Americans; for a confiderable length of time he combated alone a host of foes, "himfelf a hoft;" ftemmed the impetuous tide of democracy; and checked the irruptions of French anarchy and atheism, which threatened to overwhelm the American States, and, with the ruins of their conftitution, to crush every thing for which the Americans, at the period of their revolution, profeffed to fight, and which they have, ever fince, profeffed to cherish. The adoption of fuch a line of conduct was alone fufficient to draw down upon our author the vengeance of all whose treasonable defigns his manly efforts were intended to defeat. Accordingly, nothing was fpared by the infuriated advocates of anarchy, to injure him in the public mind, and, by blafting his reputation, to deprive him of that credit which was indifpenfibly neceffary to fecure the fuccefs of his works. No imputation however base, no lie however atrocious, none of those black and diabolical arts, in fhort, which, iffuing from the bubbling cauldron of democracy, were fo fkilfully employed to blacken the first and faireft characters in France, as a neceffary prelude to the establishment of the virtuous republic of the Great Nation, were neglected in the glorious attempt to atchieve the ruin of this worthy individual. When these were found to fail of producing the defired effect, recourfe was had to perfonal threats, the coward's weapon, in the hope of inducing him, by the means of intimidation, to quit a country, in which his enemies endeavoured to convince him that his life was daily exposed to the most imminent danger. But neither the dread of calumny, nor the fear of affaffination, could lead the object of their perfecution to forego his laudable defign. He manfully perfevered, and has, at length, though not without infinite difficulty, fucceeded in opening the eyes of the Americans to their own intereft, and to the infamous machinations of France, and of American traitors in the pay of France-for England is not the ONLY country in which foreign gold is employed as a stimulus to domestic treason.* In *It is notorious, that the French Directory have newspapers in their pay, not only in America, but in every country in Europe. That there fhould exift fuch MERCENARY TRAITORS as TO RECEIVE THE WAGES OF REGICIDES AND ASSASSINS is ftill lefs aftonishing, than that there fhould be found men, in the different countries, and men of rank too, fo bafe, fo degenerate, and fo foolish, as to give encourage. ment to their treafonable productions." P. 57.-The author fpeaks truth-there is at least one newfpaper of this defcription in London, which is encouraged-to their fhame be it fpoken!-by men of rank, and In the course of his exertions to produce this desirable end, honeft Peter had occafion to comment on the pufillanimous conduct of the Spanish monarch, in bending the knee to, and forming an alliance with, the base plunderers and affaffins of his family; and on the infidious and criminal efforts of the Spanish ambaffador, to ftrengthen the hands of the French faction in America. Thefe comments, it feems, excited the indignation of Don Carlos Martinez de Yrujo, who determined to bring the author to condign punishment; and it was the very unwarrantable conduct which the latter experienced on the occafion that gave rife to the publication before us. PETER begins his tract by ftating the dangers to which he knew himself expofed, on account of his political principles, when he established his refidence in the state of Pennfylvania, "where the government, generally fpeaking, was in the hands of those who had (and fometimes with great indecency) manifefted an uniform partiality for the fans-culotte French, and as uniform an oppofition to the minifters and meafures of the federal government." That men fhould ever be placed in fituations of truft and importance, whofe principles are avowedly adverse to the conftitution, whence they derive their fubfiftence, and which it is their bounden duty to protect, is a circumstance that would excite univerfal aftonifhment, if it did not, unhappily, fo often occur Still the frequency of its occurrence does not alter its nature, nor fhould it be allowed to diminish that ample portion of cenfure which muft ever attach to the authors of fuch appointments. It is such conduct as this that juftifies one of the wifeft obfervations that ever fell from the pen of Voltaire-"A GOVERNMENT CAN ONLY PERISH BY SUICIDE;"- -an obfervation confirmed by the fate of every country that has been recently reduced beneath the iron yoke of republican France. Aware of his danger, our author thought the best means of averting it was, by fecking for fome ftandard, as a fafe rule for his conduct in refpect to the liberty of his prefs.. "The English prefs was faid to be enflaved; but, when I came to confult the practice of this enflaved prefs, I found it still to be far too free for me to attempt to follow its example. Finally, it appeared to me to be the fafeft way, to form to myself fome rule founded on the liberty exercised by the American prefs: I concluded, that I might, without danger, go as great lengths in attacking the enemies of the country as others went in at and by members of the legislature-Reprefentans du Peuple Souverain! who even degrade themselves fo far as to affociate with the profligate mifereants who compofe its inflammatory pages. Rev. tacking tacking its friends: that as much zeal might be fhewn in defending the general government and adminiftration as in accufing and traducing them: and that as great warmth would be admiffible in the caufe of virtue, order, and religion, as had been tolerated in the wicked caufe of villainy, infurrection, and blafphemy." (P. 21.) Alas! Peter, at this time, knew but little of " the fpirit and temper," as Mr. BARRISTER ERSKINE Would exprefs it, of democracy and Jacobinism. He knew not, that the men who profess those principles are, for the most part, vindictive, malignant, oppreffive, and intolerant; that, under the mafk of liberty, they exercise the moft infupportable tyranny over their families and dependents; and that, in their general conduct to their inferiors, unless when, impelled by intereft, or urged by ambition, they irritate their paffions, with toafts and flattery, from a tavern chair, or influence their minds, by feditious difcourfes and treafonable infinuations, from a tribune or a fcaffold, they are fupercilious, arrogant, infolent, and overbearing. He knew not, it would feem, that those whose duty it is to defend the laws often fleep on their posts, while their enemies are ever vigilant, active, and alert; that when the former are attacked, a tardinefs of zeal, amounting nearly to torpor, fecures, with few exceptions, impunity to the affailant; whereas any exposure of the latter draws forth a malignity of revenge, that is the certain forerunner of perfecution. Indeed the inveteracy of the difcontented; of that clafs which includes all thofe who afpire to the poffeffion of place and power, and are little fcrupulous about the means of attaining them; and all the determined revolutionifts or fubverters of eftablished inftitutions, may be traced to a natural fource. Unable to support by reafon a caufe which reafon difavows; unable to ftrengthen by argument pofitions which fet all argument at defiance; it becomes their bufinefs to inflame by paffion, and to dazzle by fophiftry. Hence arifes an extreme facility of expofing their weaknefs and detecting their infamy; and not having the means of refifting fuch expofure, being wholly deftitute of the fentiments which are necellary for a fuccefsful reply, they are reduced to the degrading alternative of abandoning the field to a triumphant adverfary, or of feeking, by the adoption of violent measures, to punish the opponent whom they did not dare to encounter. This it is that renders revenge an active principle in their minds. The first step taken by the Spanish ambassador was an application to the federal government to profecute our author for certain matters publifhed in his Gazette, against himfelf, and that poor, unfortunate, and humbled mortal, Charles. the the Fourth, King of Spain." The government confented, and Peter was accordingly bound over to appear in the federal diftrict court, before Judge Peters. Don Carlos, however, foon found that his profecution would be more likely to fucceed, if brought in a district, where the defendant had more perfonal enemies, and where the people were more generally difpofed to the adoption of revolutionary principles. A memorial was, accordingly, "delivered in to the federal government, requesting that the trial might come on before the Supreme Court of Pennfylvania, of which Court M'Kean is Chief Justice." Of this republican Judge our author gives fuch an account as muft convey to English minds a ftrange idea of the adminiftration of republican juftice. It is to be found in P. 22.When Britons contemplate the character here delineated, and contraft it with the characters of their own Judges, to which even the licentious tongue of faction has not dared to impute the smallest ftain, their bofoms muft glow with fatisfaction of the most exalted kind; they must exult in the fuperior excellence of that form of government and of thofe laws which effectually fecure them from the eviis of a vicious, corrupt, or partial diftribution of juftice. After giving an historical detail of the proceedings against him, accompanied by copies of the warrant to apprehend him, the imputed libels, the bill of indictment, and the Judge's charge, Peter exclaims-" This, when it comes to be ferved up in Britain, will be a difh for a king. The royalifts will lick their lips, and the republicans will cry, God bless us! The emigration for liberty's fake will cease, and we shall have nothing but the pure unadulterated dregs of Newgate and the Fleet; the candidates for Tyburn and Botany Bay.Bleffed cargo! All patriots to the back-bone: true philanthropists and univerfal citizens; fit for any place but England in this world, and heaven in the next!" But, notwithstanding the Judge's charge, the most partial and fcandalous charge, we conceive, that was ever delivered out of France, the Grand Jury refufed to find the bill, and the prosecution of courfe ceafed. The Judge, not lefs difappointed than the profecutor, on this occafion, took an early opportunity to his infamy be it recorded!-of declaring from the bench, that the Grand Jury would not do their duty.-. What would the difaffected in this country fay were any British Judge to ufe fuch language? The grofs imputations caft upon the character of our author by this impartial Judge, have extorted from Peter a tribute of juftice to himself, which the octafion most amply juftifics. juftifies. As the account here given perfectly accords with all the information we have received, from perfons of undoubted veracity, who know him well, and as it fully corro borates the opinion we ourfelves had formed of him, from an attentive perufal of all his publications, we shall extract it for the fatisfaction of our readers. "It hardly ever becomes a man to fay much of his private character or concerns; but, on this occafion, I truft I fhall be indulged for a moment. I will fay, and I will make that faying good, whoever fhail oppofe it, that I have never attacked any one, whofe pri vate character is not, in every light in which it can poffibly be viewed, as far beneath mine as infamy is beneath honour.-Nay, I defy the city of Philadelphia, populous as it is, and refpectable as are many of its inhabitants, to produce me a fingle man, who is more fober, industrious, or honeft; who is a kinder hufband, a tenderer father, a better master, a fonder friend, or (though laft not leaft) a more zealous and faithful fubject. : "Moft certainly it is unfeemly in any one to fay thus much of himself, unless compelled to it by fome public outrage on his character; but when the accufation is made notorious, fo ought the defence. And I do again and again repeat, that I fear not a comparison between my character and that of any man in the city no, not even with that of the very Judge, who held me as the worft of mifcreants. His Honour is welcome, if he pleafe, to carry this comparifon into all the actions of our lives, public and domeftic, and to extend it beyond ourfelves to every branch of our families. "As to my writing, I never did flander any one, if the promulgation of useful truths be not flander. Innocence and virtue I have often endeavoured to defend, but I never defamed either. I have, indeed, ftripped the clofe.drawn veil of hypocrify; I have ridiculed the follies, and lashed the vices of thoufands, and have done it fometimes, perhaps, with a rude and violent hand. But thefe are not the days for gentlenefs and mercy. Such as is the temper of the foe, fuch muft be that of his opponent. Seeing myfelf publifhed for a rogue, and my wife a whore; being perfecuted with fuch infamous, fuch bafe and hellish calumny in the, philanthropic city of Philadelphia, merely for afferting the truth refpecting others, was not calculated, I affure you, to fweeten my temper, and turn my ink into honeydew. "My attachment to order and good government, nothing but the impudence of Jacobinifm could deny. The object, not only of all my own publications, but alfo of all thofe which I have introduced or encouraged, from the first moment that I appeared on the public fcene to the prefent day, has been to lend fome aid in ftemming the torrent of anarchy and confufion. To undeceive the mifguided, by tearing the mask from the artful and ferocious villains, who, owing to the infatuation of the poor, and the fupineness of the rich, have made fuch a fearful progrefs in the destruction of all that is amiable, and |