THE 
MONTHLY 
No. 60. 

PUI Lf 300: 
MAGAZINE. 




ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Me Pye’s laf Birth-day Ode has in- 
duced me to make fome refieftions, 
not on the poetry (for who would criticife 
the ftrains of a Birth-day Ode?), but upon 
the prevailing fentiment. It is an exul- 
tation over the fate of ‘* bleeding Europe,”’ 
ravaged by all the horrors of war, com- 
pared to the peace and fecurity which are 
enjoyed by happy Albion. moft awful 
fubjeét, if rightly confidered! Where is 
the man of candour and feeling, who will 
not fhudder, when he refieéts on the poff- 
bility, that to the rulers of this country 
may be owing the continuance of thefe 
{cenes of blood and defolation, which are 
furely rather matter for deep forrow and 
humiliation to the philanthropift, than for 
triumph ? What a dreadful refponfibility 
is fomewhere incurred by eight years’ un- 
remitting warfare; and how clear, how 
decifive, how important ought to be the 
motives which have influenced the rejec- 
tion of any reafonable propofitions for 
peace! I do not mean, Sir, to weary 
your readers with a repetition of argu- 
ments refpecting the war, detailed in par- 
liamentary-fpeeches, and newfpaper -ef- 
fays ; but I with it were in my power to 
urge as ftrongly on’the minds of others, 
as it has impreffed my own, the fearful 
emotion naturally arifing from the ideas 
which the Laureat has chofen to dwell 
upon. I am ignorant of the methods 
which our divines have taken to conciliate 
every meafure for extending and_perpetu- 
ating hoftilities, taken by regular govern- 
ments, with the precepts of a religion 
that breathes nothing but beneficence ; but 
I confefs myfelf fomewhat uneafy under 
the burthen of my fbare, little as it may 
be, of a national triumph and immunity, 
purchafed at fuch a coft to other people. 
«¢ Sins of government,” we have been in- 
genioufly told, are “* fins of the nation.” 
I hope, however, that they are not impu- 
table to all individuals ; for how can pow- 
erlefs infulated beings like myfelf prevent 
the acts of irrefiftible authority y fupported 
by decided majorities? I have been told 
of a late univerfity fermon which com- 
pletely exonerates fovercigns from alle 
_MonrTuiy Mage. No, 60. 
[ No. 6. of VoL. g, 

{ponfibility with regard to the calamities of 
war,'on the plea, that war is a thing no 
where exprefily forbidden, and, being na- 
tural to man, all its rights muft be in pof- 
feffion of thofe who have in their hands all 
other human rights. “This appears to me 
admirable reafoning, and reminds me of 
the argumentation made ufe of to reconcile 
the mind of Alexander to itfelf, after the 
exercife of his royal pleafure in running 
his old friend, and faithful officer, Clitus 
through the body. Alexander was weak 
enough to feel great remorfe for this. ac- 
tion, and there appeared fome danger that 
his facred health would fuffer from its 
confequences. They {ent in, therefore, to 
him (Arrian tells the ftory) not his chap- 
lain, but his philofopher or fophiff, Anax- 
archus. ‘This able man, approaching the 
king with a fmiling countenance, told 
him that he was probably ignorant why 
the ‘* wifdom of ages’ had always feated 
Juftice by the fide of Jove. It was, becaufe 
whatever Jove decreed was on that account 
to be efteemed as juit. The fame allu- 
fion would apply to the ations of a great 
king, and ought to fatisfy, firft the king 
himfelf, and then his {ubjeéts. Alexander, 
it is faid, “* with majefty approved his 
pleaded reafon,’? and was confoled. EF 
fuppofe the Frederics and Catharines, and 
perhaps the Pauls, &c. of later days, 
would equally admit the validity of the 
conclufion. But, alas! Mr. Editor, we 
are fubjeéts, and have nothing to do with’ 
this royal logic. Your’s, &c. 
ERasMus. 
eee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, | 
HE multiplication of penal ftatutes 
J has given rife to many ferious dif- 
quifitions on the wifdom of laws, their 
failure, and the difficulty of carrying them 
into execution ; and fome gentlemen of prom — 
found habits of thinking have {unk fo 
deep in this fubjeét, as to aflert, almoft im 
plain terms, that penal laws are good for 
nothing, becaufe crimes are as frequent 
after they have been enaéted as before. - 
Others have inquired, and I confefs with 
{ome propriety, into the right of any com- 
3 & munity 






