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Show 280 LIBERTY AND ST,AVERY. liberty, as it is called, their condition llas, in all respects, become far worse than it was before. "There appears every reason to apprehend," says James Franklin, "tbat it will recede into irrecoverable insignificance, poverty, and disorder."* Mr. T. Babington Macaulay has, we arc aware, put forth certain notions on the subject of liberty, which are exactly in accordance with tbe views and the spirit of the abolitionists, as well as with the cut-throat philosophy of the Parisian philanthropists of the revolution. As these notions are found in one of his juvenile productions, and illustrated by "a pretty •tory" out of Ariosto, we should not deem it worth while to notice them, if they had not been retained in the latest edition of his 11iscellanies. .But for this circumstance, we should pass them by as the rhetorical flourish of a young man who, in his most mature productions, is often more brilliant than profound. "A.l'iosto," says he, "tells a pretty story of a fairy, who, by some myste6ous law of he1 n»ture, was condemned to appear at certain seasons in the form of a foul and poisonous snake. * Franklin's Present State of Un.yti, &c., p. 265. ARQU,\rENT FltQ,\J THE PUBLIC GOOD. 281 Those who injured her during the period of her disguise were forevet' excluded from participation in the blessings which she bestowed. But to tbose who, in spite of her loathsome aspect, pitied and protected her, she afterward revealed herself in the beautiful and celestial form which was natural to her, accompanied their steps, granted all their wishes, filled their houses with wealth, made them happy in love, and victorious in war. Such a spirit is Liberty. At times she takes the form of a hateful reptile. She grovels, she hisses, she stings. But wo to those who in disgust shall venture to crush her! And happy are those who, having dared to receive her in her degraded ancl frightful shape, shall at length be rewarded by her in the time of her benuty and her glory." For aught we know, all this may be very fine poetry, and may deserve the place which it has found in some of our books on rhetoric. But yet this beautiful passage will-like the fairy whose charms it celebrates-be so surely transformed into a hateful snake or venomous toad, tbat it should not be swallo\\'ed without an antidote. Robespierre, Danton, Marat, Dan·cre, and the black Dessalines, took this hateful, hissing, stinging, maddening reptile to their bosoms, 2l• |
