PROOFS FROM THE LIGHT OF NATURE. 



39 



the last thirty years, almost every nation in this 

 quarter of the world has been convulsed to its 

 centre, and become the scene of hostile commo 

 tions, of revolutions, and of garments rolled in 

 blood. We have beheld France thrown from a 

 state of aristocratical tyranny and priestly do 

 mination into a state of popular anarchy and 

 confusion her ancient institutions razed to the 

 ground, her princes and nobles banished from 

 her territories, and her most celebrated philoso 

 phers, in company with the vilest miscreants, 

 perishing under the stroke of the guillotine. 

 We have beheld a Buonaparte riding in triumph 

 through the nations over heaps of slain, scat 

 tering &quot; firebrands, arrows, and death,&quot; and 

 producing universal commotion wherever he 

 appeared; overturning governments, &quot;changing 

 times,&quot; undermining the thrones of emperors, 

 and setting up kings at his pleasure. We have 

 beheld his successors again attempting to en 

 twine the chains of tyranny around the necks 

 of their subjects, and to hurl back the moral 

 world into the darkness which overspread the 

 nations during the reign of Papal superstition. 

 We have beheld Poland torn in pieces by the 

 insatiable fangs of Russia, Austria, and Prus 

 sia, her fields drenched with blood, her patriots 

 slaughtered, and her name blotted out from the 

 list of nations. We have beheld Moscow 

 enveloped in flames, its houses, churches, and 

 palaces tumbled into ruins, the blackened car 

 cases of its inhabitants blended with the frag 

 ments, and the road to Smolensko covered with 

 the shattered remains of carriages, muskets, 

 breast-plates, helmets, and garments strewed in 

 every direction, and thousands of the dying and 

 the dead heaped one upon another in horrible 

 confusion, and swimming in blood. We have 

 beheld the demon of war raging at Borodino, 

 Austerlitz, the Tyrol, Wilna, Smolensko, Tra 

 falgar, Camperdown, Eylau, Jena, La Vendee, 

 Cadiz, Warsaw, Friedland, Talavera, Sebas- 

 lian, Lutzen, Leipsic, and Waterloo, demo 

 lishing cities, desolating provinces, and blending 

 the carcasses of horses and cattle with the 

 mangled remains of millions of human beings. 

 We have beheld Spain and Portugal thrown into 

 anarchy and commotion, and become the scenes 

 of bloody revolutions Turkey waging war with 

 religion and liberty Greece overrun with blood 

 thirsty Mahometans, and her shores and islands 

 the theatre of the most sanguinary contests. 



And what do we just now behold when we 

 cast our eyes on surrounding nations 1 Russia 

 pushing forward her numerous armies into the 

 confines of Persia for the purpose of depredation 

 and slaughter, the Grand Seignior ruling his 

 subjects with a rod of iron, and decorating the 

 gates of his palace with hundreds of the heads 

 and ears of his enemies,* while his Janizaries are 



In a communication from Odessa, dated August 

 1, 1941, it was stated, that the five hundred heads and 



fomenting incessant insurrections, the Greeks 

 engaged in a contest for liberty, surroundea 

 with blood-thirsty antagonists, and slaughtered 

 without mercy, Portugal the scene of intestine 

 broils and revolutions, Spain under the control 

 of a silly priest-ridden tyrant, to gratify whose 

 lust of absolute power, thousands of human 

 beings have been sacrificed, and hundreds of 

 eminent patriots exiled from their native land, 

 the Inquisition torturing its unhappy victims, 

 the Romish church thundering its anathemas 

 against all who are opposed to its interests, 

 the various sectaries of Protestants engaged in 

 mutual recriminations and contentions, and the 

 princes and sovereigns on the Continent almost 

 all combined to oppose the progress of liberty, 

 and to prevent the improvement of the human 

 mind. 



If we come nearer home, and take a view of 

 the every-day scenes which meet our eye, what 

 do we behold ? A mixed scene of bustling and 

 confusion, in which vice and malevolence are 

 most conspicuous, and most frequently triumph 

 ant. When we contemplate the present aspect 

 of society, and consider the prominent disposi 

 tions and principles which actuate the majority 

 of mankind, the boundless avaricious desires 

 which prevail, and the base and deceitful means 

 by which they are frequently gratified the 

 unnatural contentions which arise between hus 

 bands and wives, fathers and children, brothers 

 and sisters the jealousies which subsist betv/een 

 those of the same profession or employment 

 the bitterness and malice with which law-suits 

 are commenced and prosecuted the malevolence 

 and caballing which attend electioneering con 

 tests the brawlings, fightings, and altercations, 

 which so frequently occur in our streets, ale 

 houses, and taverns and the thefts, robberies, 

 and murders, which are daily committed, when 

 we contemplate the haughtiness and oppression 

 of the great and powerful, and the insubordina 

 tion of the lower ranks of society when we see 

 widows and orphans suffering injustice ; the 

 virtuous persecuted and oppressed ; meritorious 

 characters pining in poverty and indigence ; 

 fools, profligates, and tyrants, rioting in wealth 

 and abundance ; generous actions unrewarded ; 

 crimes unpunished ; and the vilest of men raised 

 to stations of dignity and honour we cannot but 

 admit, that the moral world presents a scene of 

 discord arid disorder, which mar both the sensi 

 tive and intellectual enjoyments of mankind. 



Such, then, are the moral aspects of our world, 

 and the disorders which have prevailed during 



twelve hundred ears of the Greeks, sent Ly the Cap 

 tain Pac.ha to Constantinople, after the taking of 

 Ipsara, were exposed on the Rate of the seraglio, 

 on the 20th of July, with the following inscription: 

 &quot; God has blessed the arms of the Mussulmans, and 

 the detestable rebels of Ipsara are extirpated from 

 the face of the world,&quot; &c. It was added, &quot;AH 

 friendly powers have congratulated the Sublime 

 Porte on this victory.&quot; 



