incapacitate men for any of the common pur. to understand the meaning of the author, and suits of life; and if any unfortunate casualty have no connection with pauses in speaking or should destroy those establishments that afford in reading. No good reader was ever reguthem a subsistence, they become a burthen to lated in his tones or pauses by the occurrence the community and a terror to society in gene- of a comma or semicolon; he merely considers ral. these as guides to the author's meaning: and having become master of the sense, his own judgment enables him to adjust his pauses without any regard to the place where the comma or semicolon occurred. It is granted that the reading pause frequently is placed where the character used in pointing occurs; but as this concurrence is by no means necessary, these characters can never serve as marks to point out the place of pausing. It ought to be the great care of a republican government (if indeed it be possible for a republican government to subsist for any length of time among civilized men) to preserve equality among its citizens; but the establishment of manufactories has a direct tendency to destroy every trace of equality and extend the influence of one opulent man over hundreds of those who are poor. Now, if the men subject to this influence be deprived of the right of suffrage, it follows that a multitude are degraded from the rank of citizens, and are no longer suffered to participate in the government of their country. Would not this be preposterous in a representative democracy? But if they be not deprived of the right of suffrage, the consequence is still more unfortunate. For their votes are the votes of their opulent employer and the government becomes an aristocracy the most odious-the aristocracy of wealth. A despotic prince acts wisely when he extends the commerce of the nation, establishes manufactories, and encourages every institution that he conceives will have a tendency to produce inequality among his subjects; because his throne is supported by the attachment of those who have extended their power over the inferior ranks of society, and consequently are friendly to existing establishments; but a government designed for the good of the community in general, when it directs its intention exclusively to those objects, is acting directly contrary to the end of its institution. On the contrary all its laws and regulations should be calculated, as much as possible, to produce and preserve equality among the citizens, and to prevent any man or set of men from acquiring and exercising power over others. [To be continued. Punctuation: from Crito. I have often been amused, Piomingo, at hearing children taught to mind their stops. "This is a comma: at this mark, you must stop till you could count one. This is a semicolon: here you must pause till you could count one, two. This is a colon, &c." Now if this nonsense were confined to the vulgar, and to the select academies of illiterate pedagogues, it would not excite so much surprise; but when such absurdities are gravely laid down by the compilers of dictionaries and grammars, it becomes worthy of attention. How the characters used in punctuation came to be denominated stops or pauses, I cannot tell; but certain it is, the practice ought to be discontinued by every one who makes any pretensions to accuracy. These marks or characters have no other use than to enable us Colloquial and reading pauses are perfectly similar; yet we have no commas, simicolons, colons, and periods, to direct us where to make pauses in speaking: nor are they necessary; as it is to be presumed that we understand what we say. And these characters would be equally unnecessary in reading, were we not in danger of mistaking the meaning of the author. I shall not attempt to tell how the ancients were able to read without any distinguishing marks of this kind; it is probable they had rules for their direction of which we are totally ignorant: but it may be observed that in the Greek and Latin languages, the corresponding terminations of the several parts of speech would, for the most part, prevent ambiguity and indicate the meaning of the writer. Those, however, who construct sentences in the modern languages, find punctuation absolutely necessary to point out those relations which subsist between qualities and substantives, attributives and verbs: and this necessity arises from the multiplicity and irregularity of our terminations. Whoever considers this subject with accuracy will perceive that many improvements may yet be made in the art of pointing; and that it is impossible it should be brought to perfection with the characters only, which are at present in use. From this circumstance arise that confusion and uncertainty in all the rules that are laid down for our direction in punctuation. The present characters, however, will answer every common purpose tolerably well; but the art of using them can only be acquired by long continued practice, and is not to be attained by merely consulting the rules that are laid down in grammars and dictionaries. Hence it frequently happens that men, who can speak and write with facility, are nevertheless totally ignorant of an art necessary to be known by every one who has occasion to write a letter to his friend. Every gentleman, who presumes to write for the press, should certainly be capable of pointing his productions with accuracy and taste; yet this is seldom the case. They say they are in the habit of submitting these little things to the printers. The writer of this article knows that such is their practice: and a judicious one it is; for, printers in general can point more correctly than those learned and ingenious writers who enlighten the world with their luminous productions. But are authors aware of the importance of this little thing which they submit to the discretion of the printers?-Before a man can point a work judiciously, he must be perfectly master of the subject and enter fully into the meaning of every sentence. Now, who can know the intention of the writer, but the writer himself? How can a printer understand an author's manuscript (scrawled as it usually is) without the assistance of those helps which punctuation itself is designed to afford? If a printed book be enigmatical when incorrectly pointed, how is a manuscript to be deciphered, and its meaning extracted by a printer? And, finally, is it reasonable to expect that a printer should be able to understand every abstruse and scientifical subject that may fall into his hands? I will conclude my remarks with mentioning an incident that just now occurs to my mem. ory: Boswell represents Doctor Johnson as laughing heartily at a noble author's ignorance of the art of punetuation. "Lord Lyttelton was thirty years in preparing his History; and he employed a man to point it for him as if another man could point his sense better thau himself!" The Walk. Many men expect to derive amusement from a walk; but, upon trial, find themselves unaccountably disappointed. If they walk out on business, they have an object that engages their attention; and when they have effected their purpose, they return home satisfied with their excursion; but if they go out in pursuit of entertainment, novel appearances and unexpected incidents are necessary in order to awaken those pleasurable emotions which they hope to experience. Now, when we purpose to take a walk in the city of Philadelphia, what novelty can be expected to occur which will be calculated to excite these desirable sensations? We know, before we set out from the place of our residence, that we shall have brick houses on the right hand and brick houses on the left; and that we shall encounter a multitude of people 'black brown and fair' all in pursuit of their various avocations: what entertainment can be expected from this dull regularity and insipid uniformity of appearances? And if the walk itself afford so little amusement, how can we hope to ren. der a history of that walk interesting to our readers? It may be observed, in answer to the foregoing questions, that there is one advantage which may always be expected from walking, unless lost through the indolence of the walker: if we march up one street and down another until we be completely fatigued, rest will become agreeable. Hence it follows that a posi tive pleasure has resulted from the walk, although it may not have been attended with any interesting occurrences. And something of this nature may also happen to the reader who shall take the trouble to peruse the following production: if he read with the fond expectation of amusement, and find himself at the last disappointed, he may notwithstanding have the pleasure of throwing down the paper and bestowing a few curses on our savage dullness and stupidity. As we turned round a corner, we encountered Frank Fluent. We have known Frank several years,and are not ignorant of his faults; but there is something so amusing in his ob servations that we are always rather pleased than otherwise when we partake of his society. Frank. Which way Piomingo? Have you ventured from your wigwam? I congratulate you on your civilized appearance. Were it not for that savage wildness in your countenance, (of which I am afraid you will never divest yourself) you might pass for a christian. Do you know that I heard a dispute concerning you the other day? Piomingo. Of what nature? Frank. Why thus it happened: I was standing with some gentlemen at the southeast corner of Third and Market streets, when Piomingo marched along on the opposite side. "Who is that wild looking man?" said one. "I cannot tell," said a second; "is he not a Malayan ?" "No," said a third, "I believe he's an Algerine." "An Algerine!" cried the first, "impossible! were he an Algerine, he would wear a turban and mustaches. This man dresses like a christian: I should rather take him for a Spaniard or a Portuguese." "Do not Spaniards wear mustaches?" said the third. "I have seen that fellow frequently in the streets," said a fourth; " but I cannot tell what to make of him; he has a damned outlandish appearance." Piomingo. And what did you say, Frank? you could not possibly have been silent all this while. Frank. I told them I thought you were a spy. Piomingo. Did they coincide with you in opinion? Frank. Yes: they thought my conjecture extremely probable; but, some of them said you were in the pay of Bonaparte; others contended that you must be an emissary of England: so the discourse became political; and you were forgotten. But, my dear Piomingo, what is the use of walking for ever? Let us make a halt at some of these watering places, and refresh ourselves. Piomingo. How shall we refresh ourselves? Frank. By drinking, smoking, talking, &c. Come along. Are not savages naturally fond of spirituous liquors ? Piomingo. No sir: savages are not naturally fond of spirituous liquors. They drank at first Piomingo. You however acknowledge that there is something else, beside riches, neces sary to his advancement. out of mere complaisance to their christian or to write one sentence grammatically in the visitants; but having once experienced the ex- language of the country. hilarating effects of ardent spirits, many of them have become addicted to intemperance. They are under great obligation to their civil. ized neighbors for having made them acquainted with the pleasures of intoxication. How. ever, I have no objection to follow you into the temple of Bacchus and worship the presiding divinity, soberly; but I shall endeavor to avoid becoming an enthusiastic devotee in his service. Frank. Wealth is power but if a man be an idiot, and make no use of the power he possesses, he then becomes an instrument in the hands of some one who is more enterprising and ambitious; and that influence, which he has neglected to employ for his own advantage, is exerted in favor of another. We This house, said Frank as we entered, is sometimes see an indigent man, who has frequented by idlers of every description. talents for intrigue, rise rapidly from his ori. Here you may be entertained with philoso- ginal insignificance to the most conspicuous phical disputes, political discussions, and reli- stations in the community; but how is this gious disquisitions. No subject is too impor- done? He begins by cringing to the opulent, tant to be agitated over a bowl; nor is any and is advanced through their instrumen thing too trivial to occupy attention. See, tality. here is a company this moment deeply interested in the politics of the nation: let us sit down on the opposite side and watch the issue of the contest. Piomingo. I am careless about the issue of the contest-but who is that corpulent man at the end of the table, with the red face and enormous belly? Frank. That is Mr. Bluff, a wealthy grazier and a justice of the peace for the county of Philadelphia. Piomingo. I knew he was wealthy, by the confidence which appears in his countenance; but how does he administer justice? is he learned in the laws of his country? Frank. I will answer you in the words of the son of Sirach: "how should he get wisdom, whose talk is of bullocks?" He knows no more of the law than I do of Sanscrit. Yet he is not more ignorant than his brother magistrates in general. There is not one in a hundred of them who is capable of reading a page of law, even if they thought proper to attempt it. Whenever a man becomes rich and acquires a little influence in his neighbor, hood, he is immediately created a justice of the peace, without any inquiry being made as to his education or abilities. Promingo. But I thought that respectable citizens were always selected to fill an office of such importance to the community. Frank. So they are, I assue you, Piomingo: respectable that is wealthy citizens are always appointed to this office. Yes, yes, they are "all, all, respectable men." Piomingo. You do not certainly make those two words synonymous ? Frank. With us, they are perfectly synony mous? Promingo. If wealth make a man a justice of the peace, will it not also advance him to a seat in the legislature? Piomingo. Such a man is no demagogue: I thought it had been necessary, for one who would become eminent, in a democratical state, to caress the poor and conciliate the favor of the multitude. Frank. When this man has acquired wealth, or the appearance of wealth, he then becomes a demagogue: he then has power to influence the people; whereas, in his original state of indigence, had he attempted to practise any demagogical arts, he would have made himself ridiculous. Piomingo. Is it, then,necessary that a dema. gogue should be rich? Frank. Certainly a poor man is necessarily dependent on the opulent. Who then can influence his decisions-the man who possesses power, or he who possesses none? Piomingo. It seerns to follow from your rea. soning that the people, notwithstanding their poverty, are possessed of the power, since their support is solicited by the rich. Frank. The people may choose their leader, but have no power to pursue any plan of their own. Have you not demonstrated in one of your Savages, that the indigent man is always a slave; though he has sometimes the liberty of exchanging one master for another?-What the devil do you mean, Piomingo? do you argue in favor of civilization? Piomingo. I do not argue: I merely suggest those obstacles that occur, lest hereafter there might appear to be some broken links in the chain of your reasoning. Do you not allow that rich men are sometimes governed by those that are not in the possession of riches? Frank. Yes, in the same manner that weak prince is governed by his favorites. provide that persons, not property, are to be Piomingo. Do not most of your constitutions represented in your legislative assemblies? Frank. There are verbal provisions to that effect in some of our written constitutions; yet it is easy to prove that property, not persons, is represented in every assembly in the Frank. Yes if the man be possessed of sufficient cunning to make the most of the means in his possession, he may become a senator without being able to read the constition of the state which he swears to support, United States. Quid leges sine moribus Wealth, in the present state of society, exercises a sovereign and independent influence and laughs at the laws or constitutions that would circumscribe its power. It may possi. bly be said that, let a man's possessions be ever so great, he has but one vote at an election. But let us consider the subject a little more attentively suppose an opulent man can in. fluence the suffrages of fifty men on such occasions is not that the same thing in reality as if these votes were given by himself personally? Nothing is more common than to hear politi. cians talk of a man's vote and influence: and the influence, in general, is a matter of much more importance than the vote. Yet, although the ascendancy of wealth is openly avowed,we are told that the voters are perfectly independent; and that persons, and not property, are represented. Piomingo What appropriate name can we give to your government, since you will not allow it to be purely republican? Frank. It is a representative democracy in appearance; but in reality, a representative plutocracy or government of wealth. Piomingo. Really, Frank, you are a perfect savage! I am amazed that any one who has tasted the sweets of civilized society should make use of such arguments. Frank. Really, Piomingo, you are mistaken if you suppose that I have any intention of exchanging smiling fields, cheerful vilages, and populous cities, for the lonely woods and gloomy caverns of the wilderness. I had much rather have my ears stunned with the "busy hum" of civilized drunkards in a crowded stinking grogshop, than trust my life to -beasts of prey, Piomingo. What is the consequence of that? Frank. The ejected member becomes " as a heathen man and a publican:" disowning is a soft word for excommunication. Piomingo. But if a respectable friend should act improperly, will they not also disown him? wink at his irregularities a long time, unless Frank. Why not so hastily. They will he should be guilty of some glaring indecorum which will reflect disgrace on the society: in that case they reluctantly proceed to deal with, and gently admonish, their backsliding brother; and if he prove irreclaimable, they are finally compelled (when every hope of reformation has vanished) to proceed in the business of disowning the respectable friend. Piomingo. Can you assign any reason why this people are so opulent? Or men as fierce and wild as they. Every thing wild is my aversion: even you, Piomingo, though you were caught young, and appear to be as tame as a lamb, become occasionally an object of horror. When I observe your red visage and high cheek bones; when I think of your skulking and howling, your powwows and war dances, and the number of scalps you have taken; I shrink with Frank. It is in a great measure owing to involuntary terror, and draw away my chair their regular and industrious habits, their from the savage. No, indeed, I am no enemy avoidance of dissipated pleasures, and their to civilization; but I think it quite necessary neglect of expensive amusements. They carry for a man who has to make his way in the an experimental prudence into all the concerns world to be able to form a just estimate of of life, and are seldom led away by any of things. And I assure that a cunning enter- those visionary speculations which prove so prising fellow, who is not burthened with destructive to the bold and enterprising. Their much principle or deluded by the bubble ho- religious principles forbid them to engage in nor, may do wonderfully well: by suiting political commotions, or to accept of important himself to the times and taking advantage of situations in the government: consequently circumstances, he may wriggle into places of their minds are never distracted by the calls of importance. Why should I object to the ambition; nor is there any thing to divert their power that is attendant on wealth, when I attention from the great business of accumula have a prospect of becoming wealthy myself? ting riches. What advantage their religion Why should I mourn over the miseries or de- will afford them in the world which is to come, pression of the poor, since I am resolutely de. 1 cannot tell; but certain it is, that, in the present state of existence, it has conferred on its votaries favors important and substantial. Piomingo. Their simplicity of dress probably contributes to lighten their expenses. Frank. I imagine not. Observe neighbor Smoothly's dress: it is composed of the richest materials; and though there appears to be nothing superfluous about him, yet the sum that was expended on those vestments would have bought two suits for Jack Flash or Bobby Chitterling. Piomingo. No objection can be made to the dress, but its singularity. However, in my opinion, such little peculiarities discover a species of weakness or affectation. Frank. I hate the starched plainness of neighbor Smoothly; but I think the gay quakers, at least the female part of them, have hit upon a medium, between flaunting finery and puritanical stiffness, which is extremely becoming: I never see them returning from their meeting but I think of the simplex munditiis of Horace. Piomingo. Females are pleasing, be their dress what it may. Frank. What, in brown bonnets, rusty gowns, and dove-colored handkerchiefs! Piomingo. I have seen some old gentlemen belonging to this society who, though dressed in the plainest manner, had a truly reverend and patriarchal appearance; and in their countenances shone such engaging mildness and benignity that they commanded my love and veneration; but there is nothing of this kind in Smoothly. I discover, in his countenance, an ostentatious humility and spiritual pride totally at variance with that meekness of spirit and lowliness of mind, which conciliates the affections of men, and is said to be pleasing to the deity. But why should he be opposed to changes and revolutions? did not his sect first originate by innovations on the established regulations of the country? Frank. You know the old adage, “We change with the times." In those days, the Friends were poor oppressed and discontented; but now "Jeshurun waxeth fat and kicketh." The rich are always averse to innovation. Were George Fox to rise from the dead, he would not own more than one out of a hundred of the modern friends for his disciples; nor do I believe that one in a hundred would acknowledge him. They no longer travel from pole to pole to propagate their opinions, or proclaim from the housetops the glad tidings of salvation. They no longer strive to make converts of kings, or go forth as apostles to regenerate the world. Their religious fervor has cooled; their contempt of danger is vanished; and the spirit of martyrdom has evaporated. Piomingo. Smoothly is gone. Frank. Justice Bluff made so much noise that the friend was ashamed to be seen in his company. And he began to reflect that it was anbecoming in Friend Smoothly to be seen disputing in a tavern. As to this gentleman J personally, there is a cause for his irritation, which he will not acknowledge: a deeply rooted prejudice in favor of things that have been; and a warmer attachment to the land of his fathers than is consistent with the allegiance he owes to the country which affords him protection. Piomingo. Are you a democrat? Frank. Pray to him "that giveth understanding to the simple," Piomingo, lest you be "destroyed for lack of knowledge." You resemble the enlightened citizens of this civilized country, who are swayed by watchwords and names without taking the trouble to inquire into the nature of things. It has at last become impossible to discourse on common occurrences or to make those observations which are naturally occasioned by circumstances, without causing some wiseacre to demand: are you a democrat? are you a federalist? And then if you cannot or will not say Shibboleth, death is too good for the Ephraimite. Piomingo. I beg your pardon, Frank: I had forgotten you were a plutocrat. I have a few more questions to ask concerning the friends. The best and wisest philosophers of antiquity were remarkable for the plainness and simplicity of their diet: is it so with the quakers? Frank. I think not: no people in existence love more "to eat of the fat and drink of the sweet," than the children of Penn. They are truly learned in the science of eating; and make up by the sumptuousness of their feasts for the absence of other amusements. Should Apicius be told of the luxury of a quaker entertainment, he would repine, not without cause, at the malignity of his fate. Piomingo. What is the reason that fewer schisms happen among the people of this society than among those of other denomina tions? Frank. That question cannot be answered without bestowing at the same time the highest praise on the wisdom of the society. Their bond of union consists only in the practice of the moral duties and certain external observances, which are calculated to distinguish them from the world. They are not fettered down, like other denominations, by iron doc trines and an adamantine creed, which they are commanded to believe under peril of damnation. They puzzle not their heads about the decrees of God, the freedom of the human will, justification by faith, and other knotty points in divinity, which engage and distract the evangelical disciples of Luther and Calvin. If a man preach a good moral discourse, a quaker audience are satisfied; whereas a presbyterian congregation must know that his principles are sound, and that there is nothing rotten in fundamentals, before they will consent to be edified by his labors. Piomingo. What do you think of the principles of the Friends, in relation to war? |