Sins of Government, Sins of Nation; or, a Discourse for the Fast, appointed on April 19, 1793.
Scarce
Barbauld, Anna Laetitia. Sins of Government, Sins of the Nation; Or, a Discourse for the Fast, appointed on April 19, 1793. By a volunteer. The second edition. London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1793.
8vo.; plain wrappers, string-tied; apparently disbound; edgeworn. In a specially made cloth folder.
Second edition, of this essay denouncing Britain’s entry into war with France during the Revolution, with Barbauld’s suggestions on how to rectify the problems of the current government. OCLC lists various editions of this book, it is not specified if the second edition is located institutionally; there may be only one or two known copies of this particular edition.
With an inked emendation on page 31, where the word “by” has been written in front of the word “answered,” six lines up from the bottom of the page, and a series of annotations on page 36, likely in Barbauld’s hand. Though faded, most of the annotations are legible. The word “but,” has been struck through; the word measures has been changed to “duties”; and a sentence has been altered from: “Every good man owes it to is country and to his own character, to lift his voice against a ruinous war, an unequal tax, or an edict of persecution: and to oppose them, temperately, but firmly, by all the means in his power…” to read: “Every man owes it to his country and to his own character, to lift his voice against a [ ] state, or an unequal tax: and to oppose it, temperately, but firmly, by all the means in his power…” (36).
Barbauld calls for citizens to take on more national responsibility, especially during wartime: “we are called upon to repent of national sins, because we can help them, and because we ought to help them” (5). She continues with her ideas on how repentance can be achieved:
Societies being composed of individuals, the faults of societies proceed from the same bad passions, the same pride, selfishness and thirst of gain, by which individuals are led to transgress the rules of duty; they require therefore the same curb to restrain them, and hence the necessity of a national religion. You will probably assert, that most nations have one; but, by a national religion, I do not mean the burning of a few wretches twice or thrice in a year in honour of God, nor yet the exacting subscription to some obscure tenets, believed by few, and understood by none; nor in the investing a certain order of men dressed in a particular habit, with civil privileges and secular emolument; by national religion I understand, the extending of those affairs in which we act in common and as a body, that regard to religion, by which, when we act singly, we all profess to be guided. (7)
She further explains that a national “religion” would constitute uniform standards of public and private behavior: it would regulate laws that to prevent the wrongful persecution of the poor, it would resist the insubordination others, it would make extinct the faults of “faction, sedition, and tyranny” (11). She blames the extravagance, pride, cruelty and oppression by people in power for many of the governmental problems; and these “sins” had manifested themselves in Britain’s participation in the war against France. Though she denounces war, she also questions, “How far, as individuals, are we really answerable for the guilt of national sins?” (33). An intelligently reasoned and persuasively argued essay.
Barbauld (1743-1825) had a lengthy and varied career. When she was in her mid-20s she started writing poetry, and published her first book, Poems (1773) when she was thirty. This book went through five editions in just as many years, and was lauded as a popular and critical success. Its popularity might have been attributed to the ranges of styles and topics addressed in the poems; she writes about zoology, politics, humane treatment of animals, religion and friendship, and she summoned writing styles that varied from humorous to sublime. A year after publishing
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