The constitutionalist — Exeter, N.H., 1810-09-10 00:00:00, page 1

POLITICAL.
From the Connecticut Courant.
FRUITLESS FOREWARNINGS.
Looking back a few years, and
comparing times past with the present,
we find that the evils which our coun
try suffers, were actually foreseen and
foretold, as what would necessarily
grow out of the measures of our gov
ernment. When the American ships
of war were ordered to the Potomac,
and were there laid up, dismantled,
and left to ^t, it was clearly foreseen
that this pitiful expedient to save mon
^y, would in the end, cost our nation
dear. Had the navy been kept in
good order, and gradually increased
(an expence which the country would
have scarcely felt) and had it been
vigorously employed in the late times
of need, as it was on some former oc
casions ; it might have saved our na
tion from indelible disgrace, and saved
it also scores of millions.
When the gun-boat project was
communicated, it was laughed to scorn.
Its futility was elearly shown, and e
ven demonstrated. It was foretold
that the country would be put to vast
expence and for no valuable purposes,
that millions would be thrown away
upon one of the silliest of all projects.
—All this was disregarded; and we
pay dear for the whistle.
When Wilkinson was retained in
command, notwithstanding his notori
ously being concerned in Burr's con
spiracy ; warning remonstrances were
made upon that head: but they .were
unheeded.—The consequences have
been, disgrace to the military charac
ter and to the nation, immense waste
of money, and the miserable destruc
tion of more than a thousand brave
fellows, who, with proper care, might
have been alive and merry at this day.
They were left to suffer and perish ;
whilst their commander was making
his daily meat-offerings and drink-of
ferings, to the God he worships—his
own belly.
When Napoleon published his Ber
lin decree, it was considered by all
men of enlarged views and unprejudic
ed minds, as a contemptuous violation
of neutral rights, and as the precursor
of most serious evils to the American
commerce. And the President was
warmly urged to resistit. Had it been
resisted at first with proper spirit (weak
as France then was as to naval strength)
in all probability it would have been
repealed ; and, in that event, the Brit
ish orders would not have been issued.
Thus a train of horrible calamities to
our nation would have been prevented.
When the treaty, arranged by Mun
roe and Pinkney with the British
Ministry, was rejected, and rejected
too with contumely, by Mr. Jefferson,
who deigned not even to lay it before
the Senate; the impolicy of such
" procedure" was clearly shown. Had
that treaty been accepted (with certain
modifications, which unquestionably
might have been obtained; since the
British ministry at that time were of
the political sect most favourably dis
posed towards the United States)
we should have escaped immense
troubles and losses ; and the American
commerce might have been considera
bly prosperous up to the present day.
When the embargo was laid, its fol
ly was clearly pointed out, and its ru
inous consequences predicted. Itwas
'foretold that it would “ grind the faces
of the poor," and impoverish men of
property ; that it would deeply affect
the farmer and mechanic, as well as the
merchant and shipper; that it would
exhaust the treasury, destroy the means
of self defence, and distress the whole
counify. That, on the other hand it
would injure G. Britain, against which
it was aimed, ten times less than it would
hurt ourselves^ It has happened as
was foretold' .The dreadful effects of
the embargo will long, very long be
felt by our nation : perhaps foxmore
than twenty, or even thirty years to
come. In the meanwhile Britain and
some of her dependencies, throve
mightily under It. The lucrative car
rying trade which America had resign
ed, Britain engrossed : and her vessels
never had so full and so profitable
employment. And whilst our ports
were all shut, and were strietly guard
ed by gun boats, by swarms of naval
officers, and by an armed soldiery ; the
ports of Britain and of her colonies,
exhibited to view unusual bustle and
busmess. The value of exports from
Quebec, increased in two years (fatal
. Vol. I.]
THE CONSTITUTIONALIST.
AGAINST THE INSIDIOUS WILES OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE, THE JEALOUSY OF A FREE PEOPLE, OUGHT TO BE CONSTANTLY AWAKE„.^...Washington.
The recent advices from New-York
and other quarters have cast a damp
upon our hopes of a speedy and cor
dial adjustment of the differences which
have so long existed between us and
the government of the United States.
We are very far from apprehending a
war with America, but it is a painful
consideration, that the harmony of two
nations, which are linked together by
so many powerful affinities, and which
have so deep an interest in the mutual
prosperity of each other, should be for
a moment interrupted. All the pas
sions which led to that unhappy war
which ended in the dismemberment of
the colonies of North America from
the dominion of England, arc defunct
in this country, yet in America they
seen? but as the passions of yesterday.
Every thing in the mind of the Amer
ican Executive, speaks a jealousy, and
an apprehension of the power of this
country, which we are sure there are
no feelings here to justify. Nations,
like individuals, are often governed by
their passions: and the quarrel, or
rather the estrangement, which Amer
ica has with us, is more deducible
from private pique-—from an unde
finable resentment, and*an unavowed
jealousy, than any substantial and
legitimate subjects of complaint. To
the remonstrances and complaints of
America, the government of this coun
try, under successive administrations,
have turned an attentive and respectful
ear. Placed, from the nature of the
warfare in which we are engaged, un
der very extraordinary circumstances,
it may safely be affirmed, that Great
Britain has shown & mildness, and a
forbearance, and a lenity towards A
merica, acting suspiciously as she has
done, of which no example could be
produced. We have uniformly held
out to her the right hand of fellowship ;
years to us !) nearly three million dol
lars. This was bringing England up
on her marrow bones, as was pretend
ed by hair-brained politicians.—So
when the non-intercourse law passed,
it was fully shown that it would im
poverish and distress ourselves and
none else. >
We might go on, step by step, arid
show that almost every government
measure, for the last nine years, which
has been found from experience to be
deeply injurious to the country, was
seasonably and firmly opposed by fed
eral men, both in and out of congress ;
and the baneful consequences predicted
by them.
There has been a very remarkable
fulfilment of federal predictions. What
then ? Shall we call this a federal tri
umph ? "God forbid." Every good
man could wish that those predictions
had been falsified by subsequent events,
rather than that they should have been
verified, as they have been, in the woe
ful impoverishment and debasement of
our country. A triumph! No.
Would a co-proprietor in a fine ship
and rich cargo, himself a passenger in
the ship ; console himself with the re
flection, whilst the ship was stranding
on rocks, that he had told the cap
tain where the rocks lay, and had urg
ed him to steer a different course ? Nay,
would he triumph in an event, by
which he had lost his all; because the
event happened to accomplish his own
predictions!
The federalists have a deep stake in
the fate of their country. They know
jts present condition is extremely em
barrassed, debased and perilous. They
know also that they foresaw much of
what has actually happened ; and gave
fair and seasonable warnings ; Warnings
which, if duly heeded, might have pre
vented the evils. Butfar be it from a
single federalist who deserves the name,
that he should view the present dis
graceful state of our nation with any
kind of joy and exultation, or with
other sentiments than those of unfeign
ed sorrow.
In the mean time men of all parties
would do well seriouslyto consider the
the following sentiments of a sensible
political writer—not an American.
—" There are" (observes this writer)
" in every nation a number of persons
“ who love their country. Their
" voice in the beginning of troubles
" is not heard ; but this voice grows
'• louder and louder, and becomes up
" permest at last, or the state ie un
" done."
From the London Traveller, of
July 29.
AMERICAN POLITICS.
EXETER, (N.H.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1810.
and instead of pertinaciously adhering
to our own views of any question of
political discussion, which has arisen
between us, we have referred to those
of the American Government. In
private disputes, it may be laid down
as a fundamental maxim, that the man
who is most angry, is most in wrong;
and trying the dispute between our
government and that of America by
this test, it will be seen that England
has been patient of injuries and insults
almost beyond example, while Ameri
ca has been prodigal of anger beyond
all precedent. The war we wage is
for our existence, and therefore, if any
irregularities occur in it, they are to
be excused by the necessities ; but the
jealousy and alarm of the American
Government is called forth by no such
circumstance. We are their natural
ally. No dreams of conquest, or sub
jugation, enter our minds; but we
feel satisfied that whatever contributes
to their prosperity must be conducive
to ours. According to the comments
of the American State Paper, offence is
taken, that Mr. Jackson is not marked
with his Majesty's displeasure for the
part which he took in the negotiations
at Washington ; but no .case 'is made
out that Mrs. Jackson did not adhere
to the limits of his instructions, or that
in his communications with the Ameri
can Government, he exceeded the
bounds to which a diplomatist should
confine himself. We should have look
ed upon Mr. Jackson as a most injur
ed individual, had not his Majesty's
Government held over him the shield
of their protection, for when we re
member the temper with which he was
received in America, the disposition
which appeared in the public mind of
the United States to vilify and traduce
him, it would have been a sort of aid
ing and abetting, on the part of the
British Ministry, had they not espous
ed his cause, and at the same time that
they recalled him, exonerated him
from the stigma of a recall. The char
acter of England is gone when she per
mits injustice to be done to the mean
est of her sons, much less to one of her
public functionaries. How the dispute
between us and the U. States will end
it is impossible for us to foresee; but
it seems to us a sort of unnatural quar
rel, or rather antipathy, in which the
real interests of America have nothing
to do, but her passions, the ill blood
of a former war, no trace or hostile
recollection of which prevail here, pre
vail there, which urges her on to her
present measure. America boasts of
her freedom. Is England enslaved ?
Does England stand, at this hour, the
last stay of the old world against that
most deplorable of all tyrannies,.a mil
itary despotism? The very struggle in
which she is engaged, ought to be to
America a cause of forbearance. In
private life, what man of feeling would
urge upon another oppressed with dif
ficulties ? And in this crisis of the
civilized world, why should America
press upon us? Will she gain any ac
cession of liberty should the code of
Napoleon be adopted here? As far as
the liberty of man is concerned, Eng
land is one of the outposts of America.
And that America should for an in
stant entertain an hostile thought to
wards her, seems to us almost impossi
ble. Does America desire our destruc
tion ? We cannot believe it ; and we
feel we cannot better close the article
than by quoting the words of an emin
ent American writer lately cited* with
applause by Lord Ellenborough, which
though our readers may have seen be
fore, they will scarcely fail with pleas
ure to see again. After alluding to
the prejudices which prevail in Amer
ica against the British people, and in
which the writer ingeniously confesses
he participated until a more intimate
acquaintance with our virtues made
him sensible to our worth, he says,.
" It appears something not-less than
impious to desire the ruin of this peo
ple, when you view the height to
which they have carried the comforts,
the knowledge, and the virtue of our
species ; the extent and number of their
foundations of charity ; their skill in
the mechanics, by the improvement of
which alone they have conferred inesti
mable benefit on mankind; the mascu
line morality, the lofty sense of inde
pendence, the sober and rational piety
which is found in all classes; the im
partial, decorous, and able adminis
tration of & code of laws, than which
none more just and perfect has ever
been in operation ; their seminaries of
education, yielding more solid and
profitable instruction than any other
whatever ; their eminence in literature
and science, the urbanity and learning
of their privileged orders ; their delib
erative assemblies, illustrated by so
many profound statesmen and brilliant
orators. It is worse than ingratitude
in us not to sympathise with them in
their present struggle, when we recol
lect that it is from them we derive the
principal merit of our own characters,
the best of our institutions, the sources
of out 1 highest enjoyments, and the
right of freedom itself, which, if they
should be destroyed, will not long shed
its radiance over this country
'* Walsh. ,
From the Tickler.
TO THE DEMOCRATS
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
GENTLEMEN,
Suppose the mighty work ac
complished—the dearest wishes of your
hearts gratified, viz. the subjugation
of these United States TO THE
CONTROUL OF THE French Emperor
Napoleon. Do you think that with
your allegiance, you can transfer your
happiness or exalt it to a greater de.
gtee of perfection than it bears at
present ? Will your personsand prop
erty be more respected than they now
arc? Will you be honored with great
er privileges and distinctions? These
are plain questions, with the nature of
which you must certainly be well ac
quainted : or if not, it is time to un
deceive yourselves. It is time you un
derstood the nature and tendency of
that conduct, and that language which
results your own fate; whether you
shall continue the free citizens of a
virtuous republic, or become the vas
sals of an Imperial tyrant.
I challenge your answers in all or
any of these particulars, that you may
no longer impose on the public or
yourselves, under the pretext 'of gain
ing advantages, which are denied you b)
the government of our country !
If you are not prepared to answer
me, you may find in the language of
others, all the arguments you could
advance. You will find a thousand
corroborating testimonies in other na
tions, who, like you, courted an al
liance fraught with so many seeming
perfections, & endowed with so many
supposed advantages. Their language,
their sentiments, form an answer,
the truth of which is unquestionable.
They will tell you what they have
gained. That instead of advancing
their rights and privileges, they are
shamed and degraded. That so far
from enjoying the common rights of
men, in the quiel attainment and pos
session of property, they are perpetu
ally pillaged and plundered. That
in lieu of personal liberty, they are ex
iled from their country ; from the en
joyment of domestic repose; from
their families and friends, to fight the
battles and advance the tyranny and
usurpation of their profligate mas
ter ! That they have indeed exchanged
their government but they have lost
their liberty —that they have gained
nothing but promises, slavery, pover
ty and despair !
But does Napoleon flatter you with
better prospects, is he certainly actuat
ed by humane motives : by paternal
solicitude and affection to advance
your interests and enlarge your liber
ties ? And, do you therefore rely on
his promises ? Do you evince your
zeal for his services to ensure the com
pletion of his philanthrophic designs ?
Look at the faithful Spaniards, who
will answer for his premises and flat
teries, no less fair and specious. Like
you they believed and were undone !
But why do you covet the realiza
tion of those promises, in a country
that affords immediate and solid enjoy
ments ? Or do your refined tastes,
nauseate the simplicity of republican
virtue! Is your delicacy disgusted
with the unsavory honors of republi
can institutions ? Will you therefore
invoke Imperial interference to restore
your appetites? Do you languish on
the plain untiled privileges of your
native country- —and do you covet
the splendor of Imperial magnificence,
to give tone to republican relaxation ?
Why therefore do you pay implicit
homage to the Emperor Napoleon ?
Do you controvert his own declara
tions, expressed in the strongest terjns
of tyrannical imposition? Do you
dbubt the record of his actions from
under his own hand! and are you de
termined, in spite of every effort of bis
taught to rely for safety, appear least
of all concerned ; their imposing si
lence restrains the ardour of Americans
feelings ! They cry peace peace ,
when there is no alternative but war !
0 fatal delusion! When will my
countrymen awaken to a sense of their
danger and be prepared for the event.
Where is our national justice, has
that too fled with our honor? Has 2
been consigned to oblivion with our
other republican virtues ? Is that also
sacrificed to the proud qspirer! Yes ;
in rain do we seek it among the few
republican principles left us; and in
deed, when 1 consider the present stata
of the government, when i view if re
presented—not by the enlightened and
virtuous,but by the ignorant % amti- V
tious —men who have no claim to our
confidence, I cannot but deprecate the
principles of their elevation. The
consequence of that levelling principle,
a leading feature in all republics, afe
pears most conspicuous in those de
partments, created by popular vote,
which not unfrequently elevates the
most unworthy to offices of honor and
emolument! and when this is unhap— £
pily the case, unless when controuted!
in some degree by a wise and respecta
ble minority, alas for public and pri
vate, national and individual justice!
which, becoming subject to the caprice
to disgust and terrify you, to court his
sovereignty and favour ?
Have his Imperial decrees spokes
nothing ? Nothing in the method and
the manner ! —Nothing in the adoption
and execution.
Will you attempt to extenuate his
conduct, when he himself disdains to
answer it !—Would you reconcile the
contradictions of his profession and
practice? Do you believe his declara
tions and not also believe his actions?
Are you then determined, notwith
standing his conduct is so manifestly at
variance with his profession—notwith
standing the insults he has heaped up
on you—notwithstanding the man,
villanies he has practised against you
—notwithstanding the thousand rob^
beries and murders he.has committed
in relation to you! are you determin
ed I say, notwithstanding all these, to
bow your necks to his imperial yoke,
and kiss the hands that chain you to
his destiny ?
Good God ! and can these be A
mericans! Are these natives of this
happy clime, hitherto the abode of
honesty and virtue ! Alas how mean
—how disgusting is the servility you
practise to the Emperor Napoleon ;
who in return, scorns your humilia
tion, and disdains your proffered
friendship!
Where is the honor and spirit which
once pervaded the bosoms of your
fathers? Where has it fled, that their
sons should so soon forget the dig
nity of their ofyure, as to yield up their
liberty—tamely and servilely yield up
their liberty to the rapacity of the Im
perial tyrant ?
That honor which the conduct of
Washington stamped upon the A
mcrican character—that honor which
shone conspicuous in our revolution
ary struggle, and triumphed over the
machinations of our enemies, has been
expelled 'from its sanctuary, by the
dastardly principles of utopian usurpa
tions ! —That spirit which glowed in
the bosoms of our fathers, and which:
the example of a Washington wrought
to the perfection of the American
character—that noble spirit which led
us through the times that tried men's
souls, and established our indepen
dence among the nations of the earth,
has alas ! given place to the meanness
of despicable quietism, the philosophy
of modern politics !
When I consider what we have suf.
sered from the outrageous principles,
and conduct of foreign monarchies.
When I view those principles daily
practised against us, without the least
shadow of pretence or justification, E
feel as an American! a native of tha
outraged country! and cannot for
bear denouncing vengeance in her be
half, against the complicated villain,
which.assails her: Yet when I return
to second her efforts; when I wait
the motions of her patriots and states^
men; when I anticipate the thunder
of her ire, and prepared myself in her
defence—in vain do I seek that con
geniality of patriotic feeling which
pervades my own bosom! In vain do
I represent the danger of my country !
In vain I attempt to rouse the resent
ment of my countrymen! alas! for^
the degeneracy of American energy
and spirit. Those, in whom we ara
[No. 17.