During the month of February there were received at the Library by purchase 1,119 books and 233 pamphlets, and by gift 1,040 volumes and 2,194 pamphlets. There were catalogued 4,542 books and 4,976 pamphlets, for which purpose 20,841 cards and 1,271 slips for the printer were written. The following table shows the number of readers and the number of volumes consulted in both the Astor and Lenox branches of the Library during the month: Among the important gifts received this month were 33 volumes and 12 pamphlets from the University of Minnesota; I volume and 25 pamphlets from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts; 11 volumes and 200 pamphlets from the Diplomatic Review of London; 268 volumes and 104 pamphlets from the Evening Post Publishing Co.; 48 volumes and 151 pamphlets from R. R. Bowker of the "Library Journal;" 54 volumes and 11 pamphlets from the Secretary of State of California; 29 volumes and 19 pamphlets from the Grand Lodge of Virginia; 13 volumes and 3 pamphlets from the Ohio Society of Surveyors and Engineers; 121 volumes of State documents from the New Jersey State House Commission; 11 volumes from Messrs. Brookes Brothers; 7 volumes from the De Vinne Press; 2 volumes and 9 pamphlets from the Acting Colonial Secretary of British Honduras; 12 volumes and 5 pamphlets from Philip Schuyler, and public documents have come in from 13 cities of Great Britain. ** DR. NISBET'S VIEWS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY, No. 4. Numbers one, two, and three of Dr. Nisbet's letters were published in the Bulletin for CARLISLE (PENNSYLVANIA) June 2d, 1797. DEAR SIR, I wrote you lately in answer to yours of 22d July and 31st October, 1796, which I received at the same time, but having lately received yours of 23d Nov! I sit down to answer it likewise, lest my former Letter should miscarry, as French Privateers abound on our Coasts. I sincerely sympathize with you in your Misfortune & wonder at the Neglect of your former friends, if one needs to wonder at any thing in human Nature. I am obliged to you for your kind Enquiries after my family, tho' I can not say that they are all well at present, as my Eldest Son is ill of a fever, & my youngest is afflicted with the Chin-cough, not having had it when he The Season has been far from healthful, & the Weather alternately cold & rainy these three Months past. Mr. Lake might have done very well in the Line of his Profession here, but by taking to drinking, & spending his Money on a farm, I believe his Affairs are in a bad Situation, tho' he has received three several Legacies from his Wife's Relations since he came into this Country. Ralph Bowie is diligent & successful in his Business, but his principal Cross is his Wife, who either thro' Peevishness or Indisposition has kept her Room almost ever since she came to this Country, & will be pleased with nothing. I have not seen Mr. Joshua Wallace this twelvemonth, & I never saw his Brother William. The Plan that you mention for the Support of Ministers would be acceptable to a People who wished to have Ministers, but most of our People are not of that Class. Many Presbyterian Congregations have dismissed their Ministers within these two Years past, & more are threatening to imitate their Example. I am informed that there is a Congregation in the Island of Edistow, South Carolina, which has a fund that yields two hundred Pounds Sterling a Year for the Support of a Minister, yet they have had no Minister for these forty two Years past, & there is another Congregation in this State, that has been still longer vacant. The thinness of the Population in most Parts of this Country, & the variety of Sects into which the few remaining Professors of Christianity are divided, render it impossible for many of them to have a Minister, & you know that our Government disdains to notice or provide for the Support of any form of Religion whatever. You know nothing of the Pride of Republicans, if you think that they would submit to a Jus devolutum in any case. I am glad to hear of the Zeal that has been shown by the Missionary Societies, & I hope that they will proceed the better, on Account of the Reprobation of them by the General Assemby last Year. Dr. Erskine sent me the Speeches on that Occasion, & I confess I have never seen anything weaker than the Reasonings of the Majority. But altho' they meant Ill to the Missionary Societies, I hope that their Condemnation will be of far greater Service to them, than their Approbation could have been. The Spirit of Contradiction is a very strong Principle of human Nature, & the Pleasure of thinking that our Superiors are in the wrong, a Pleasure which they afford us very often, will stimulate them to many things that they would have neglected, had they been patronised by the Public. Those who belong to a despised & persecuted Sect always stick the closer to one another, and the contempt of their Enemies serves as a Cement to their Union & a Spur to their Activity. If Great Britain is preserved from the fury of the French, & the Treachery of their own People who are worse than the French, great things may be expected from these Missions, but as a high Degree of Zeal & Self-denial is requisite, especially in those who dedicate themselves to the Service, the Danger of becoming cool is very great. It is certain that Great Britain has suffered much by the present War, but it ought chearfully to suffer twice as much more, rather than to submit to the Tyranny of the French Atheists. Yet I hear that there are many among you who are eager to see their Country become a Province of the French Republic. If all this faction could be got together & exported to Botany Bay, it would be an immense Benefit to Great Britain, & ought to be highly agreeable to themselves, as they would have an Opportunity of planning Revolutions on a large Scale, in that large Country. You are mistaken in supposing that the French are Enemies of Popery, they are only Enemies to Christianity, & greedy of Property. Popery has its foundation, not in the Magnificence & Riches of Churches & Convents, but in the Opinions & Persuasions of Roman Catholics. To plunder the Property of Papists has no more Tendency to pull down Antichrist than to plunder Protestants, so that the French have certainly done as much to pull down Antichrist. by plundering the Protestants in Holland, as by robbing the Papists in Italy & their own Country. The Indignation that their Proceedings have excited in the Minds of all Mankind, except those who are Robbers & Murderers like themselves, has rendered every honest Man in the World their Enemy, & they are so impartial in their Robberies, that they do not even spare their Friends. The present State of Holland & America, in which they have been favoured, flattered, and encouraged to the utmost, ought to be a Warning to Great Britain, & an Example of what they may expect to suffer if they should ever be mad enough to make Peace with the French on the Condition of absolute Subjection, & none have yet made Peace with them on any other Conditions. Many People in this Country, who have often got drunk with celebrating the Successes of the French, & who fitted out Privateers in their Service, in defiance of the Laws of their own Country, are now reduced to Bankruptcy & Beggary, being deprived of their whole Property by those very French, whose Cause they supported, & whose Victories they celebrated, & sometimes by these very Privateers that were fitted out at their own Expence & manned by their own Countrymen at their Instigation. And I confess that if it was only this Set of People that were ruined, I should not be sorry for it in the least, as nothing can be more equitable, than that those who rejoice at the Victories of the French, should pay for them, & that those who wish to bring all the World under the Tyranny of France, should become Subject to it themselves in the first Instance. But what I regret is that many honest Merchants who loved their Country, & conducted their Trade according to the Treaties established betwixt it & other Powers, have lost their all by a Nest of infernal Pirates & Robbers of all Nations. What renders our Condition the more lamentable, is that while the French, assisted by many of our own Citizens, are capturing our Ships by Scores in Europe & the West Indies, we have no Means of defending ourselves, or escaping the Violence of our great & good Allies, except by the Protection & Friendship of Great Britain, which we do not deserve, & have no Reason to expect, as our Citizens for the most Part have been as distinguished for their Enmity to Great Britain, as for their blind Attachment to the French Anarchy. If Great Britain gives us any Assistance, it will not be in great Haste, as they will let us first feel the entire Weight & Benefit of an Alliance with the French, that we may be convinced of the Advantages arising from their Friendship & Fraternity. The Smallness of the Resources of this Country, with the Division that takes Place among our People, added to our entire Want of Manufactures, & the Intrigues of the numerous Emissaries of the French among us, must render our Case extremely distressing, as altho' we have not gone into the War, the War is come upon us, & we are exposed to suffering by it, without the Power of Defence or hopes of Gain. For if our Vessels are bound to a French Port, they are taken by the English, & if to an English Port, they are taken by the French, & also by the Spaniards, who are now the Slaves of the French Anarchy. Nay it often happens that the French & Spaniards take our Vessels when bound to their own Ports, for they will pretend to be friends to us, & that they only plunder our Property in order to weaken England, & to oblige us to break our Treaty with that Nation. Such is our melancholy State at present, but when, & whether it will have an End, God only knows. If the Misfortunes of our People were rendering them humble & penitent, or recalling their Attention to Religion, which they have so much neglected, it would be some Consolation But alas! Religion is seldom or never thought of among us, & while some blame the French, & many more the English, as the Causes of our Distresses, none of them thinks of their own Sins as having the least Hand in producing them. I am afraid that our Friend Dr. Davidson has become proud by the great Accession to his Fortune, as he never writes me. It is perhaps unreasonable for me to complain of being forgotten by my former Friends in Scotland, as it was naturally to have been expected, now that I have been so long out of it. I ought not to have imagined that all of them would be like Dr. Erskine, who has never forgotten me, but we are apt to form too great Expectations when we ourselves are concerned. I had heard long ago of the proposed Annexation of the Parishes in Tweedale, which you mention, but I am an Enemy to all Designs of that kind, as they have a direct Tendency to the Neglect of Religion, & to the Increase of Separation from the Established Church. I hope that the good People of Edinburgh will endeavour to profit as much as possible by their Seats in the Churches, now that they pay a higher Rent for them, that they may get something in Return for their Money. I suppose however that a Seat in a Church is not yet so high rented as a Seat in the Playhouse, & you do not say that the Hearers in the Play-house are complaining of the Extravagancy of their Seat Rents. At the same I confess that it appears to me to be an Absurdity, & a Satyre on Establishments, that People should pay for their Seats in an established Church, in the same Manner as if they were Dissenters, & that the Magistrates should not only have the Power of chusing your Ministers for you, but also the Right of imposing a Tax on you for the Liberty of hearing them. At the same time I am not a friend to popular Elections & no Man who has seen America can be a friend to them. I rejoice to hear that you are getting more good Ministers, any how, as I am convinced that you have need of them, & that if you attend to their Instructions, you will reap more Benefit from them than from twice as many bad ones. You are mistaken if you suppose that you would weary me with your Letters. On the contrary they were the more acceptable, as so many of my former Correspondents seem to have given me up altogether, & I cannot boast of many friends here, not being a Man of that Sort that the People delight to honour. I have never indeed flattered the great nor the small Vulgar, & consequently have had little of the good Will of either, but on the whole I was much better off among you than I can be here, because altho' I was not popular myself, my Friends were popular, & I was of the popular Party, which led me to imagine that I shared in the Popularity of my friends, & was certainly better treated on their Account. Whereas here I have no Man like-minded, & consequently am neither in the Majority nor in the Minority. An Individual in a Republic is no more than a Drop in the Ocean, tho' many of your People at present seem to think quite otherwise, & to imagine that a Republican Government gives Weight & Consequence to every individual Citizen. I can only say that if they were here, they would have an Opportunity of knowing better, & of being convinced that in a Republic the Demagogues & Rabble-drivers are the only Citizens that are represented, or who have any Share in the Government. -How happy are real Christians, who are under a Government that is infallible, benign & omnipotent, as well as absolute & unchangeable! & who while they are counted the Off-scourings of all things by the Great of this World, are by the Merits of their Saviour made Kings and Priests to God & his father. May you & I, & all in whom we have Interest be Subjects of this glorious & eternal Kingdom. I remain, with sincere Esteem, Dear Sir, Yours affectionately, CHAS NISBET. [Addressed to:] MR. CHARLES WALLACE, North Leith, By Edinburgh, North Britain. |