he is to judge of what is good, and what is bad; from hence we may confider the imperfection of our fpecies, which Almighty Wisdom has allowed, and only implanted a fufficient capacity in every perfon to guide him in the paths of virtue, and deter him from vice. But fince he has left us the freedom of thinking in matters indifferent, as men's judgment and custom shall lead and biafs them, is it not an unjust thing to pretend to force men to believe what they really do not? to pretend to ufurp a power which the Almighty has not done? If angels behold us, good God, how will they be furprifed and shocked at our mutual animofity, about matters we know nothing about, or matters as indifferent as Swift's right or wrong end of an egg? Opinions, in re lation to religion and politics, where they do not interfere with the very bafis and foundation of religion and the ftate, ought to be left open to every perfon's opinion. No force, but perfuafion, ought to be used. Yet how often is force and perfecution used? The injuftice of which, I hope, I have made evident; I should now proceed to the fecond thing I propofed to treat of, viz. the abfurdity and folly of this method, and that tho' force might ftop for a time the mouth, yet thoughts are free, and when an opportunity offers, the more they were before restrained, fo much the more violently will they break out, and that force only rivets the man more in his prejudices; but this I fhall refer to another occafion. On the Principles and Practices of Free-thinkers. GENTLEMEN, To the Authors of the BRITISH MAGAZINE. IN your June Magazine, page 301, is inferted, what is called the Principles and Practices of Free-thinkers; but, with more propriety, fhould have been termed the Principles and Practices of Libertines. Whatever was the author's intent in giving that title, it is plain the judicious and candid free-thinkers can never merit fuch treatment, unless in the eyes of ignorant bigots, or those who never think at all. Nothing is more to the honour of our nature, or to the author of that nature, than an open freedom of judgment, and uncontrolled examination of all things: this only can fhew us the excellence of this glorious quality; and as all things that are the work of the fame great hand are also great and good the more freely we examine them, the more devoutly and reverently fhall we admire them. This is a folemn truth, and held good equally in the natural and moral world; it was on this generous principle that PLATO and SOCRATES, and a thousand other worthies of old time, grew more virtuous the more freely they employed their difcerning faculties; that honeft freedom they profeffed taught them all the focial virtues. Wisdom is defirable; this ought of all things to be the highest in esteem, as it is the great means of arriving at it: an entire and generous liberty of the judgment is the only road by which a man can arrive at wisdom; and this is not to be limited to any peculiar objects, or tied within narrow bounds; but it extends equally to the whole fyftem of the created world, and the actions of all that live in it, and equally takes in the judgment and the will. That juft and noble freedom of the judgment, by means of which knowledge lies open to us, confifts in the candid and unbiaffed examination of every thing that offers to us, without a pre-determined liking or distaste, a blindly refolved adoration, or more blindly refolved contempt. The man who would in reality judge freely must enter on the task unbiassed and unprejudiced, tied to no peculiar opinion, but free and open to truth and conviction equally, on which ever fide: this is the bighest point of human liberty, and the proper and juft privilege of a man with fome share of wisdom, who is ambitious of encreasing it. Judging of things is not refolving, affirming, and determining concerning them: this would fet afide all poffibility of enjoying this with the fecond quality of freedom, the not being tied down to any opinion; of the river Barrow, 2000l. For extending the pier of Ballbriggan at Skerries, 1500l. Clearing the channel of Corke harbour, 4cool. Making the Shannon navigable from Limerick to Killaloe, 8000l. Carrying on the inland navigation of the. Black Water, 2500l. Payment of debts of the Foundling-hofpital, 42521. To difcharge the debts of the Lying-in-hofpital, and to finish and furnish it, 3000l. To make a navigable canal from the bafon of Drumreaugh to Farlogh Lough, 3000l. To the widow and children of the late Dr. Moffe, who projected the building the Lying-in-hofpital, 1000l. Mr. George Semple, architect of Effex-brige, Dublin, 500l. Arthur Mervyn, Efq; 2000l. to enable him to finish the mill and granaries at Naul, in the county of Meath. To finish the dock at the west-end of the north wall, Dublin, 1oool. Dublin fociety, for the improvement of husbandry, arts, &c. 200ol. A further fum of 1000l. per annum, for two years, to the protestant charter-schools. To encourage the cambrick-manufactory at Dundalk, 1375l. Letters from Ireland mention a murder committed near Strabane, by one John M'Naughton, affifted by three ruffians, who stopped the coach of Andrew Knox, Efq; member of parliament for Donegall. M'Naughton fired a piftol into the coach, and fhot Mifs Knox, who died four hours after. Mr. Knox hot M'Naughton in the shoulder, upon which he made off, but was afterwards taken and lodged in Lifford goal, where he lay fpeechlefs on the roth instant. The three bravoes were feamen whom M'Naughton hired for that purpose at Liverpool. One of them is taken. FRIDAY, NOV. 27. a man lately died there, who had been near three months fick, without receiving the leaft fuftenance during that interval, or opening either his eyes or his mouth, and that there were no other figns of life in him but a very low beating of the pulfe and heart; but that four days before his decease he entirely recovered the ufe of his fenfes, and defired to receive the Sacrament, which was immediatcly administered to him, and foon after he expired. SATURDAY, Nov. 28. By letters received by the India-fhips just arrived from the Malabar coast, we have an account that, in March last, the king of Candia, having had a difference with the Dutch, which was partly occafioned by their difcontinuing fome duties which they used to pay him, but chiefly to a confpiracy the Dutch had formed of rendering that kingdom tributary to them, which the king of Candia having timely notice of, he marched down his forces against the Dutch colonies, and having taken point de Galle and their principal fettlement of Colombo, they facrificed every body there to their fury; and then ordered his troops to cut down the cinnamon and other fpice-trees throughout all the country, except thofe in the inland parts. It is faid also, that the king of Candia intends extirpating every Dutchman left there, and that they shall never fet footing in Ceylon on pain of death. The island of Ceylon produced the cinnamon with which that nation supplied all Europe. It is fituated about 45 leagues from Cape Comerin, between the 6th and roth degree of North latitude, and between the 79th and 82d degree of eaft longitude. It is about 60 leagues long, and about 200 in circumference, Before the Europeans appeared in India, the Chinese were mafters of the trade of Ceylon; afterwards the Perfians, Arabians, and Ethiopians, came in for a share of it ; at laft the Dutch excluded all other nations. EAST-INDIES. Letters from Lima give an account, that there is a Spaniard, a native of Caxamalca in Peru, aged 140. He has been thrice married; had fifteen children by his first wife, four by the fecond, and nine by the third, befides feveral natural children in the intervals from one marriage to another. He now beholds his By advices received from the Eaft-Infifth generation, who in all amount to dies it appears, That the French garrison Soo fouls. He never had any fickness, of Myhie, and its dependencies, on the nor even feels the infirmities of age, be- coaft of Malabar, furrendered by capituing yet able to walk half a league on foot. lation to the English on the 10th day of These particulars have been wrote to the February laft, The articles of which caviceroy of Peru by the Corregidor of pitulation were agreed to, and figned that Caxamalca. day by Thomas Hodges, Efq; commander We learn from Savolax in Finland, that in chief of Tillicherry and its dependen cies, and Hector Munro, Efq; Major and commander of the king's and East-India troops, and M. Louet, commander in chief of the French garrifon at Myhie. And the English flag was hoisted the next day at Myhie and the feveral forts adjacent. The number of guns found in the forts amounts to 319. There is alfo advice, that out of the 6co prifoners, taken at Pondicherry, who were fent to Bombay, upwards of 300 have fince entered into the English fervice. AMERICA. By a letter from New York, dated Oct. 6, we find, That general Amherst is pushing on the expedition against Martinico with great fpirit, and that a moft tremendous portion of artillery was to be embarked the next day. The Greyhound man of war had fome time before been difpatched to Guadalupe, for the governor to prepare the forces there for their embarkation. -- Orders have been fent to Albany to march down four more regiments to join 5000 men as effective and brave as any. --The laft have been fome time at the inland called Staten, from the ftates of Holland preferving formerly the only right to it. The difpofitions in their arfenal were fo great, as to give great hopes of fuccefs. From Charles Town, South Carolina, we are informed, that on the 29th of Auguft laft, the little Carpenter, and other chiefs of the Cherokee Indians, waited on colonel Grant to treat of peace: when al! the articles propofed by the colonel for that end were agreed to, except the firft, which runs thus: "Four Cherokee Indians fhall be delivered up to be put to death in the front of the camp; or four green fcalps brought in, in twelve nights from this day.' The proposals made by colonel Grant, confifted of nine articles, to eight of which the Little Carpenter agreed, and only objected to the one above-mentioned; upon which colonel Grant gave him till the next day to contider of it. The next day the Little Carpenter told colonel Grant, that the Indians thought the first article too fevere, that he could not agree to it without confulting his people, and that he would be back in ten nights. BIRTHS. Lady of Sir James Caldwell, Bart. of a fon. Lady of Lord Weymouth, of a daughter. Lady of Lord Ranelagh, of a fon. The Princefs-confort of prince Ferdinand, the king of Pruffia's brother, of a princefs. MARRIAGES. Henry Bingham, Efq; member for Tuam in Ireland, to mifs Daly, niece of the earl of Clanrickard. Christopher Kilby, Efq; of Spring-Gardens, to Mrs. Martha Jones of the city of Worcester, a well accomplished lady. Mr. Hinxman, bookfeller, of York, to Mifs Morgan, of Pater-nofter-row, a fortune of 10,000 I. Rev. Mr. Walker to Mifs Cavely, of Bishop-ftoke, Hants. Anthony St. Leger, Efq; to Mifs Margrave of Baden-Baden. Mr. William March at Liverpool, aged III. ...... Jane Owen at Criclade, aged 101. Mrs. Dunch, widow of Dunch, comptroller of the houshold to George I. Sir John Price of Newtown-Hall, in Montgomeryshire, Bart. The Hon. George Treby, Efq; member for Plympton. Dr. Love, in Westminster. Lord Bolingbroke, Lord of the bedchamber to his majesty. Mifs Loretta Baden, to be one of the chief dreffers, and keeper of her majesty's ward-robe. George Creffeners, Efq; his majesty's minister to the princes and states of the circle of Weftphalia. Major-general Luckner, lieutenant-general in the Hanoverian fervice. Duke of Bedford, Lord-privy-feal. ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS, Dr. Plumptree, vice-chancellor of Cambridge, on the refignation of Dr. Sandby. Dr. Smith, of Clare-hall, vic. Walden Abbots, Herts, with rec. Datworth, worth 260l. per annum. Mr. Stainfberry, reader of Charterhoufe. Mr. George Baldwin, rec. Uplands, in Northamptonshire. Mr. Jofeph Hill, rec. Great-Kingston, in Dorfet hire, and rec. Chilton Cantloe, Somersetshire. Mr. Cookson, chaplain to Ironmongers Alms-houses. The LIFE of LORD CHANCELLOR BACON. [Continued.] H OW much foever Sir Francis Bacon might gain in honour by this promotion to the office of lordkeeper of the great feal, it is very doubtful whe sk sk ste ther he gained any thing in point of profit; fince he quitted three very advantageous places: first, that of attorney-general, which he told the king brought him in fix thousand pounds a year, a very great fum at that time; next, that of chancellor to the prince of Wales; and laftly, the registership of the court of Star-Chamber. He had been lord-keeper only eight days, when the king and his favourite, newly created earl of Buckingham, went to Scotland; and by this means he was placed at the head of the council, and intrufted with the management of public affairs in the king's abfence: an acceffion of power accompanied with no fmall envy and malice. He very foon experienced the truth of the obfervation, that the highest feats are the moft expofed for within a little time after the king's departure, the treaty of marriage between December, 1761. prince Charles and the infanta of Spain was, by his majefty's directions, brought upon the carpet : an affair, in which, tho' contrary to all the rules of good policy, king James perfifted for seven years together, against his own intereft, and against the univerfal voice of his people; only to procure the imaginary honour of an alliance with a crowned head, Sie Francis Bacon faw through the vanity and danger of this intention, and had too much wisdom and penetration not to perceive the many and great difficulties with which it would be attended. He hinted them to the king in a letter; prudently and honestly advised him not to proceed but with an united council; that whatever their private fentiments might be, their fuffrages on this occafion ought to be unanimous; and he expreffed his just fenfe of the misfortunes that ever attend a difcordancy of opinions. As the busi nefs proceeded, his diflike to it encreaf ed; yet he did not openly declare against it, but contented himself with making use of fuch infinuations as he thought might reftrain and discountenance it; though they were not sufficient to open the king's eyes, 4 I On He had already brought them over to his interefts; but before he could make any advantage of their good will, they fuftained a defeat from the Iroquois, who were determined to break with the French coJony, and took this previous ftep to difable their allies from giving them much fiftance. All that la Sale could do, was to revifit this nation, and encourage them to maintain their engagements, which, indeed, they were on the brink of renouncing. The French commander was bold and enterprizing, but at the fame time itern and haughty, and quite ignorant of the art of conciliating the affe&tion. His allies wavered, and his own people confpired against his life. The defign being difcovered, the confpirators confulted their fatety by flight, and he filled up their places with a company of young Indian volunteers. [An. 160.] He now detached one Dacan, accompanied by father Hennepin, to trace up the Miffiffippi, if poffible, to its fource. They departed on this expedition, from Fort Creve-cœur, about the end of February, and advanced up the ftream as far as the forty-fixth degree of north latitude: there their progrefs was topped by a confiderable cataract, extending the whole breadth of the river, which the miffionary denominated The fall of St. Antonio de Padua. Then they fell down the river, and were made prifoners by the Sioux, who detained them a long time in captivity. At length, being releafed by the interceffion of fome French Canadians, they failed down as far as the fea, from whence they returned to Creve-coeur, without having met with any other accident. La Sale, in his return from this fettlement to Cadarakui, pitched upon a spot on the banks of the river of the Illinois, for another fort, and left the conftruction of it to M. de Tonti, who had scarce begun the work, when he received advice that the French garrifon had murinied at Creve-cœur. Thither he repaired with all poffible diligence; but on his arrival found no more than seven or eight men, the rest having efcaped with all they could carry away. On the back of this misfortune, the Iroquois invaded the country of the Illinois, to the number of fix hundred warriors; and all that Tonti could do, was to mediate a fufpenfion of hoftilities, by means of two miffionaries, who underflood the Indian language.. But this peace was of fhort duration. The Iroquois, being rendered more intractable by the apprehenfion fo vifible in their enemies and their French allies, foon recommenced the war with their ufual ferocity. The French fufpected the English colonists to be the authors of this rupture; and their suspicion feems to have been not altogether without foundation, confidering the difputes and contests which now prevailed between the two nations, on account of Acadia and Nova Scotia. Tonti having received intelligence that an army of the Iroquois was in full march to invest him in Creve-cocur, te abandoned that fort with his whole garrifon, amounting to five foldiers, befides the two fathers recolers, one of whom, called father Gabriel, was, in the course of their voyage up the river of the Illinois, found separated from the reft of the company, and murdered by a party of the Kikapous, for the fake of plunder. Tonti fpent the winter in the bay of the Lake Michigan: but La Sale returning in the fpring with a reinforcement of men and neceifaries, they retook possession of Creve-coeur, and finished the other, to which they gave the name of St. Louis. These precautions being taken, they fell down the Miffiffippi, and took formal poffeffion of the country of the Akanías; the fame ceremony they performed at the mouth of the river, from whence they repaired to Michillemack. [An. 1683.] In the following fpring La Sale arrived at Quebec, and soon after fet fail for France. Mean while the count de Frontenac, and M. Duchefnau, having embroiled the French fettlement by their perpetual quarrels, the king of France recalled them both, and had appointed Mr. le Fevre de la Barre governor-general, and Mr. de Meulles intendant. These gentlemen were well provided with inftructions, to which they payed very little attention; but the colony was in much greater want of men for the total amount of the inhabitants did not yet exceed nine thoufand, exclufive of those who had fettled in Acadia. Many circumstances concurred to render its fituation extremely delicate at this juncture. Colonel Dongan, the English governor of New-York, had been at great pains to wreft the fur trade from the French adventurers, by furnishing the Indian markets with commodities fold cheaper than the traders of Canada could afford them. At the fame time, be |