Families and Friends of Moses and Aaron_, and others equally well-born excluded.[O] In Josephus and the Talmud, we learn some Particulars, not so fully narrated in the Scripture. We are there told, ”That Corah was ambitious of the Priesthood, and offended that it was conferred on Aaron; and this, as he said, by the Authority of Moses only, _without the Consent of the People_. He accus'd Moses of having, by various Artifices, fraudulently obtain'd the Government, and depriv'd the People of their Liberties; and of _conspiring_ with Aaron to perpetuate the Tyranny in their Family. Thus, tho' Corah's real Motive was the Supplanting of Aaron, he persuaded the People that he meant only the _Public Good_, and they, moved by his Insinuations, began to cry out, 'Let us maintain the Common Liberty of our _respective Tribes_; we have freed ourselves from the Slavery impos'd on us by the Egyptians, and shall we now suffer ourselves to be made Slaves by Moses?
If we must have a Master, it were better to return to Pharaoh, who at least fed us with Bread and Onions, than to serve this new Tyrant, who by his Operations has brought us into Danger of Famine.' Then they called in question the _Reality of his Conference_ with G.o.d; and objected the _Privacy of the Meetings_, and the _preventing any of the People from being present_ at the Colloquies, or even approaching the Place, as Grounds of great Suspicion. They accused Moses also of _Peculation_; as embezzling part of the Golden Spoons and the Silver Chargers, that the Princes had offer'd at the Dedication of the Altar,[P] and the Offerings of Gold by the common People,[Q] as well as most of the Poll-Tax;[R] and Aaron they accus'd of pocketing much of the Gold of which he pretended to have made a molten Calf. Besides _Peculation_, they charg'd Moses with _Ambition_; to gratify which Pa.s.sion he had, they said, deceiv'd the People, by promising to bring them _to_ a land flowing with Milk and Honey; instead of doing which, he had brought them _from_ such a Land; and that he thought light of all this mischief, provided he could make himself an _absolute Prince_.[S]
That, to support the new Dignity with Splendor in his Family, the partial Poll-Tax already levied and given to Aaron[T] was to be follow'd by a general one,[U] which would probably be augmented from time to time, if he were suffered to go on promulgating new Laws, on pretence of new occasional Revelations of the divine Will, till their whole Fortunes were devour'd by that Aristocracy.”
[N] Numbers, ch. xiv. [_Franklin's note._]
[O] Numbers, ch. xiv, verse 3. ”And they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, 'Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, _every one of them_; wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves above the congregation?'”
[P] Numbers, ch. vii.
[Q] Exodus, ch. x.x.xv, verse 22.
[R] Numbers, ch. iii, and Exodus, ch. x.x.x. [_Franklin's notes._]
[S] Numbers, ch. xvi, verse 13. ”Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?”
[T] Numbers, ch. iii.