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THE PATRIOT.
enjoy a toleration, ought not to deny it to our new ſubjects.
If liberty of conſcience be a natural right, we have no power to with-hold it; if it be an indulgence, it may be allowed to Papiſts, while it is not denied to other ſects.
A patriot is neceſſarily and invariably a lover of the people. But even this mark may ſometimes deceive us.
The people is a very heterogeneous and confuſed maſs of the wealthy and the poor, the wiſe and the fooliſh, the good and the bad. Before we confer on a man, who careſſes the people, the title of Patriot, we muſt examine to what part of the people he directs his notice. It is proverbially ſaid, that he who diſſembles his own character, may be known by that of his companions. If
the
