The Republican ledger — Portsmouth, N.H., 1801-01-27 00:00:00, page 2

Far the REPUBLICAN LEDGER.
Keffrs. Nutting & Whitelock,
THE fenuments in the following extraa
from the condolioA of Dr. Ramsey's hifto
fy of the American revolution, are so just
and interesting, expressed in such clear and
elegant language, and so applicable to the
present state of things, that they deserve the
particular attention of every one ,who is a
friend to his country, and to her civil confti
tution, and ought to be frequently inculcat
ed by fathers on their children, to inspire
them with a jealous care to watch and guard
their dear bought conftitutiohal rights and
liberties, against their secret enemies, who
are, at this present time, endeavoring, by
all the arts of cunning and intrigue, to sub
vert the constitution, and fubje& them to a
Hate of slavery, worse than Egyptian bon
dage.
“ The experience of former ages have
given many melancholy proofs, that popu
lar governments have seldom answered in
practice, .to the theories and warm withes
of their admirers. The present inhabi
tants of independent America, now have an
opportunity to wipe off this aspersion, to as
sert the dignity of human nature, and the
capacity of mankind for felf government.
" Citizens of the United States! you
have a well balanced constitution, establish
ed by general consent, which is an improve
ment on all republican forms of govern
ment hitherto eftaLFlhed. It poffefles the
good qualities of monarchy, but without its
vices. The wisdom and liability of an ar
istocracy, but without the insolence of he
reditary masters. The freedom and inde
pendence of a popular assembly, acquainted
with the wants and wishes of the people,
but without the capacity of doing those
mifehiefs which result from uncontroled
power in one assembly. The end and ob
je& of it is public good. If you are not
happy it will b&your own fault. No knave
or fopl can plead an hereditary right to sport
with your property or your liberties, Your
laws and your lawgivers must all proceed
from yourselves. . You have the experience
of nearly fix thousand years to point out the
rocks on which former republics have been
dafheu to pieces. Learn wisdom from their
misfortunes. Cultivate justice, both public
and private. No government will or can
endure which does not protea the rights of
its fubjeds. Unless such efficient regula
tions are adopted, as will secure property as
well as liberty, one revolution will follow
another. Anarchy, monarchy, or despot
ism, will be the consequence. By just laws
and the faithful execution of them, public
and private credit will be restored, and the
restoration of credit will be a mine of wealth
to this young country. It will makea fund
TA^^ricu'ture, commerce & manufactures,
whicn will soon enable the United States to
claim an exalted rank among the nations of
the earth. Such are the resources of your
country, and so trifling are your debts, com
pared with your resources, that proper sys
tems, wifely planned and faithfully execut
ed, will soon fill your extensive territory
with inhabitants, and give you the command
of such ample capitals, as will enable you
to run the career of national greatness, with
advantages equal to the pldeft kingdoms of
Europe. What they have been slowly
growing to, in the course of near two thou
sand years, you may hope to equal within
one century. If you continue under one
government, built on the solid foundations
of public justice, and public virtue, there is
no point of national greatness to which you
may not aspire, with a well grounded hope
of speedily attaining it. Cheiifh and fop
port a reverence for government, and culti
vate union between the cast and the fouth,
the Atlantic and the Miffifippi. Let the
greatest good of the greatest number be the
pole star of your public and private delibera
tions. Shun wars, they beget debt, add to
the common vices of mankind, and produce
others which are almost peculiar to them
selves. Agriculture, mahufa&ures & com
merce, are your proper business. Seek not
to enlarge your territory 6y conquest. It is
already fufficiently extensive. You have
ample scope for the employment of your
most active minds, in promoting your own
/ domestic happiness. Maintain your own
lights, and let others remain in quiet posses
sion of theirs. Avoid difeord, faction, lux
ury and the other vices which have been the
bane of commonwealths. Cherish and re
ward the philosophers, the statesmen, and
the patriots, who devote their talents and
time, at the expence of their private inter
ests, to the toils of enlightening and dire&-
ing their fellow-citizens, and thereby res
cue citizens and rulers of republics, from
the common and too often merited charge
of ingratitude. Fra&ice induftry,frugality,
temperance, moderation, and the whole
lively train of republican virtues. Banish
from your borders the liquid fire of the W.
Indies, which while it entails poverty and
disease, prevents industry and foments pri
vate quarrels. Venerate the plough, the
hoe, and all the implements of agriculture,
•Honor the men who with their own hands
maintain their families, and raise up chil
dren who are inured to toil, and capable of
defending, their country. Reckon the ne
cessity of labor not among the curses, but
the blessings of life. -Your towns will pro
bably ere long be engulphed in luxury and
effeminacy.^ If your liberties and future
profpeas depended on them, your career of
liberty would probably be Ihort ; but a great
majority must and will be yeomanry, who
have no other dependence than on Almighty
God for his usual blessing on their daily la
bor. From the great cxcefs of the number
of such independent farmers jn these Hates,
over and above all other daffes of inhabi
tants, the long continuance of your liber
ties may be reasonably presumed.
- Let the hapless African sleep undisturbed
on his native shore, and give over wishing
for the extermination of the ancient propri
etors of this land. Universal justice is uni
versal interest. The most enlarged happi
ness of one people, by no means requires the
degradation or deftrudion of another. It
would be more glorious to civilize one tribe
of savages than to exterminate or expel a
score. There is territory enough for them
and for you. Instead of invading their
rights, promote their happiness, and give
them no reason to curse the folly of their
fathers, who fuffered yours to fit down on a
foil which the common parent of us both
had previously aligned to them : but above
all be particularly careful that your own de
feendants do not degenerate into savages.—
Diffufe the means of education, and particu
larly of religious inffrudion, through your 1
remotest feitlements. To this end, support
and strengthen the hands of public teachers,
and especially of worthy clergymen.
" Let your voluntary contribution con
fute the dishonorable supposition, that reli
gion cannot be supported but by compulsory
eflabliihments. Remember that there can
be no political happiness without liberty ;
that there can be no liberty without morali
ty ; and that there can be no morality with
out religion.
" It is now your turn to figure on the
face of the earth, and in the annals of the
world. You poflefs a country which in less
than a century will probably contain fifty
million of inhabitants. You have, with a
great expence of blood and treasure, rescu
ed yourselves and your posterity from the
domination of Europe. Perfe& the good
work yj)u have begun, by forming such ar
rangements and institutions a$ bid fair for
ensuring to the present and future genera
tions the blessings for which you have fuc
cefsfully contended.
“ May the Almighty Ruler of the Uni
verse, who has raised you to Independence,
and given you a place among the nations of
the earth, make the American revolution
an aera in the hiftory of the world, remark
able for the progressive increase of human
happiness !"
_QQQ„_
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE
UNITED STATES.
AS it is contemplated to spend two or
three hundred thousand do Bars to rear a pile
to the memory of a man who will never be
forgotten by Americans; Z is the with of
thoufonds, that if this work of vanity muff
go forward, it should be done by voluntary
subscriptions, and not by a tax on the labor
er and the peasant, who can scarcely pur
chase a winding sheet to enwraptheir de
ceased sons—whose intrinsic mereit may be
equally resplendent in the eye of heaven,
with the molt dignified perfonagcs.
Let the President, the Senate, and the
Representatives of the United States, who
with to adorn the Federal citv with a proud
mausoleum, begin the work of contribution.
Doubtless the sum would be amply ftifficient
for a farmpie of rivalry in this ridiculous
splendor to the honor of future sovereigns
By such a beginning, monumental piles
may be efeaed in America equal to the pyr
amidal heaps of (tones now crumbling into
duff, before the eyes of the miserable Egyp
tians, enslaved by their idolatry to kings, &
other creature^ of their own imagination.
America! where is thy simplicity r thy
economy ? thy modest worth, and exem
plary chriftian virtues, which cherished me
diocrity, contentment and benevolence to all
mankind, without servility to distinguished
name or rank ?
The plain stone laid at the door of the fe
pulchre of his savior, by the rich man of
Arimathea, indicated more genuine refpe&
than the proudest monument of antiquity,
wrung from the blood of the people, in
honor of their kings : or than any of the
extravagancies of modern homagers can pay
to the tnoft exalted characters among men.'
The following are the yeas and nays in
congress on the bill for appropriating the
sum of 200,000 dollars to the purpose of e
reding a maufolenm to the memory of the
illustrious Washington :
YEAS.
Meh. Bartlett. J. Brown, Champlie, Cooper,
Craik, F. Davenport, J Davenport, Dennis, Deni,
Dickson, Evans, Fofler Freeman, Glen)Goode, G.
I Goodrich, E. Goodrich, Griftaid, Grove, Harper,
Hinderfoo, Hill, Huger, Imlay, Kitt*#, H, Lee,
S. Lee, Morrie, Nott, Otis, Pinckney, Platt, Pow
ell, J. Read, Rutledge, J. C. Smith, Sheaffe. Ten
ney, Thatcher, J. C Thomas, R. Thomas, Wads
worth, L. Williams, Woods. 45;
NAYS.&
Mess. Alston, Briley, Bithop, R. Brown, Chris
tie, Clay, Claiborne, Condit, Davis, Dawson, Eg
gletton, Elmendorf, Gray, Gregg, Hanna, Holmes
Jackson, Kitchell, Kelb, Linn, Macon, Muhlen
burg, New, Nicholas, Randolph, Smilie, J.Smith
Spaight, Stanford Sumpter, Taliatero,Thomp(oh
A. Trig, J. Trig, Van Cortlandt, Varnum, R.
Williams, 37.
For the REPUBLICAN LEDGER.
A STOCKHOLDER
IN THE LATE
NEW-HAMPSHIRE UNION BANK,
TO HIS
PELLO^ CITIZENS,
HAVING already given you a brief narrative
of the more remarkable proceedings relative to
the ¥ "' Union Bank, and dated, generally, an
opinion oftheir severity, injoltice and unconditu
tionality ; the object of the present communica
tion is to lay before an impartial public, the rea
sons and evidence on Which such opinion is found
ed, left any might fufpe& that the propensity there
is in man to judge partially in his own cause and
to magnify the abides to which he may be fubjedt
ed, Ihould have operated in the present case. For
this purpose it has been thought proper to insert
the most exceptionable parts of the late extraor
dinary alt, and those articles of the State and Fed
eral Conllltntions with which they are supposed to
militate; The firft, third and fourth paragraphs
are as follows :
Be it enacted by tlfe Senate and Honfe of Re
presentatives in General Court convened, Thet
every company or association of persons formed, or
to be formed, for the purpose of ejtablijhing a bank
or fundfor receiving deposits, issuing notes or bank
bills, making dijeounts, or loaning money,or bank
bills, arid tranjafling the bu/ineJs which incorpor
ated banks may or do tranjafl by virtue of an all
or alls of incorporation, and every juch infitution,
propriety or bank formed, or to be formed, without
an act of the legislature authorizing the fame, shall
. be deemed, and the fame is hereby declared unlaw
ful. And if any person not autkors/ed^ s aforefaid,
shall fubfcvibe to, or become a proprietor, partner
or Jtockholder in such fund or bank, or become a
member of such inflitution, company or affectation,
he shall forfeit and pay for every such offence, a
Jurn not exceeding one thousand dollars, nor lejs
than four hundred dollars, to be recovered by any
person who will sue for the Jame in an action of
debt, one half thereof to his own uje, and the other
to the use of the State.
And be it further enacted, That dll notes or
securities for the payment of money, or delivery of
property which shall be made, given, endorsed or
transferred to any such unincorporated bank, com
pany, or association, as before described, or which
shall be received by any such unincorporated Bank",
company, or association, in payment of money, bank
notes, or bills loaned or difeounts made by them, or
which shall be made, given, or transferred to, or
received by any perfan or persons for their benefit
and use, shall be null and void.
And be it further ena&ed, That every person
who shall hold any bank note or bill issued or paid
out by any such unincorporated afociation, bank or
company, their agents, officers or jervants,fhall be
entitled to demand and recover the full Jam expref-
Jed in Juch bank note or bill of Juch company, a[]o
ciation, or bank, the PreJident, cajhier, or any
member or flockholder thereof at his eltflion.
The Constitution of New-Hampshire declares—
That “ all men have certain, natural, essential and
inherent rights among which are the acquiring,
possessing and protesting property."
That “ Government is inllituted for the com
mon benefit, protection and fecuriry of the whole
community, and not for the private interest of any
one man, or class of men."
That " Retrofpeftive laws are highly injurious,
oppressive and unjoft."
And in addition to these the federal conftittition
provides—tliat " No State shall pass any expoft
fafto law, or law impairing the obligation of con
tracts."
At the time when the N. H. Union Bank Was
,formed, no law whatever exitled against it ; the
examples of other states pointed to the measure
and the operation of their Binks shew its expedi
ency : the right so to do was confidcred as uncon
; trovertible as that of associating for the promo
tion of commerce, manufa&ures, the afeful arts,
or any other laudable purpose. The institution,
beyond all contraverfy was lawful, and this must
have b,n presumed ' by the framers of the att, or
where was the necessity of declaring it unlawful ?
had it been really unlawful, the law might have
been enforced against it, and any new law declar
ing it so would have been fuperfluous and ridicu
lous ; if lawful at the time and declared unlaw
ful by an ulterior law, would not such a law be
retrofpeftive in its nature, and of course, opposed
to the constitution ; It is believed that no doubt
can be entertained on this point.
If the right of pofleffing property, be a " natur
al and essential right" (and has not been alienated)
and If the property of tpe Stockholders of the
N. H. Union Bank was lawfully inverted, as has
been shewn, is it not unconffitutional and oppres
sive that by any law made after such investiture,
they Ihould be deprived of that property ? the
providing of materials^ accommodations, &c. for
carrying pn the banking business, required the ex
pence of federal thouJands of dollars, almost the
whole of which will be entirely loft to the propri
etors if the refraining aft be fuffered to continue
in force, as fully and etteftually as if that amount
had been forcibly extorted from their pockets.
The right of loaning money by individuals or
partners in trade has been fanftioned by larand
curtom,not merely coeval with the earliert biflory
of the American nation, but from remoter age, ia
> chat Country from whence we derived our origi
nal, and may (with the right of possessing proper
ty ) with the ftrifteft propriety be considered as a
mong those " natural, essential & inherent rights"
on which government cannot infringe, but in vi
olation of ah article of theconllitution above quot
ed, unless it couldbe made to appear that this
right is exprefsiy delegated by the people to their
rulers, for it is an eflenti/g principle refillting
from the very nature of our government, and par
ticularly recognized in the federal conrtitution,
that all powers not delegated are retained and be
long tothfe who originally poftyed them ; and it
is also a principle perfe&ly conuinput with fofoft
and which has been in a formal manner acknow
ledged by the legiflatrre of this State, that “ if in'
any infance the Confiitutim be liable to doubtful
coufirufiion it become the minifers of the people to
a f mit f^ at "which is mojt lavcrable to the rights and
liberties of thofefrom whem they derive their pcw-»
en'^e Surrender therefore molt be clear 2nd ex
plicit, which is not even pretended, "or the right
must be considered as retained. The right of the
legirtature to pass such a law can only be founded
on a general grant of powers by an article in the
Confticution in the following words, s iz. • <Full
power and authority are hereby given and grant
ed to the General Court, from time to time, to
make, ordain and eflablilh all manner of whole-
Jebne and reasonable laws, rtatutes and ordinances,
directions and infractions either with penalties or
without, Jo as the Jame be not repugnant or con
trary to this conjiitution, as they may judge far
the benefit and welfare of this state and for the
governing and ordering thereof, and of the fob
jefts of the fame,for the necejary support and de
fence if the government thereof."
Giving to this article all the force it can possibly
have, it is clear that the laws ihould be wholeJome
and reasonable, that they be not repugnant to the'
Confutation, and that they be necessary for the sup
port and defence of the government thereof, if
they fail in either of these particulars no support
can be had under this article, that the law com- -
plained of is objeftibnable in the two former
points, has already been shewn, and to prove that
a government cannot be supported but by disfran
chifing a part of its fubjeds of their essential and
inherent rights, & thereby grantinge xclulive pri
vileges to others not more deserving than they—
would be to prove that government oppreffive^rid
undeserving the dirtingnifhed appellation by
which ours is known ; but the republican citi
zens of New Hampshire are not thus to be gulled
of their senses ; one generation n^re must pals a
way before they can be prepared lor such a beliefs
If the reasonings above dated are just, it follows,
that the right of individuals, partners in trade,
commercial companies, &c. &c. to issue their
promiflory notes, and to loan monies and to re
ceive promissory notes as feeurity therefor, is one
of those essential and inherent rights contemplated
in our State Conflitution. Now if a company
who may Rile tbemfelves merchants, possess thjs
right by what mode of reasoning can it be made
to appear that calling themselves Bankers, they
are to be deprived of it ?—ln the name of reason
and common sense, it is asked, why should not any
company of men be permitted to issue their pro
miflory notes to any one who is willing to receive
them ? or why should not the note of any individual
given to any company for monies aftaally borrow
ed & received be valid against the giters? surely,
no other reason can be given, than, because that
company had forfeited their natural rightsand the
privilege of the laws to which Others are entitled.
The 4th paragraph of the Aft, although not so
opprefiive in its consequences, appears still more
pointedly opposed to the Conflitution. The bills
of the N. H. Union Bank, like those of other
banks, were issued and received under a promise
of payment at the Bank, where the Olver and gold
was deposited for that purpose, and reason as
well as law requires that application should firft
be made at the Bank, and if payment be there re
fufed it might be recovered of any Stockholder
without the aid of any new law—but by this new
law any Stockholder who may be found, though
an hundred miles from his home, if within this
slate (for it is not believed that any such law will
ever exist in any other) may be compelled by the
holders of Bills to any amount, to make inflant
payment, or be liableto immediate imprisonment,
even if no demand had been made at the Bank,
the only place where payment was premised. Is
not this in direct contravention of that article in
the Federal Conflitution, which fays " No State'
shall make any expoft fa&o law, or law impair
ing the obligation of contrasts ?"
(To be Continued.)
—<«<i^^^^^^^^fo.>.>, —
For the REPUBLICAN LEDGER.
THE Sovereign people of the United
States, having determined, that their an
cient and honorable servant, John Adams,
should terminate his prefideritial functions
after the 3d of March next—ln joffice to
the character and past services of Mr. Ad
ams, it ought 1 , and may truly be said, that .
the withdrawing of public confidence from
the man who has spent thirty years in pub
lic service, is not so much to be ascribed to
the ill intentions of Mr. A. as to his want
! of firmnefs seasonably to resist the intrigues
of a British Fa&ion, that have for some
years past, inceffantlv labored to corrupt the
minds of the people in every state m the
Union—From the avowals arid copfeffions
of the defenders of Mr. Adams, against the
' outrageous attacks of Hamilton, it appears,
that this faction, id in the early stages of
Mr. A's administration, obtained an aston
ishing afeendancy over him—lt seems, that,
against his own judgment, they compelled
him to support them in the establishment of
a Handing army—to assent to the dissolu
tion of our treaty with France, and to ma
ny other measures equally deftruaiveof the
fafety and interest of th? people. And as a
finishing ffroke to their system of iniquity,
they strove to draw him into a declaration
of war against the French Republic. •
This lad attempt, clearly unveiling their
designs, alarmed Mr. A. and required the
aid of all his native firmnefc—to resist the
overbearing influence of this faaion, which;
headed by H. and the British miniver, had
acquired in Congress an influence, greater
than the Congress. He was compelled to
withdraw his confidence from his principal
officers, who had evidently been gained by
the junto, and eventually, (for they would
not voluntarily retire) to d^ive them from
office. In spite of a fadion, who vrifhed %
to make us tributary to Britain, or to j& ^
store us so our ancient dependence on that
imperious power ; Mr. A. renewed his me- 0„
gociations with France, which have been
crowned with success. A treaty is formed ,
which revives our connexion with cur old
and only ally, and on such terms, as will