2, | The Enquirer. No. I. 
I fhall juft add to thefe obfervations, 
that the average of } jan uary, 1796, has 
turned out to be 4645 thus Sees the 
wonderful contratft a the coldeft and the 
warmeft Januaries, in two fucceflive 
years, that are probably to be found in 
the records of half « centruy. 

Ae Ne RCE RR. Nock 
QUESTION 1. 
Enquiry to be refiridted 2 
GOD FORBID THAT THE.SEARCH 
AFTER TRUTH) SHOULD: 2BEe DEs-- 
COURAGED FOR FEAR OF ITS 
CONSEQUENCES ! THE’ CONSE- 
QUENCES OF TRUTH MAY BE SUB- 
VERSIVE OF 2 SYSPEOTIS 7 OR, >SU- 
PERSTITION, BUT THEY NEVER 
CAN BE. INJURIOUS: BO THE 
RIGHTS OR WELL-FOUNDED Ex- 
PECTIONS OF THE HUMAN RACE 
Bifhop Wa atfon. 
MONG men who have not fo far 
‘abandoned common fenfe in purfuit 
of the convenient fubtieties of fophiftr y3 
as altogether to reje€t the notion of na- 
tural rights, there can be no difpute con- 
cerning the natural right of every man 
torenquire after truth, The power of 
enquiry Y> With Ce every human mind 
is endued, is itfelf a licence from the 
Author of Nature for its exercife : each 
individual comes ito the wo rid poffefied 
of this birth- righ yf, aid can neither re- 
fign it without fo ily, sor be deprived of 
It without injuftice. 
From the firft dawn of Lees man is 
an enguirer. Before the infanthas been 
taught the ufe of ipech, hts inquifitive 
eye afxs for information. Curioli ty,, as 
he advances in life, itll continues to ce 
mulate his fearch; and every day he 
goes to the {chool of experience, to learn 
new leffons. Experience is always his 
befi iniiragtor, Other teachers may load 
his memory with words, but eo ee 
alone can put him in pofletiion of truths. 
Pras only by contemplating obje las in 
their mutual aétions and relations, either 
by actual obfervation, or through the 
report of others, that thofe general con- 
cluftons can be drawn, which conftitute 
Knowledge. 
With refpedt to individuals, to doubt 
of the wz eb 7of enquiring after truth, 
is to doubt whether the eye was made PoE 
feeing, and the ear for hearing. Every 
man s capacity of enjoyment, and of ufe- 
fulneis, is proportioned to his know- 
Ought the Freedom of 
‘to be’ reftriéted ? 
[. Feb, 
ite Diminifh the number of his aes 
and you fo far carry him back towards 
the itate of the inert matter from which 
he was formed : enlarge his intelleétuak | 
ftores, and you proportionally elevate 
him above the brutes, and give him an 
alliance to fupericr natures. Ilumine 
his path s with the rays of truth, and you 
guide him to Happinefs : farround him 
with the mifts of error, and you delude 
his imagination, miflead his pafiions, and” 
involve him in anor efs perplexities.. 
In. feciety, what are the-arts- which 
contribute to the fupport, the comfort, 
and the embellifnment of life, but in- 
genious applications of previous expe- 
riment and kn nowledge to fome ufeful 
purpofe > When one community excels 
another in the utility ef its civil inftitu- 
tions, in the benefit of its agricultural 
and mechanical labours, and in its gene- 
ral proiperity, it is becaufe it better un- 
derftands and follows the principles of 
found policy. When a ftate falls into 
diforder and decay, its misfortunes may 
be ultimately traced up to the ignorance 
of the people, or the miftakes of their 
rulers: this Kolds true, even in -thofe 
cafes, where public calamity is the im- 
mediate effeét of criminal paffions and 
depraved manners; for men never act 
wrong, but from fome previous mifap-- 
prehenfion. 
The unalterable conneétion between 
truth and good, being thus eftablithed by 
univerfal experience, it might have been 
expected, that the founder s ard leaders 
of communities would aiways have ccen- 
fidered the advancement of knowledge, 
as the direét and fure mean of promoting 
the le of feciety; and that it 
fhould never have come into gueftion, 
Whether the Freedom of Enquiry ought 
To comutenee “all 
peifible infer aoe on fubjeéts conneéted 
with individual or public welfare, and 
to give the utmoft encouragement and 
aihtanee. to thofe whe areadefraus of 
acq: siring knowledge, as well as to thofe 
who are ambitious of extending the 
bounds of feience, might feem, incon- 
teowsrtibhy, the wifeft policy of ftatef- 
men and philofophers. “The contrary 
of this, however, has in all ages been the 
ractice, 
The firt organized nations, of which 
hiftory has preferved any records, ‘pre. 
{ent us with regular fyitems of govern- 
ment, upon the erronéous and miichiev- 
ous plan of keeping the people in igno- 
rance. In India, which modern inform- 
ation points out as the parent of ori- 
ental 
