The constitutionalist — Exeter, N.H., 1810-05-21 00:00:00, page 1

people be virtuous, every attempt
to sap the foundation or overthrow
this republic would operate like ce
ment to consolidate the force, and
unite the sentiments of the nation :
without this virtue, corruption, like
a disease in the human body, would
imperceptibly reach the seat of life
and putrefy the only sources of vig
or and strength ; without this vir
tue, like the republics of antiquity,
designing demagogues would hurl
from their seats the truly patriotic,
and substitute despotism for liber
ty. Hence the necessity that the
people should be ever vigilant, and
should constantly scrutinize the
conduct of their rulers ; for those
in power are forever prone to abuse
it; forever thirsting for despotic
sway : and when an attempt is made
F oil Our liberties it will doubtless
appear in that shape least of all sus
pected. Should any person strike
at our liberties with the same bold
ness and folly of Burr, when his ob
ject cannot be mistaken, doubtless
he will meet the same degraded
condition. Such bold and daring at
tempts cannot be made with any
possibility of success, for the voice
of the people will be clamorous a
gainst them. Not so was the man
agement of the great Napoleon ; at
first his whole heart and soul were
apparently engaged for the liberty
and happiness of the people : in ev
ery corner of France was echoed
liberty and equality, and eveiy spe
cies or appearance of royalty and
aristocracy was abolished; and
he became the idol of the French
nation. At this moment when they
were willing to confer some badge
of honour, instead of the admired
appellation of citizen Napoleon, he
was scarcely satisfied with the style
es First Consul, and thus he soon
paved the way for that of the Em
peror of the French nation. Noth
ing but a wild enthusiasm, can in
duce the great body of the people
tamely to wear the galling yoke of
despotism : in their acts and senti
ments their sole object and wishes
must be to promote and cherish the
liberty and happiness of the nation.
The great clashing of sentiments and
the bitter invective ofthe great body
of the people originate principally
in misinformation and delusion, not
from a wish to cause the destruction
,f their country. When politi
cal sectarians become enthusiastic,
suspecting their antagonists as ene
mies to the liberties of the country,
the fire is ^ys enkindled by de-
THE government of the United
States is the result of more wisdom
and talents and combines more lib
erty and energy than can be found
in the most celebrated and admired
of all nations in all ages. So long
as the legislative, the executive,
and the judicial departments re
main independent of each other and
are carried into operation with wis
dom, fidelity and integrity, so long
will the Americans enjoy a degree
of liberty unknown to the rest of
mankind, for it is a maxim never to
be forgotten, that the basis of a Re
publican government must be found
ed on the virtue of the people ; that
alone can give it stability and en
ergy ; notwithstanding foreign in
fluence and external enemies, if the
Vol. L]
Editor's Address.
THE CONSTITUTIONALIST.
AGAINST THE INSIDIOUS WILES OF FOREIGN INFLUENCE, THE JEALOUSY Os A FREE PEOPLE, OUGHT TO BE CONSTANTLY AWAKE Washington.
In the vehemence of party zeal
the people should not rest satisfied
with a taste of the honey without a
certainty that nosting remains con
cealed. Certainly the minds of the
people have never been more deep
ly interested in political concerns
than during the terrible convulsions
in Europe: the deadly poison like
a raging epidemic, not confined to
the continent of Europe, has been
wafted in the air across the Atlantic,
inhaled by the robust sons of. Amer
ica, & has produced a fever unusu
ally obstinate ; it not only makes in
roads in social happiness, but fre
quently violates domestic harmony.
It is a melancholy truth, that the
political partisans in this country
take their tone in a great degree
from the belligerents in Europe ;
not from a veneration of theit form
of government, but from the expec
tation, that they have a peculiar
friendship and parental affection for
our prosperity. Looking through
a clear medium with unprejudiced
minds, it is evident, that national
friendship is merely ideal, as short
lived as the bubble on the water,
which vanishes at the leastpuff of
air. Interest is the only induce
ment to national friendship: the
most solemn treaties are violated
when interest and policy demand
their infraction. It is then extreme
folly, that our political creed should
be warped by the apparent friend
ship or hatred, wisdom or folly of
foreign nations : if any power on
earth insult or injure this country
it ought to be the pride of every
patriot sternly to demand and at the
hazard of his life, to obtain just and
honorable reparation.
The editor of the “ The Constitu
tionalist” professes to be a true A
merican, not actuated by any for
eign hatred or partialities His
pole-star is the Constitution of the
United States : and may the arm
be severed from the body of him
who will ever attempt to violate its
purity. The editor is conidentthat
there is sufficient virtue and wisdom
in the people, if not contaminated
by foreign influence, to make this re
public forever remain a monument
of talents, wisdom and patriotism.
In managing this paper the edi
tor will studiously avoid publishing
any personal abuse or calumny;
but should ie receive any informa
tion which will tend to remove the
mask of designing demagogues,
he should esteem it an indispensible
duty to communicate the same, that
the people may avoid those hidden
rocks on which they are in danger
of being dashed to pieces. Viru
lent communications will not be in
serted, as it is the intention of the
editor to insert only those, which
are drawn in a spirit of moderation
and candor. He will endeavour to
give as clear, accurate, and dispas
sionate information of thepolitical
transactions of this country and of
the proceedings of foreign nations,
as can be obtained from the best
sources : and his object wilj be," to
persuade, not to irritate,to convince
and not to denounce" those who
signing demagogues, and the eye
of jealousy should be forever watch
ful to oppose the ravages of wolves
in sheeps clothing, lurking in the
very bosom of our country.
MON DAY, MAY 21, 1810.
The press has bfn thought the pal
ladium of liberty, nd, of course, not
to be violated. Id'eed, as a vehicle of
'information and ofiberal and candid
discussion, relative o public men and
public measures, it highly important,
and ought to be pr tected and encour
aged in all free states. But as a ve
hicle of falshood all calumny against
the government, an those who admin
ister it, or other pedons whatsoever, it
is so far from beig too sacred to be
touched, that it ou/ht to be execrated
by al! men as the t%h of sedition, and
the bane of freedom. That it is in it
self a serious evil, aid that it is an evil
peculiarly incident p free states, is ac
knowledged. Wheher it be suscepti
ble of a remedy, b andwhat that remedy
is, are important qustions, which have
been thought of diffi^lt solution. And
yet there is obviously no sort of con
nection between theproper use of the
press and its abuse :iNor is there any
more difficulty in dscriminating be
tween its proper ise and its abuse,
than there is between the proper use,
and abuse of the t<ngue. Like the
tongue it is an unruly evil, full of
deadly poison ; and pore extensively
than that, it sets on fee the course of
nature; it is the foca;point in which
is concentrated a mass of wickedness ;
it is the open sephulchre of depraved
hearts, sending up exhalations which
carry death with them wherever they
go. Is there no remedy for this evil ?
Will the suppression of this, oppress
liberty, like opening an imposthumc
near the seat of life ? If s^, liberty is
fated to die in its cradle. If it should
be said, that the evil is so violent, if
left to itself, it would work its own,
cure, I grant it; but the doubt is,
whether it would do this before it had
destroyed the freedom which tolerates
it. Experience shows, that it gives ex
tension and force to the ferocious pas
sions which at first engender it; among
the chief of these are envy and ambi
tion ; these will operate, as long as
the road to promotion, by slandering
those in office, lies open ; and this will
be the case, as long as there is a pre
disposition in many to listen, with
pleasure to calumnious charges against
them. The people may be brought to
feel most sensibly the bitter fruits of a
licentious press, they may be convinced
of their danger ; but they, whose o
pinions and passions have been inspir-,
ed and governed by it, will seldom or
never impute the calamities and dan
gers they experience to the proper
cause, but to the supposed baseness and
perfidy of those who have been calum
niated. Passion never reflects or reas
ons; it is always justified to itself; its
impulse is blind; during its empire
reason lies degraded; and there is no
remedy, but by removing the cause
which excites it. I have granted, that
the evil will work its own cure, or
more properly its own destruction ;
but, if left to itself, it will live as long
as the body politic lives, on which it
feeds ; and it will doubtless not long
survive it; the power which succeeds
will crush the monster which gave it
may not accord with him in politi
cal sentiments.
Great attention will be devoted
to miscellaneous intelligence both a
musing and instructive : especially
to information on agriculture: and
those, who wish to promote the
agricultural interest, will confer a
great favour on the editor by sup
plying The Constitutionalist with
communications on that subject.
LICENTIOUSNESS OF THE PRESS.
I HAVE observed, that a licentious
press is both the cause and the effect
of that vicious credulity which charac
terises the present period ; arid that it
is an engine of mischief, productive of
the most fatal effects to sopiety. So
far as it results from depraved manners
as its cause, a remedy must,be sought
in the correction of those manners :
and to obtain this, recourse must be
had to those means and institutions,
which have been Mentioned as indis
pensible in forming,nen for happiness
in the social state : But so far as it is
the cause of those banners, (which it
certainly is to an alarming degree,) it
seems proper to remove that cause, if
it can be done, bybeans more imme
diate and direct.
Extract.
birth. But if the observation be just,
that the evil, left to itself, will not
work its own cure until it has worked
the ruin of the government which tol
erates it, it is of immense moment to
seek and apply an effectual remedy be
fore it be too late. The change it has
so much contributed to produce in
the publick opinion, relative to the
administration of the general govern
ment, evinces the opinion embraced by
many worthy men, that the evil ought
to be treated with contempt and disre
gard, to be incorrect. A government
that will suffer itself to be traduced
and vilified with impunity, in the face
of the world, by any man who can
purchase a set of types, and set up a
printing press, and will take no effec
tual measures to vindicate its own hon
our, must be content to have none.
And when the government either can
not, or will not, assert its dignity and
the honour of the magistracy when
trampled upon, it can require no great
effort of its enemies to overturn it. The
clamour excited by the sedition act,
passed under the late administration,
was not calculated to convince, but
rather to confound ; the pretence, that
it was unconstitutional, urged with
such affected concern for the dear in
terests- of the United States, was a plain
insult on the common understandings
of the citizens; the alarm, however,
sounded on the occasion of passing it,
might have been expected from the
leaders of the opposition, considering
the ground on which they stood; in
the hands of the federalists it totally op
posed their views; misrepresentation
and falsehood were convenient for them
in bringing about the change proposed;
its effects were salutaryduring its op
eration ; and those might have been
much more extensive had not the clam
our against it prevented. Public opin
ion must be corrupted by calumny and
falsehood ; the ecclesiastic regulations
for the support of the public worship
of God must undergo a thorough change
or be repealed; the christian religion
must be left to shift for itself, without
the aid of government ; it must be
proved by actual experiment whether
Jesus Christ can support his own king
dom without the assistance of the civil
power ; the clergy must be degraded ;
their influence must be annihilated ;
their support must be withdrawn, ex
cept what may be afforded by volunta
ry associations; the laws relating to
religion and manners are to go into dis
use; and the government is to be ad
ministered by the avowed friends and
advocates of a visionary philosophy.
And all this is to be effected principal
ly by means of a licentious press. Will
it be said, that the principles of the
common law, if applied, would afford
an adequate remedy ? I admit it. But,
recourse to it will seldom be had, un
less the State Legislatures take the lead.
When the well-being, and even the very
being, of the community is at stake,
are not peculiar exertions necessary ?
A statute in affirmance of the common
law, or on the principles of the late se
dition act, seems to be necessary to
shew the sense of the states, and to
give support and energy to prosecu
tions. But public opinion, it may be
said, is against the Measure. This,
however, cannot be sufficiently known
without a trial ; but if this be true, it
is equally against prosecutions at the
common law. What remedy then re
mains ? If my remarks are just, this is
in effect to say our case is desperate.
Unless indeed some other remedy can
be pointed out which will be effectual.
Other measures may come in aid of the
one I have mentioned. Papers like
The Palladium, may be multiplied and
circulated, and they will do much good ;
but the difficulty is, none, whose pas
sions are enlisted on the other side,
will read them ; they will read papers
suited to their taste; the different sorts
of papers will move indifferent spheres;
the effect of each will be limited, and
the strife will be protracted; A refu
sal, also, on the part of federalists to
purchase and support papers hostile to
the ancient system, might further limit
their effect ; still, they will be read
and approved by multitudes, so Jong
as there are base and unhallowed pas
sions in human nature, to be gratified
by them. The State, then, must de
fend itself or it will not be defehded,
and this must be done by operation of
l^w. Palladium.
The French gun-boats stick so close
to their own shore, our sailors call
them r^ofco^ters.
London Paper.
France is, probably, the most pop
ulous of European states, if we except
the wandering tribes subject to Russia.
It is the only state in which the sword
is the only trade. Commerce has not
a single ship; arts and manufactures
&ri t in ruins and memory only ; cred
it is a spectre that haunts its burying
place ; justice has fallen on its sword;
and liberty, after being sold to Ish
maelites, is gripped of its bloody
garments to disguise its robbers. A
people, vain enough to be satisfied
with the natae of liberty, are called
free, and the fervours of its svirit^^^jll
roused to bindoth^mtytytfA
From all
^cal force of ■
force. There ■
parses that
It is impossiq
should be possessed
to employ them.U.
FRENCH INFLUENCE.
FRENCH influence has found, and
will long find, both motives and means
to distrufb and control the measures
of any honest and truly national gov
ernment ,in America.
Since Rome, no state has ever man:
ifested such exorbitant ambition as.
France, Whether this arises from the
nature of her power, which has ever
been military, or the extent of it,
which, for two centuries, has proved
an overmatch for any European state ;
whether two centuries spent in efforts
for aggrandizement have formed martial
habits, or whether the national char
acter be the cause rather than the effect
of those struggles, the fact is certain,
that France is of all modern states the
most military, intriguing, & ambitious.
Since the revolution, all traces of dv
ery other passion have disappeared, &
the sword is the only utensil to occupy
industry or to carve out its recoin
pense. With that, Frenchmen reap
where they have not sowed: by wav
ing that, they command the diamonds
of Brasil, and strip the churches of It
aly. Good fortune, scarcely less than
Roman, has kindled a passion for con
quest, and blown up a pride, which
the hostile force of the civilized world
Would not intimidate, the empire of
the world would not satisfy. The av
arice of a commercial nation calculates
its means and reckons up the value of
them; a conquering nation disdains
both gold and arithmetick, and com
putes the presumption and audacity of
its attempts, as surprises on its plod
ding neighbours, and as the resources
to ensure its triumphs. Behold
F rance, conducting her intrigues and
arraying her force between the artick.
circle -and the tropicks ; see her,in Rus
sia, the friend of despotism, preparing
to subvert the empire of the Turks; in
Ireland, the auxiliary of a bloody de
mocracy; in Spain and Italy, a papist;
in Egypt, a mussulman; in India, a
bramin; and at home, an atheist ;
countenancing despotism, monarchy,
democracy, religion of every sort, and
none at all, as suits the necessity of the
moment. It may be said, that it is
nothing to the people of France, wheth
er their armies win or lose a battle :
glory is not bread.
It is incredible to many, that a na
tion should perform labours and make
efforts of the most perilous and aston
ishing kind, merely for glory. Those,
however, who reason against the mili
tary passion as a chimera, arraign the
authority of history. What was it
to the Romans, that Mithridates, or
Tigranes, or Antiochus, or Perseus,
or Arsaces, did not respect the major
ity of the Roman people ? Surely that
did not affect the markets or amuse
ments of Rome. Yet never was there
an objection in the forum, never was
there any repugnance to the enrolment
of the legions for chastising the rebel
lious insolence of any king, who had
never heard of the Roman name, or
who did not tremble when he heard it.
Accordingly, the soldier citizens cheer
fully engaged to march across deserts
and mountains to the extremities of
the then known world, to assert the
glory of the Roman name, and to fix
the statue of the God Terminus as far
East as the shore of the Euphrates-
The sons of business, who do not feel
this spirit, will be slow to believe that
others feel it; but Frenchmen are an/
imated with as large a portion of it, as
the soldiers of Paulus Emilias, Lucul
lus, or Crassus-
EXTRACT FROM THE WORKS OF
FISHER AMES.