Gazette of the United States, & Philadelphia daily advertiser. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1799-03-04 00:00:00, page 2

HAVING triumphed over every obstacle
that opposed me, and established myfelf com- .
pletely in all tbofe points, to which, in the j
prefeht dirfeftion, my ambition could aspire, j
—it remains at last that I get the mastery
over myfdf, and lay aljde those ideas, new J
become romantic, under which I have felt
inspirited to drag a cumbrous load so hard
up hill.
When lowering ikies, and a rumbling j
earth,indicating the approach of Tome general
convullion, produce no other effeft, than to
encreafethe general indifference and liftlefT
nef3,—it is too late to pour forth ex
hortations, and useless to adinonifh men of
the i (^danger.
That such are the indications which our
political system presents, appears too pain
fully clear, irom the following views
i. The imbecility of our frame of govern
ment.
; a. The general depravation of morals.
j. The influence of newspapers and dearth
of literatare.
4. The absence of national charatter and
public spirit.
The strange interregnum which fuccceded
the revolution, which lasted for fix years,
was then so relu£tantly relinquished, ahd
continues to this hour to be so obstinately
chcriihsd in the imaginations of no contemp
tible number of men, was a strong evidence of
innate weaknel's. Whatever bravery, what
ever firmnefs and magnanimity may be al
lowed to have been exhibited by the people
at large, and whatever attributes of profound
wisdom or flcill in the science of government
may have (hone in the breafb of a few, the
long endurance of this frail and miserable
Hate, proved our deficiency in the mod im
portant attributes of an independent nation.
But the consequences of this ftaJe of tor
por, were yet more lamentable than the eaufe.
Inadequate to the organization of a regu
lar government, the trance into which we
fell, incapacitated the country more and more
from ever doing it: left a moi"bid mass, our
inactivity tended to corruption, and every
day's continuance of it added some thing to
the impoflibility of animating this (late, into
life.
Hence it resulted that when at length a
form of government wis framed, it was a
system of fhifts and expedients, a mere ex
periment. What it ought to have been,—
what it might have been, are points on which
I have not the vanity to think my opinion
of the lea ft importance ; I can surely speak
of it us it appears to me, without incurring f|
any just reproach ; and the more so, as the
evidence s stand on record of that alacrity and g
conflancy with which I devoted whatever {
gifts God and nature blessed me with, to
maintaining it as found it. ...
I bavc'aWSys locked' Upon this govern'., *
went in the light in which it appears to have
bee-n viewed by Genera! Walhington and j.
the Convention* who framed it—*a mere j
substitute for a better : A decisive evidence f
that this idea is correct, exists in the novel,
extraordinary and dangerous incorporation
into the Constitution of a provision for its _
alteration. From such a provision, no ra- c
tional being can now expeft favorable eon- j
sequences : Experience has damped every ;
such hope. Whilst it has, by turns, been j
on every fide admitted that the reins of go- f
vornment art too lax, and that its provihons j
are wholly inefficient for emer- ,
geticies, the tendency oi every amendments ]
has been, to contract its means and impair (
its wholesome energies. Poor indeed must
, be that system, which by labored provisions
* fences round the smaller funftions of ad
ministration, which even the mod cjmmon
foiefiglit is adequate to, and fottilhly leaves
to the hazard of contingencies al! those raofl
essential points on which its own duration
and the fortune of the country depends. A
system eretted on falfe calculation?, is more
unliable than a house erefted on a quicksand.
That the Cor.ftitution was bottomed on and
calculated only for peace, fufficiently appears
from the absolute incapacity for war which
we now find in it. That it was calculated
for a higher date of virtue and refinement,
than exists, or ever will exist, is plain
from its inadequacy to the punishment of a
traitor. Treason being thus a crime unpro
vided for, is impliedly countenanced, or at
lead considered a venial fin. Hence traitors
niuft abound
■' As thick as leaves that strew th« brooks
«' In Va" Ombrofa."
.L ■
PHILADELPHIA ,
MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 4.
-V
A
Circumstances may be imagined, under
which the common intercourse of society
might be maintained without the interfer
ence of any government whatever, and cir
cumstances will always occur, and sometimes
for a while continue, to which feeble re
straints and the most trivial provisions are
adequate ; but discontents may rile, paflion
be excited, infurre&ion fomented and anar
ehyenfue : are they to be oppofrd by the
fame barriers ? The mound which intervenes
the overflowing of a vernal rivulet, would
never in wisdom be relied on, to resist au
tumnal torrents, or the rage of winter. The
cobweb that enmeftes the fly, fervesonlyto
enflame the more boisterous comer with new
rag^-
Amongst the more monstrous evils of the
present political system, may be ranked the
jangling and of federal and
state governments, which I can compare to
nothing more nearly than an old sow with a
farrow of pigs, who have so strengthened
srnd encreafed on the nounfhment {he has af
forded them, as to be able U insult her au
thority and resist her controul.
These imperia in imperio are ref
peft dead weights upon the general (rpvern-
» Set their letter, which bas always firm
td an appendage to the constitution.
"* t See the Amendments.
t&asettt.
meat: the b»i.-en of local politics which they
iniufeinto it, contaminates the wfyolr, and
will forever exhibit it a rudis indigestaque
molts. Each of them difiimilar tQ every
other,* (the / four New-England States
excepted) they exist the feeds of con
tention and confufion : a vicious governor
her to swallow them.
The militating principles of the different
sovereignties, the (hocking circumftmce ot
power over liberty, property and life, not
being nationally vested, will present to us,
the rnif'-'rable co-existence of the grcateft ty
ranny and the greatest licentiousness—their
indepsndence will convert each into a petty
theatre for thedifplayof seditious ambition,
and this ambition will aspire to aggrandize
ment by fortifying the suspicions, jealousies
and envies, which it will befoeafy to create
and fofter, and of which such abundant feeds
are already sown to its hands. Even in our
best this jealnufy hath been promi'
nent, and the parts of the Union, justly deem
ed the soundest in all other refpefts, are not
amongftthofeleaftinfe£>ed with it. In (hort
it is innoculated into every vein and fibre of
the system—it has poifened our very heart's
blood, and mult produce its final stagnation.
These certain feeds of endless jars, are
however quite of an innoxious nature, in
companion, and while we confine our view
Other traits of their chanftcr and confe
rences will swell the indignant page of the
historian, or dye the charafter of the country
in-the very dregs of injustice, oppreflion and
murder.
It is of little consequence that ever so
great licence be allowed the citiren, by the
Federal Constitution, if under the State
Constitution, he may be imprisoned at the
arbitrary will of a base judge, or threatened,
It is a poor consolation to the wretched fuf
ferer, tnat he can boast of being the fubjeA
of a Constitution, which gives him liberty,
while it is totally .inadequate to the pro
tettion of cither .his person or his property.
Such a state of things is insult, is mockery
—it is the very analylis of cruelty and tor
ture. Security of person and property is the
fundamental principle of good government :
where this state is not perfeft, to t hear men
ae no such thing—it is an abiurd attempt to :
iffociate ideas wholly incongruous.
Mankind may be for a time misled by
shadows, in the fcmblance of fubfbn
:es ; the very wisest often are so : hut
though the inflated bubble of folly way float
"or a while on the furiace, they mull recur
- principles whereby to govern their anions.
.mer of later, every man will as. himfelf
f In t>.e right of inserting a paltry piece of
paper into the balhot-boxes once or 'wic<? i
-ear,. which in nine cases out of an, I «ind
I to U a mere nullity, L behold bot adcfpicable
I fubftitutefor that security andre'pofe, which
I I (hall in vain look for to the exercifeofmy
law, or effeft its feceflion from the
Union. Endless jealousies wijl arise, endJefs
jealousies have arisen, of the paramount
power of the federation over a member of
I the league, and the former will be regarded
| as a Leviathan, whose natural inftinft leads
and his vicious faction may at any: time
marshal their state in infurre&ion against a
o
Complete security of ptrfon and property
having been immovably eftablilhed, as much
proper liberty as can be ingrafted on the
eftabliftiment, may then be well enough—
But it must.be an after business. Never did
man proposing to make a new enclosure for
his animals, firft prostrate the old onp to the
ground. Never wTTV man be brought wil
lingly from licence to restraint. But this
with all other principles that are not bad, are
reversed, and liberty, nominal liberty, a
cloud, a vapour, a breath, a vision, a phan
; torn, a whim, exists a magnificent nothing
in the ftcadof security and peace : At this
moment inde«d, it .has given way to a more
absurd and unmeaning fubftitutfe, Republi
ism ; but this is only ascending a half-note
higher in the gamut of nonsense.
A more important result of this state of
things, may be viewed in the courts of justice.
There a're in the United States, judges
enough (and judges too, with power over
life and death) to form a little army—there is
a national court, a demi-national court, and
that of the States, which again is branched
out into innumerable subdivisions, and it has
been no rare thing to fee them in a scram
ble for the viilim. To the want of an effi
cient national couit of justice, it is to be
attributed that the country is overrun With'
knots of petty tyrants
Who, dreft in a little brief authority,
Play such fantaftic tricks befpre high heave"
As make e'en angels weep.
Withgroupes of pick-pockets, bank-robbers
and hen-pecked dotards, who make a jest of
their holy fun&ions, and with more than
gallic indifference, sport with liberty,proper
ty and life.
Thus where a man might escape in the ab
ftra,ft, he is cut up in detail ; and his thral
dom under the state administrations, con
tinually at loggerheads with his nominal li
berty under the federal government, places
him in a situation not to be endured. Could
thtre, indeed, be united in the fame corpo
real frame two opposite and jarring natures ;
I could a man'slove of liberty, and his toler
ance of tyranny, like Castor and Pollux,
live and die by turns, then, 'twere quite
another cafe. But the age of miracles is
gone ; the powerful and pieafing fyflem of
mythology has departed, and no substitute
for either remains at a time when they are
more needed than ever. To the want of
such a court is it owing that party and poli
tics have long watched at the vestibule and
at length entered the temple of justice.
Federal judges, Federal juries, a Democratic
judere, Democratic juries, are common terms.
Justice, frightened at the unholy founds,
has fled to heaven, and faftion riots even in
the fanftum fan&cium.
So frail a substance. so insubstantial auef
fencc, can Inn by fnfiirance : to is-.an
* See bnutU's view of tb» Constitutions.
ever-vibrating ptfndulunv—a beats, now tie- out *<may ; U r,er,.r.elrne, to. t v
vatedby the VowSrdice and of good oi .::;;,' ,n an absurd ftriie
enemies, now dcpr<ffcd by tie weaknefsand doe, not entitle to'the merit o. e.ven ha
inconstancy of ttUds. Accident^ias tatteredHtttfcwe/™,, wh.ch need.nptap
prolonged its duration : accident .my-yet pMft to such a cafe, to reader us profti
prolong.it. But Jt should be remembered, tution complete. -
that it is equally liable to be fhftth down by The mnumerable lopndms jn
accident, as by afctident to be prcieried. It ousdogmas, VJ. wic you i le
was an accidental government from tlie out- "ms, trut ,an e%tr > Ul, ' in '- 1 ' '
let; good governments are formed on usage been (o tormi a 5, a ai c. , pK <
and experience. ' P roi F« the more a arming when we refW
Thk vacuum which is difcemible to a that they figure not. lets confp.cuoufly among!
greater or lesser extent in all parts of our the cauies, than the effects oj thole paw,tu
country, in the place of those religious and dilorderf, which have fta.ned Vifc (Wperl*
moral inflitutions, which in well ordered go- tive and indelible reproach, the name,Wm:
vernmcnts, so powerfully subserve the gene- and charter of republican government
ral gbod, cannot- but (hock every man who Every system of law morals and politics
has sense to diibern, and, discerning, has a every emanation of reason, every relult o;
heart to feci Icn S anJ anxloUS experiment, every elt.il>
The moral ioftitutioirt of a count.y have a lilhtnent of wisdom, every attribute of virtue
"ar more important afped on its condud and has, at one time or other, been the prOßil
!h»r>fter, than the wiM political lyftems, nent objed of aflault to a thouiandpo.fon
,r tHe founded penal codes. In no Chr.ftian breathing Hydras, Gorgons and Chimera
ountry but our own, (and the term must dire. Against even the m.nuteft institutes o!
:c soon very much enlarged, to embrace us) human prudence, foph.fms the most bate, anc
ire moral institutions wholly disregarded. relies the most damnable, have fwarmec
Even France, that vast grave of religion, like the locusts or the hce of Egypt, or a
loafts at leall of moral theory in hereon- Horde of French sansculottes at a inafWre
the untiring perleverance, the incalculablt
' Where ministers andpriefts hold that in- zeal and fury, and that demoniac industry
hertbin singular learning entitles them' to, ft'" uncounted, have gained them an afcen
ind where men, yet remaining in happy ig- dancy, which, in Ids cnhgbnned ages no
lorance of TnaSw of thebeaftly propenlities of the lacerating scalpel and the boiling ladle
heir nature,-are consequently too un-.1/u- the nerve-rending pincen, nor the agonizing
ninattd to reft ft or despise it,—tyranny rack, nor the Bull oi Phalans, nor the Bee
;an never come; and where the sacred pale of of Procrustes, nor the wheel of Ixion, no:
the church is guarded by national prov.fions, the more hellilh intervention oi flow-con
•rom the inroads of infidelity, profligacy, fuming fires, could, after three centuries
ind fchifm,it reciprocates that protedion and experiment, aspire to.
tomfort which it receives, and returns good Ihe peculiar prot<g<s of republics, the;
fold. r ' es cont rast and hostility, to every othe
But when a herd of stock-jobbing priests, principle, frntiment, and system.
have intruded themselves into the temples of It lS this arena that has been feledtd, so
the' Most High, and the sacred fanes of his the exhibition of their gladiatorian exercises
religion are polluted by hypocrisy and ava- and here, has the relult of their exhibition:
rice; when insolent pretenders wrap them- decided a point so long contested of old—tin
ielves up in facerdptal vestments, only to superiority of the Rctiarii, over every an
lim more securely their insidious attacks up- tagonift : it is this floor that it has beencho
jn the faith; then surely the whole orderi f«> »» a particular manner to crowd witl
say be convened into a course, and its ex- forms obfceM and fights unholy : it is here
ftencc cease to be desirable. these vile priests have delighted to fulminati
This vacuum might, however, be fuppli- the lewd visions of the Academics and tin
rd, by the powerful influence of the press ; daring blasphemies of the Tub : it is hen
jut here, too, all is hopeless : a more potent they have travailed to put down all deccne;
:ngine to theieftrudion of this government and to exalt all indecency—to reverie al
ind country, does not exist. Ido not ad- good under the foot of evil—to abolif)
/anco a hastily formed opinion, when I mind, and substitute passion ; to cont'ouni
i(lfrt that newspapers are in the abftrad sense—and enthrone brazen folly,
imongft the gretteft curies that can be The l'ucccfs of this formidablepropaganda
/ifited upon a country. This opinion I w '" have reared a hidjous and shapeless im
it any fit time and place ; but shall pass ' misery and tears, the head of which, mori
t by here, to dwell particularly on the pecu- i sublime than the Great Angel of Mahomet
iar character of the American Press, the te- will frown dil'may through endless ages anc
lor of its coiidud, and the malign afped , innumerable world*.
lpon society and government. , The new (papers of America are admirably
More than nine tenths of the scanty lite- calculated to keep the country in a continued
■atureof America, is made up of newspaper ltate of infurredion and revolution. And it
■eading ; this powerful fad, one would ima- ever again tcttles into quietude, it,
jine, Ihould induce i severe attention to the will not be till their influence is counter
lature of thit fule medium of inftrudion and ade. 1 . . Iht ultipnate tendency of their la
nformatior—inftead of which it is left en- bours, in their now general diredion, ap
.irely at iooie, in full abandonment to aK its per.rs in chara Aers as ftrcng and clear
lnnatifraPperverfrnels and turpitude. The as they are formidable and alarming.
crvile and venal publications, that ever pol- preservative ; but I cannot concede the pro
uted the fountains of I'ociety—their editors P r ' et y of requiring fomc qualifications and
he most ignorant, mercenary, and vulgar pledges from men on whom the nation dc-
lUtomatons c ever were moved by the
continually rutting wires i-f fordid mercan
tile avarice. The instruments are worthy of
the agents. The ignorance of both is so
consummate, that they un.vittingly travail
to rautuil deftruftirin. So complete a fpettacle
of depravity is rare to be seen : in the jnoft
tenebrous state Qf literature, forne few Satur
nine traits have (hone,and (hone the brighter,
for the gloom which surrounded them, "like
a good deed in a naughty world." The illu-.
mination of even a lew scattered stars, how
ever rarely shining, is a vast alleviatiofi of the
evils of night, if considered only as mirks to
diraft the wiry ; for although thousands are
led away into theendlefs mazes of a devious
career,by the immemorable ignes fatui which
surround them, yet the few that are saved dy
their true lights have lived to latest times to
bless them.
Such is the chara&er of the American
Press; td exemplify, were fuperfluous ; iince
it is seen, felt, and confefTed by the soundest
wisdom and coolest judgment of the country.
The conduft is worthy of the chara&er:
Already has it effected the total subversion
of every principle of distributive justice. To
fatyrize folly, to unmade the covenanted foe
of the public >freal—m the manly garb of con
scious integrity, to step forth the undaunted
champion of virtue, and to stab offenfive
vice,, even in the habiliments of a vestal, is
distorted into *' personality" and « abuse of
private thm&er."
If the i >. ependence of America is not to
pfi awa the indiftinguifhablc ephemeron
ol rcvoluli »nary folly, it may perhaps one
day tse made a question whether every igno
rant impostor that comes along, is to be allow
ed unad -ifc dly to exalt hinifelf into this auk
wark eminence, and utter undisturbed his re
iterations of dttllnefs, prejudice and malice ;
whether men, without lufficient capacity
to diflinguilh between right and wrong, are
to be allowed : ' ufurpiag an high and re
sponsible situation, to fcuter the rao(l vene
mous flanders and lies, vnchecked by any su
pervision or restraint. Btit the diieale has
become chronical—.it admits not ~>f remedy
from amputation—nor can even the knife or
the cauflic now eradicate it.
Its influence upon the morll world i» as
much more fatal than the I,loft baleful bogs,
fens and morasses upon the natural, as the
fubjeft is more exalted. It is s solid mass
of corruption, which Ipreads and is fp tading
whithersoever mifchief yet remain- to be i
'done.
he degenerating influence of servile, aad
nercenary Gazettes, andthedefolatiog force
ias grown an evil, politically, greater than
.11, inal'much as it daily threatens the i'ub
erlion of the whole system : this is, the per
eifl noi:-entity of national charader.
Perhaps there i« not on record a lingle in
lancc of a nation maintaining its indepen
lence diicernibly diftiua, under such cir
•jir.ftanccs, for even the ihort term during
vhich the American government has been in
jperation. Love of country is the fountain
>f national life, and the germ of every vir
ue ; where it is not, is the Toil to engender
very malicious propensity, and man bound
o a fcenc where he cannot entertain this ex
lilirating principle of life, is more to be com
niferated, than the Have that is chained to
he laboring oar, or the miserable fubiea of
rrenclvdefpotifin.
Where this spirit is wanting, no efficient
wrncr can ever be ere died again!* the inroads
)t decay.
When this sentiment lives not, and lives
lot in unlimited energy, the humblest exist.
:nce partakes of misery, and life itlelf is
oathfome. When men can no longer dwell
with pleasure and with pride on the character
it their country, when they can no longer
ook on it as an august image to which their
:ver-recurnng imaginations can never recur
n vain, far a source of conization in every
:xtremity ; when they cannot in the loudest
•ones of exultation and joy, proclaim its
glories, and its spotless renown, its unful
e honor, its bravery, its magnanimity, its
I {peak this from observation ; ant'. .de Hen, iVfs °° l ' S -n
£ thought it of anv effeft to oppose, by or-ITor. Dually fly pursuit. • ' W
dinar)" means, I trufl I not been 'a-.
or tame. But the wind lias blown, the . j ,n . cvcr y"tuation lie cm be placed
has beat, and the flood is rolling on. *V I- " lon,e point to pride him
."OwUng.ofthewipd might be lightly • •" ,onie Um P ol ' ; 1 obj„>a of adora
ed, a&dttejfonubat wndthe hea j , Uon * , Hls country is the nobleftand fitteft :
j but- where th« is degraded™ his eye., and
p<- lor all the information and much of
the inftruftion it receives. To wall-regula
tcd Colleges we naturally look, for a fourcc
whence such qualifications might in proper
form be derived ; but even this ground, is
110 better than a dreary waste, not barren,
but uncultivated—in its best estate, it bears
the semblance of a -worn-out field, the fen
ces decayed or broken down, and the traces
of ufeful and labo-iou* induilry almost effac
ed. The science of this country confifhfor
the nod part of frigid poetical imitations,
or the duller dreams of a lunatic philosophy,
which palties current as profound, merely be
cause it is laboriously obfeure. American
literature wears the gloom of the dark ages ;
and novels and dreams, like the mills of even
ing, have overshadowed l'enfc, genius and
taste.
| Out of the frailties of o
funk in avarice and cowardice, he •„
from ,t .« difeuft and hi , affca . oi;s n -
on some other. What cxifted of this tJ
amcnsft indignant againfl the dea£
insults of France. Its .nftinftive im pulse 2
adequate to dec.de the point that JrefeJS
itfel£, and on a quefhoft of honor and fhai e
it disdained to dehberate. Then blufhedl:
dawn of morning on the tameof America Z
radiance of noon was hastening on , anTtJ
young fpjkndoM of her name, promised f *
in a brilliant glory to irradiate her head
but the tair profped, is difTipated, like a «
pourv illusion, and dim clouds darken tK
declining fun.
« What is patriotism ? h it a narrow as
feftionfor the spot where a man was born >
Are the very clods where we tread entitle
tol this ardent preference hecaufe thev
greener ? No ; this is not th chJaclS
of the virtue, and it soars higher for its ob ,<-<■/
It is an extended felf-love, mingling S
all the enjoyments of life and twifti™ lt J}
with the mmuteft filaments of the hea I
It is thus we obey the laws of focietv bZ
cause they are the laws of virtue. In' t h
authority we fee, not the array of forte and
terror, but the venerable image of our coun
try's honor. Every good citizen make, that'
honor his own, and cherishes it not onl v a.-
precious, but as sacred. He is willm'r t *
rifkhis life in its defence, and is conlW
that he gains protection while he gi - j.-
For what rights of a citizen will be denned
igviolable when a Hate renounce* the print!
pies that constitute their security f Or, if W
life should not be invaded, what would it!
enjoyments be in a country odibus in the eves
of strangers and dishonored in his own!
Gould he look with affe&ion and veneration
to Inch a country as his parent ? The ftafe
of having one would die within him, he
would blush for his patriotism, if he retain,
ed any, and jtiftly, for it would be a vice
He would be a banished man in his natirc
land."
The conclusion which obtrudes itfelt'upon
me, of the natural effects of all these causa,
I have long endeavored to suspend. The
government, though feeble, Wight have had
fufficient energy imparted to it for felf.p rs .
fervation, the prote&ion of its friends and
the punishment of its enemies ; the tideofde
pravity might then have been turned,and the
moral character we derived from ourtnetf.
tors retrieved. A war with France, "along,
obstinate and bloody war," could alone effeft
this. Peace, peace ; let us have peace, isnow
the cry, and peace we are "to have. Itj si
peace of which I will never partake. Itiw
potion which shall never pollute my tip.
The world is rising in arms against that infer
nal nation—the Perihelion of her glory
forever—and the tempest of difiolution ga
thers round her head She is going down ia
the vortex of her own folly-; nay the Eter.
nal preftrve America from going down along
with her.
But the hope is vain ; the leauges between
Shaddai and Diaboltis, not„more fuMyendjji*
gered the Kingdom of Manfcul, thin Peace
with the French Republic jeopardize* the ex
igence of America.
Thus obfeured as the general profpeft it,
deeper glooms hang on of it»
Here a train of thought unfolds itfelf which
has been oiften exhausted in vain, because it
has pa (Ted at the appeal ps a party interested,
in a cafe whereih each man appealed to ii
willing believe himfelf unintercftcd. I (hall
not renew it.
I no longer behold, when I look around
me, any thing oT much moment to struggle
for. A country overrun by turbulence and
faction, a government like a re«d Oaken by
the wind: the people split into two deadly
parties, whose impending collision must as
surely produce blood shed and misery, as that
0/ flint and ftetl emits the ipark. Here were
a profpeft to bind the hand and heart of every
true man, did not the melancholy faft exist
that no prize can rcfult from the struggle.
To fight without a leader, and without an
adequateiobjeft, is surely a desperate contest.
On whatlbever fide I turn my eyes, I be
hold all full of desolation and dismay. An
enemy whose determined intentions no facri
fice can appease, no humiliation can charm,
approaches in the secrecy and darkness of
the night, to profane the ark of our fafety
with his lewd rites and unhallowed orgies.
The wind on which he rides, even now howls
loud in our cars, " the sea darkly tumbles
beneath the blast, and the roaring waves
climb against our rock%" His devoted prey
(as if iafcinated by his power, and doomed to
thaldrom,) in inoffenfive secUrity andrepofc»
forming arithmetical of the cod
of fubmiflion, and the cofl of refinance ; and
while by accurate fubtracfion, they thus ar
range the mighty point, indicating the means
and the incitement that is wanted, to an e
nemy who waits only to fefurt the firfti
to make a divifidn of the last ; of friends
flaming and unquenchable jealoufy> of ene
mies, boundless confidence and trust ;
ourselves, and our own energies, ineffable
contempt, of the intruders, refpcd, ar.d
verential awe—fucb are the portentous en
signs we display from xjur battlements, fucli
the centinels we ftatioii on our watch-towers.
The fun of federalifm is fafl retiring
hind the clouds of turbulence and trfaft" l '
Those who have fc long been warmed by its
genial influence, waste in stupid adorations,
the allotted period of its falvaition. In a l't
tle while, it may be fcen no more, ai.d f*' r "
haps these accents ofcxpOftulation, in which
with all the impressions of long habit and
strong attachment full upon me, Inowdwe!!
■with niixed emotions of complacency and re
gret, are the very last that will be heard.
The absurd tenet of the Modems, ieenis
here to reign in its greatest vigor, and ® er >
affe&ing to believe that the Eternal has i»
his chancery recorded a favorable ifl" e t0
every crisis they may be driven to, wrap
themselves in mulish contentment,
cry " let us hope for the best." Hopt> ' £ '
indeed, the anchor of the foul; but when
men avail themselves of 110 other source of
reliance, even that hope wfcerefn they reft
their fafety, may lead them into hop-'^ ls
calamity. *• .
With regard to the opinions on which 1
ground n:y meafnres, lam for myfclf I ' u