and forgotten for ever; I hope it will be read often, and remembered always. I have been at some trouble in stepping out of the ordinary way, that I might prevail upon you, who are placed in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, to set out and persevere in the right way. Long before you will have attained the full vigour of your age, I shall, probably, be called to render an account of my labours; Oh! that I may then have the comfort of knowing, that this my zeal for your salvation has not been without it's use! May the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ *, when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised †, when the state of every individual, and of you and me among the rest, shall be fixed for ever and ever.

I am

Your faithful Servant in Jesus Christ,

RICHARD LANDAFF.

* 1 Thess. v. 23.

+1 Cor. xv. 52.

AN

ANSWER

TO THE

"DISQUISITION ON

GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL LIBERTY;"

IN

A LETTER

TO THE AUTHOR OF

"DISQUISITIONS

ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS."

1782.

AN

ANSWER,

&c.

I

SIR,

66

YESTERDAY read your Disquisitions on several Subjects:" I pass over them all without animadversion, except the Seventh, which you have entitled, "On Government and Civil Liberty:"-Nor would this have attracted my notice, but from it's tendency to disseminate principles absurd, false, mischievous, as inconsistent with common sense as with all human society. If you think these are hard terms, you must be content to submit to them; they are not of my coinage; they bear the stamp of your own authority, for they are the very terms you have thought proper to bestow on those who differ from you in opinion.

I make no question of your sincerity in what you write, nor do I question your ability; but you have given every body great occasion to question your modesty and good manners. The principles of Locke and Lord Somers, of Hooker, and of Puffendorf, to say nothing of living authors, as honest and as intelligent, probably, as yourself, deserved to be treated with respect; harsh language is a disgrace to a good cause, and the worst cannot support a bad one: I will endeavour not to imitate your example.

You have undertaken to subvert the principles of Mr. Locke and his disciples by ridicule and by reason; your ridicule is misplaced, and your reasoning is inconclusive: your ridicule is misplaced, for the subject is of great importance ; whether your reasoning be inconclusive or not, let the public judge.

You have reduced your adversaries principles of government, to the five following propositions:-1. That all men are born equal:-2. That all men are born

free:

free-3. That all government is derived from the people :-4. That all government is a compact between the governors and the governed:-5. That no government ought to last any longer than it continues to be of equal advantage to the two contracting parties; that is, to the governed, as to the governors.

I acknowledge that most of these propositions are fairly and perspicuously stated; and I hope to shew that you have no other merit in treating them.

That all men are born equal.-This is the first proposition which you are determined to demolish; but you do not seem to me, from the nature of your attack, to comprehend it's meaning; if you cannot admit it's truth, except upon the poor quibble of all men being equally born, you had better deny it altogether. You speak of the different situations in which men are born with respect to beauty, health, wisdom, genius, fortunes and honours, and profess that you cannot understand how they can be said to be born

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