The Federal mirror — Concord, N.H., 1796-04-26 00:00:00, page 1

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[volume iv.]
LETTER
From Governor JAY to Mr. HARPER.
I keWyork, jam. 1796.
SIR,
A FRIEND of mine lately sent me
your addrefa to your conftitu
enti, relative to (he Treacy. I have
read it with great pleafore. I ob
serve in it the following paragraph,
VIZ#
66 Objedioni both personal and con
stitutional have been madeto Mr.Jafy
ft hn been laid to have been pre
possessed in favor of Britain and an
avowed eoemy to France. If thia
had been true it would have been fuf
ficient reason for rejecting him; but
it is not true. I can contradid: i:, &
do so on my own knowledge. 1
heard Mr. Jay exprefa in public, and
in private, and those who have been
much more and much longer acquaint
ed with him, assure me that he baa al
ways eipreffed the ucmoft pleasure in
the French Revolution, and the warm 4 |
est wifhei for it# fuccefi ; the greatest
dislike for the: former Government,
and Sentiments of the highest effeem
and refped for the nation."
I am much obliged to you, fir, for
thia vindication ; but it being Numma
ry apd in general, termi, and compre
hending only one of the pointi, I
think it best in order to obviate all{
) dfher future queftipat, to Rite panic-1
: ularJy my fenument# relative to them ;
both.
It has, for obvious reasons, been
judged convenient, to reprelent me as
being strongly attached lo the iour
eftsof Britain, and ai being equally
hostile to thofebf France. Before I
take notice of^ither, I will premise
that as it is my duty, so it is my in
clination and resolution never to tea
parazan of any foreign court or na
tion ; but to sand$ and remain with ihofe
independent and genuine American,
&ho think it unwise and improper to
meddle iff any foreign polirickwand
who. regard all foreign interferences
in our councils, as derogatory to the
honor and dangerous tty the best in
terests of the United States.
fyfo being of British defcehe, kean
,not be influenced by that delicacy to
wards their .national eharadtr, nor that
partiality for it which might other
wise be fappefahOQt to be unnatural,
freverthelefo tootle to concur in
I „d to; exptefuthofe sentiments of es?
teem for that nauonfrhich ^eit
preflfed, and I belteve With great fij
cerity, in the early Journals of Cotte
graft. It is not from the charaders
of this or that administration, Or pre
vailing part, inihe Government, that
the charader of a nation is to be io
ferred. A true judgment of it can
no otherwise be formed, than by ob
serving the general tenor of their dif
pofcions and CQodo&pieWed under
all their circomftances, and in all their
relations during a long course of
,/It certainly is chiefly owingro ifr{
/ ftkotions, laws and principled of pol
icy and Governmeat, original,.%,
^ rived to ui,&^^
with the favor of Heaven, thepeopl^
' r ß@cpukfy are.wbat they *^s^
^^ Notmthftandtog the ^tendency
particularly the long reign of Such a
monarch as Louis the fifteenth, have
to debase and corrupt their fubjedi,
the people of France continued to be
highly diftinguift^d by thei,r talents,
and by their progref, in the arts both
;of peace and war. It is true that I
returned from that country co this,
with opinions unfavorable to their
court, but not only without a wish
j unfriendly to them, but on the con
lof good will &
; regard. That I have from early life,
expressed Strong diflke to the former
;arbitrary; Government of France is
well known : the more I became ac
quainted with if, the more it appear
ed to me to be a government always
dreadful in theory, and always more
ior left so in practice, according to the
charaae^ of those by whom its pow
ers were exercised.
In the revolution which puta peri
od to it, I did cordially rejoice, I
j mean the one which limitedihe pow
er of the King, and re stored liberty
, to the people. The patriotic affem
:bly which concerted and accomplish
ed that revolution, and the people &
army who concurred in and tupport
ed it, did themfelyes immortal hon
or ; and impressed me (although my
judgment did not accord with their
I ads) with great refpeft and esteem
} for them; and with the warmest
1 wiffies for the ultimate success and
Iperfeaion of the constitution and
government which they eaabliffied.
The iucceffm of that memorable
assembly produced another revolu
tion.—They abolished the conftitu
tioiland government which had just
been eftabl Shed, and brought the
King to the fcaffbldc ^L(
This revolution did not give me
pleafore. I derived no famfaaion
from the difaftroui fate ofa Prince,
who (from whatever motives) had
done us essential Service; and to
whom we have frequently presented
the ftrorigeft sffurances of our attach
tgenr andaffedion. This revolution
h.:d in my eye, more the appearance
of a woe. than of tbteffing. It has
caused torrents both of blood and
star% sad belo marked io^ progress
'by attrocities very irjuriot^te the
!caufe of liberty, and ofofive to:
morality and humanity. .But this 1
revolution having abolished the mon-;
archy, declared France a rtpubic, &,
received the general concur, ce of
;tbloiuQn:^^
indispensable ; 00%fe^ this
revolution fhculd be overthrown by
the combined > powers, they souid
doubttels didate what that conftiru
cion Should be, (an interference not
to be Submitted to) I wished success
to the revolution, so far as it had for
its objeft, hot the disorganizing and
managing of other flares which ought
neither to be attempted nor permit
ted, but the exclusive ordering of all
internal affairs, and the establishment
of any constitution which the nation
Should ft&feti gives me pteafure
fto find <ha< one has been so establish
ed ; and i finceiely wish it may be
^ke meant of giving permanent peace,
liberty and good government to
mto the ilfoe of.the.w, a.
BY RUSSELL AUD DAVIS, CONCORD, NEWHAMPSHIRE.
CONCORD, TUESDAY, April 26, 1796.
far from defining that France, Britain
or Germany, or any other power
Should acquire a decided preponde
rancy in Europe. In my opinion, it
would conduce more to the welfare
and peace of those nations, and also
of the United States, that they
should remain in capacity to limit &
repress the ambition.of each other.
I will conclude this letter with an
extrafl from oAe which I wrote to the
Secretary of State, dated at London
on the 2ift November 1794, viz.
" I daily become more and more
convinced of the general friendly dis
position of this country towards
ours—Let us cherish it — Let us cul
tivate friendfhip with all nations. By
treating them all with justice and
kindness, and by preferring that felf
refpea which forbids our yielding to
the influence or policy of any of
them, we shall with divine blessing
secure peace, union and refpe^abih-
I have the honor to be,
with sentiments of
esteem and regard,
JOHN JAY.
Robert Goodloe Harper, Esq.
"""==""===""^^
THE SHAKERS DEFENDED.
• FROM THE WESTERN STAR.
w:< .A LOVER OF TRUTH—NO. 111.
/"''ALVIN, after Bating the
negle& of precept er ex
ample to the Shaker youth, a
bout their religious duties, fays,
" on the contrary, the common
rank of their church are fleadily
qt work on week days ;"---(mind,
not on Sundays.) It is to be
wished, for the good of society,
that the commo7i,and uncommon
rank too, of every other denom
ination of Christians, would fol
low an example so laudible. ,9
lessen this tribute due to the in
dustry of the Shakers, Calvin
asserts, (and I believe, without a
blush,) that " the young Shak
eis are allowed no religious
books, ty&i they are excluded
'of late years from going to their
Imeeting house : but in order to
stimulate them to induftry/hey
are taught to excel the worlds'
people in their works as much
as in(heirfaith; for (faythey)
faith without worksis dead."
To fhewthe aptness of this wri
ter to explain, he goes on,
" which faith is understood to be
a confidence in Qieir ©,hief; aqd;
by these works we are to under
stand their manual labour."
Here, then is a direct, unqualifi
ed proof that the Shakers labour,
through the influence of their
Elders, on week days, and implL :
ed evidence that they rest on
Sunday%lf Calvinv is at war
with the Shakers about this prac
tice, he is certainly much at va
riance with that very high au.]
M 2/
thoritv which dire& us to labor
fix days in a week, and devote
one day in seven to rest. If
Calvin means by religions books,
Tom. Paine's he of Reason, or w
Ethan Allen's Oracles of Reason,
or any other deiftieal book, hets
perfectly tight, for the Shakers
abhor and detest both deism and
atheism : but if he mean< bva
religious book, the holy Bible, he
is either milled by hlfe inform
ation, or he has wilfully or care
lessly asserted an untruth. la
ver that there is scarcely a single
family among the Shakers, ei
ther at Newlebanon or Han
cock, but what have both the
old and new testament. To
give colour to his egregious mis
representation, it is asserted by
this fame Calvin," nor may they
of late years go to their meet
ing hotfe." The truth is, the,
society of the Shakers at New^
lebanon have out- grown the fizc
of their house of worship ; and
to accommodate those families
who live at a distance, the heads
of families near the meeting
house remain at home on Sun
days, and there perform relig
ious worship. In another place
our author fays, " these young
labourers have hardly ^ any op=
portunity for learning; they've .
been deprived many years of al- ,
most or quite every other print
but the Almanac ; the Biblews
prohibited," &6 If it is possible
for well disposed people, of oth
er persuasions, to be so credu
lous as to believe those loose cal
umnies, they may be undeceiv
ed by examining for them
selves—A lover of truth is au
thorifed^ to publiih, that the
Shaker schools, their dwelling
^houfes, &c, will be open to de
cent people of all ferfuafions,
who may have a dilpofitian to
be informed.=The Shakers are
aware of secret combinations to
defame them, and therefore are
willing to Submit to have the
prosperous state of their society
scrutinized. And here I would
jadvife the verbose Calvin to ex
amine for himfelf, if he, has
made his loose assertions on hear
say.----Calvin's publication will
be further noticed in my next;
number.^
* By mere accident the hand writing (wrote
before Calvin's produaiote appeared in pub-^
lie) of several young Shakers have fallen in
to my hands, and are left with the Editor of
the Weftern Star, to be (hewn to those who
,ifhjo know whether this part of the copi
ous abuse of the Shakers is ill or well found.
N-frf number we have not
received ; it will be published
in the Mirror, when we obtain
I a copy.
' ^%,^
— — — —•-—~t± ==tZHZZ^^~ —^—== CTt '= o ^
[number 183.]