Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Scientific Magazine, And Freemasons' Repository,.
THE SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE, AND FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY , .
FOR APRIL 1798 . LETTER I . TO THE PEOPLE . OF GREAT BRITAIN .
FELLOW COUNTRYMEN , r II 'HAT this kingdom was never placed in a more critical situation ¦ " - than at present is a truth generally acknowledged . No man , who wishes well to his country , would desire to disguise his sentiments on this occasion . To pretend that there is not just ground for apprehension , ~ is to sport with the best interests of our country , and which require our
most serious concern and most vi g ilant exertions . We have , it is true , been situated formerly in very perilous circumstances , owing- to the weighty evils of foreign war and the more pernicious malady of interna ! divisions . But we have now to contend with an open enemy , who net only aims at humbling our political consequence , and at lessening our commercial , credit , but whose object is to annihilate our political and commercial existence , in the destruction of our constitution . I am well aware , that the French republicans have no particular rancour against our constitution , on account of any thing- that is peculiarly offensive in
itself . They cannot but see that this constitution is the very basis and pillar on which all our trading importance depends . Now , as their object is to destroy us as a trading people , they exert every means in their power to encourage a spirit of disaffection among us , from the conviction that such a spirit must materially forward their grand views . Can any man believe , that a maritime country like France , with a
ruined trade ancl a humbled navy , can really wish to see the people of this land happy and flourishing?—The fact is , the republicans see that the happiness and prosperity of this country are essentially connected with the present establishment , and therefore they foster , as far as in them lies , that spirit of sedition and love of change , which , they are sensibleis that alone which can ruin us . Could France
, briny this country to what riiay be called an active reformation , that is , in other words , to a similar scene of destruction which has disgraced her own land , she would have gained her most favourite project , —that of bringing her great rival into the high road-of political poverty and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Scientific Magazine, And Freemasons' Repository,.
THE SCIENTIFIC MAGAZINE, AND FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY , .
FOR APRIL 1798 . LETTER I . TO THE PEOPLE . OF GREAT BRITAIN .
FELLOW COUNTRYMEN , r II 'HAT this kingdom was never placed in a more critical situation ¦ " - than at present is a truth generally acknowledged . No man , who wishes well to his country , would desire to disguise his sentiments on this occasion . To pretend that there is not just ground for apprehension , ~ is to sport with the best interests of our country , and which require our
most serious concern and most vi g ilant exertions . We have , it is true , been situated formerly in very perilous circumstances , owing- to the weighty evils of foreign war and the more pernicious malady of interna ! divisions . But we have now to contend with an open enemy , who net only aims at humbling our political consequence , and at lessening our commercial , credit , but whose object is to annihilate our political and commercial existence , in the destruction of our constitution . I am well aware , that the French republicans have no particular rancour against our constitution , on account of any thing- that is peculiarly offensive in
itself . They cannot but see that this constitution is the very basis and pillar on which all our trading importance depends . Now , as their object is to destroy us as a trading people , they exert every means in their power to encourage a spirit of disaffection among us , from the conviction that such a spirit must materially forward their grand views . Can any man believe , that a maritime country like France , with a
ruined trade ancl a humbled navy , can really wish to see the people of this land happy and flourishing?—The fact is , the republicans see that the happiness and prosperity of this country are essentially connected with the present establishment , and therefore they foster , as far as in them lies , that spirit of sedition and love of change , which , they are sensibleis that alone which can ruin us . Could France
, briny this country to what riiay be called an active reformation , that is , in other words , to a similar scene of destruction which has disgraced her own land , she would have gained her most favourite project , —that of bringing her great rival into the high road-of political poverty and