The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1793-09-10 00:00:00, page 1

MISCELLANY.
From the COLUMBIAN CENTINEL,
4 PATRIOT of the WORLD, to
the FRENCH.
CONCLUDED.
IS France intended to form one integal,
united, indivisible, republic I Why then,
as if to yet de eriorate the vicious plan
of fradional legifladon, is it proposed
to institute an executive council, consist
ing of rival ministers, who have no common
centre of union ? What is this but a measure
for disuniting the facial farce ?—a prepcfter
cus measure far dividing, disorganizing, and
diffipTung the physical energies of society ?
Do e fear*to provide v by the facial conftnu
tion, for freely electing a Social Chief, a
citizen to p r esi de in the affairs of empire,
and to whom, on his refponfibtlity, might be
confided, for a limited term, the oepofit of
the executory power ? The Columbian repub
lic has not feared to conftiture fach af»;licy ;
and is now enjoying the happy effed of this
wile and equitable institution.
B-4 the want of ftnity is no' th^Hc^nly de
fed in the executory power. V-ewedwith-e
--ference to the grand principles of contfkution*
al order, its want of farce, its radical weak
ness, its contemptible imbecility, is a pal
pable vice in the executive. Why is the
couftiicteddepofitary of the facial foice doom
ed to bo v to the despotism of the depofitaries
of legislative authority ? The executory power,
already enfeebled by the difunionof its parts,
is yet further debilitated by making mb
minister responsible to the legislative func
tionaries. And, to complete its imbeciliity,
the executive authority is denied the constitu
tional power of opposing a rational barrier
gain ft "legislative ufarpation. Do ye fear to
authorize the executive oepofitary to exert e
ven the energies of reason in defence of the
conflitutional order ? Do ye fear to entrust
this depositary with the equitable power of
examin?bg the resolutions of the legislature,
and of referring uoccnftitution^l decrees, with
the reasons against them, to the temperate re
corfidcration ot the legislators ? TheMAG
JU'ANIMOUS CITIZENS OF THE NEW WORLD
have dared to entrust their Republican Chief
with this rightful power of preventing wrong ;
and, fach is the patriot firmnefs of hat epi
tome of his country, Washington, they
have already wimefled its utility 1 I disdain
to flatter even .this philo ophical sol
dier. He was capacitated, by the. facial
constitution, tc defend it in this instance: —
And, when the moment required him to aft,-
this Virginian citizen evinced, by his con
dud, that, like rhe body of his coun rymen,
according to the exigence of official fidelity,
he has the reptlblicanifm to execute his duty.
This instance of bis executing the trust com
mitted to bim is, however, worthy to be par
ticularly noted, as it presents a pradical proof
of the wisdom of those who framed the con
stitution of United Columbia.
’ Frenchmen 1 Are not the tyrannies of Eu
rope combined against you ? And is not the
combination as formidable in power, as it is
unpreceden ed in extent, and infernal in pur
pose ? Why then, when the example of the
new world is before you, is it, that ye do not
adopt a policy that will give reciprocal union,
systematic arrangement, concentrated effici
ency, to your efforts for defence ? Tamely
to forrender your liberty even to the formi
dable combination against vo»j, would be ras
cally cowardice : But to rush headlong to de
ftrudion, mull be stupidity and madness. Be
it that all the despotisms of Europe, —be it
, that all the despotisms of the globe,-~are ar
med against your national liberty ! The num
bers, the bravery, the physical resources, of
the French nation, if duly arranged, and or
dered into adion, are. undoubtedly, equal to
the national defence : Oi this proportion,
I have co more doubt, than I have of the ac
knowledged principles of the planetary revo
lu'ions. But thus to arrange and order your
refomces, is a work that exacts the magnani
mous serenity of wisdom.
Had ye the wisdom to constitute a system
of facial reciprocity, a system of reciprocal
justice, a system of true republicanism ; your
affairs would, necessarily, assume the auspici
ous afped of rationality, and systematic ener
gy. How Jong, then, (hall the temperance
of philosophy be exiled from your councils ?
How many thousands of brave Franks muff
be facrificed before ye will learn thelcflbn of
national wisdom ? How long shall the difei
pline of virtue, the principles of wife and
magnanimous policy, be unobserved end dif
in France ? — HOW fang will ye be-
Volume VIII.]
EXETER ( New-Hampjhire) Printed and Published by Henry Ranlet, in Main-Street t at Jix {hillings and eight pence per annum.
The American Herald of Liberty.
friend arbitrary measures, that are parents of
internal crilcord and hostility ? Prefled as ye
are by disciplined armies, numerous, and for
midable ; prefled by enemies intriguing and
unprincipled, who hope farfaccels, not mere
ly from arms, but alfofrom your division and
consequent weakness ; commanded as ye are,
by rhe Sovereign exigence of your affairs, .to
j-ffociate your force and give ir the maximtm
of efficiency ; bow long Shall' your executive
power be disorganized and nervdefs n > —
how long shall your military Strength be wea
kened, and military principles be insulted,
by the anomalous project of dividing the com
mand of your armies between their proper
Chiefs, and perfens commissioned to watch
them ?—-how long Shall military merit be
doomed to the mortification and indignity of
being required to make defence against de
serters, or diforganizers ?—:o the mortifica
tion and indignity of being watched, threat
ened, difhonoured, by commissioned spier? If
your leaders have not rhe capacity to adopt a
more magnanimous policy, if they have not
the capacity to save the nation without Such
illiberal measures, they are unworthy to di
left the great affairs of France. '
Ye gallic friends of humanity! Da r e to
review the condud of Some of these who have,
influenced recent proceedings in France ! And i
let men of sense and honour, let all true pat-,
riots, impartially conCder questions that arise
on the view of yoor affairs !
Shall the pigmy Spirit of unphilofophical
schismatics impose on the F ench the policy,
of pusillanimity ? Will ye bow to the cefpoe
tifm of jealous ignorance I' Sheil the affaffin’a
virulence be mistaken for republican ardour I
Shall the barking of the wolf be regarded as
the voice of the patriot ? Shall your coun
cils beßutraged by anarchists, by hiding ser
pents, by miScreant bravocs, by renegades
from humanity ? Will ye be commanded by
illiberal braggadodes, by political bullies,
who are bold in vice, and cowards in virtue ?
Shall anti-republican audacity, and obliquy,
usurp rhe right of wisdom, and fyay in the
great feenes of national business,? Can ye,
without one manly Sentiment of indignation,
fee blustering ochiecrats usurp the oireftton
of your affairs, and command measures that
waste the best blood of the Frenchr-meafures
that, inevitably, Sacrifice your heroic brethren
in arms ? If ye can, — if ye are dead to the
Sentiments of men, —then die like fools !—
let anarchy tyrannize over France, until ye
are fWeot sway by the whirlwind of destruc
tion ! Bur, if ye have the Spirit to be true to
your Selves, then by your execration of mo
narchical barbarism ; by your zeal to extin
guish the torch of war ; by the tear of phi
lanthropy ; by your love of country, liberty,
glory ; by the indignant ghosts of your fac
rificed heroes; —I conjure you, Frenchmen,
to listen to the temperate voice of phiiofophy,
and ordinate a magnanimous, an equitable,
a republican, system of policy.
What is the uncontrouled power proposed
to be veiled in your national legislature, but
a provision enabling one constituted organ
arbitrarily to disorganize the system ? What
is it but an anti-republican measure enabling
the legislature to absorb all public powers, and
to exert a complex despotism over the na
tion ?—a despotism rebelling against rhe fav
ereign will of the constituting power f—a
despotism which none of the public function
aries are capacitated to check I —a multitudi
nous defpotifm,that may become a conspiracy,
at once, impoflng and formidable frewn its
numbers, and armed with a terrible power
against equity ?-—a despotism Trom which
France must, in the event, refalve to be freed,
even though at rhe price of admitting in a
more humanized form thedeteftable policy of
monarchy ?
But France is not yet reduced to this odi
. ous alternative, it is yet in the power ot the
French, would they refpeft the temperate
Sentiments of wifaom, to ordinate a republi
can constitution, and thus annihilate the pos
sibility of re-eftablilhing hereditary magistra
cy xoFrance. But, Franks, know afluredly,
that the dagger of the assassin is not the argu
ment of wisdom, nor the Symbol of patriot
magnanimity 1 Then let not your public de
liberations be outraged by g’adiatorial mad
men ! Leave the.eloquence of daggers, the
Sublime of gladiatorlhip, to the loyal Parlia
ment of Britain,to the panegyrijii of their roy
al master and their best cfKings 1 Re
flore freedom and dignity to your own pub
lic councils, and, by your political institu
tions assure to philosophy the right of I pea.
king the liberal Sentiments of true republican
ism ! The cause of liberty is, effentialjy, the
cause of justice, and of truth ; and, of conse
quence, cannot Suffer Srom diScuffion ; Ob
stinacy, and error, may withstand the fiery tri
al of persecution; but the omnipotence of
TUESDAY, September io, 1793.
truth, and that alone, triumphs over the Se
verer ordeal of free debate.
As relative to the organic arrangement of
the legislative, and executive authorities, the
abftrstt theory of perlcct repubiiccnifm and
the a&ual experience of the Columbian re
public, concurrently denounce the propo ed
farm cf your public policy. The plan contra
venes bo’h metaphysical and experimental
principles; and as it naruially tend; 10 conse
quences injurious to the public,it is radically
anti Republican. In the zeal against an here
dira y patriciate and hereditary ihrore, poi
itied hetefiarchs have vibrated to the oppo
site vice ; and renouncing the prejudices of
political bigotry, they have adopted the pre
judices of fanataciim. Both are incompatible
with the temperate magnanimity of philoso
phy. And die calamities which ye have fuf
fered from the despotism of prejudice fevetely
incukaie the importance of adhering to prin
ciple. 11 is, because your part, and proposed
measures, in particulars cf high concernment,
are ilconflflent with the Sovereign principles
of society, that they merit denunciation. Your
practical deductions hav/ been inconfillent
with your theoretic principles ; and,in points
of commanding importance, your policy is
hoftiie to the necessary principle of the repub
lican orcer. Men incompetent ro the magni
ficent wo k of conftrudting a permanent
constliution for a great empire have
difg aced your public councih. Ga lint
F acks ! Does not the indignant bluih cf
honour disdain the be ng duped by impudent
pretenders ? Illiberal ne^efjarebs, the pro
phets of fanaticifm, the apostles of insubordi
nation, barbarity and murder, are not the
preachers of true republicanism. While I re
probate their Schismatic impudence, I, how
ever, discriminate between them, and their
abused followers. In my zeal for the univer
lai triumph of the equitable order of republi
canism, and in my indignation againftthe Sy
stematic iniquities of that feudality which the
French have abolilhcd, I find many apologies
for the errors of a people yet Smarting from
the Icourge of hereditary usurpation: And
in the fame zeal and indignation, I find abun
dant cause for denouncing homicide ochloc
rars who abule rheir confidence.
Patriotic Frenchmen ! Were your public
policy but duly organized ; were France, in
truth, a republic ; clamorous impostors, who
afftime the m-fk of patriotism, would no lon
ger be able to tyrannize over liberality,decen
cv, and wisdom ; their impudent ignorance
would be detected ; their Swaggering obloquy
would be delpifed, or detelled ; and humanity
would rejoice at the internal order and repose
of France. Refk&, then, on your affairs,
and confider, that a republican consti
tution IS THE SOVEREIGN PANACEA OF
social disorders ! The attaifiment,
therefore, of such a constitution, as assuring
the cure of your public maladies, demands
jour ledulous and profound attention.
1 have now but pointed to Some of ihe capital
defefis of jour form of g yernment ; far Such
are thole which immediately concern thele
g flaiive and executive authorities of the na
tion. There are however, other defers,
which argue, that your Convention, like the
general mass of Europern politicians, does
not undetftand the Angular, yet happv, organ
ization of the Columbian Republic : The form
of adminifttration ptopoled for the refpe&ive
departments of France iseffentially defedive ;
and proves, how little the Convention has
under flood the policy of Oe diftinft states
comprehended within the Columbian Union.
Ti eie diflind, yet affeciated states. are fa ma
ny territorial * epartments ; but they are or
ganized far more happily than the ieverai de
partments in France ; and their local govern
ments cannot become such afiarchial oligarch
ies as the proposed administrations of your de
partments. 1 know not of any writer who
has never been in the United States, and who
has yet appeared tu be mailer of their unpre
cedented system of social arrangement. With
perhaps, fame exceptions, the body of Euro
peans, who attempt an eftimateof the rorms
of policy instituted by thele considerate, yet
daring republicans, ma’t» I apprehend, be fair
ly regarded as wanting the requifue informa
tion, acuteness, depth, vafinefs, nerve, difi*
ciplined boldness. As relative to this fabjed,
I confider the generality of European states
men as being more like fafhionable copyists,
than fablime originals ; They do not appear
to have the intelledoal serenity and courage,
that areirequifite to a competent estimation
of this novel and fuHime system of society.
The Columbian policy is a bold departure
from dodrines of fame of the greatest political
writers of the old world- Each of the United
States is a conftitutent part of the national re*
-public ; «nd governs its own public affairs.
For this local purpofp, it has its own public
administration, confiftifig of legislative, exe<
cuiive, and juiidicial authorities ; and thefc
authorities a;e all requisite to the public inter
est of the particular state. Their exiflence too,
is perfedly consistent with <he wisest princi
ples or national policy ; For. aLbough the
local afiairs ot each department of the Co
lumbian r.mp te are adminiflered bv its own
local government, ye' the general affairs of
the cation are confided to the national ad
m mftrat on, which co*fili j also, cf correffcr*
dent.legiitatne, executive, and juridicial au
thorities. And to render the facial giada
tion yet more complete, the refpedive states
intetvolve varicui smaller associations, pro
gressing, with various degrees of analogical
corrednefs, item ths individual person, chat
little republic of the c^gant Plato, to that
colledive person, the general community.
Thus the new wctld presents a kries of in
tervolved republics affoc’ated by a common
constitution ; and this fipgular intervokticn
of affociatcd republics conft tutes one grand,
national, republic. This novel fyft<m of re
ciprocal aflociation exhibits a precious exam
ple of public orcer, energy, and facial har.
mor.y :—An example which points to the de
siderated art of asjurirc jhE max
imum of social liberty :—An exam
ple which triumphs over the defpoufms of
precedent, which confounds the pedantry of
political criticism, and laughs at boafled ufa«
ges of the old uoiid.
Nctwiihflandirg opinions hit have been
accredited in Europe, the Columbian States
are, at this moment, united, organized, and
imbodied, into one na ion, as perfedly nt a
ny pt;ft, or existing, cour ry on the glebe.
And the principle, on which their union de.
pends, are, in their nature, permanent, Am
ple universal.
In thus (peaking of the policy of the United
States, I am nut mccnfcious, that writers dis
tinguished in the polit cal world have disap
proved, as defrdive, what I admire, as ex
cellent. Such v riiers, however, in condemn
ing the graduated system cf republican order
in the new world, evince their imperfect
knowledge of the happy conformation, and
effed ol this system. From the authenticity
of my information in this refped, 1 have not
the minutest doubt of the truth of my pradi-;
cal rema ks on the adual policy of (hefe def
ce<ning repub icans. I am, at this moment
in the new wor d. In here {peaking of the
happy effed of the grand order of things
which your allies, the republican defendants
ot Britons, have confirmed, I refer to what is
notorious in this country ; and my opinion
is fuopened, not merely by the observation
of oih^rs, but by the evident cf my own sen
ses. I now know, that the European preju
dice, against the diftind organization ci their
refpedive states, is condemned by indubita
ble experiment. I add allo, that this preju
dice, is not warran’ed by principle. The
diftindion of thc.r individual states isno more
incorfiftent with the unity of the national
republic, than the diftindion of individual
perfans. These diftind states are organical
parts, of the whole republican body. And is
it not a clear principle of philosophy, that
each Ihould be capable of fach fundions 29 .
appropriately concern the individual, with
out affeding the nation ? Each part Ihould,
undoubtedly, be fa organized as to have the
diftind capacities that are requisite to the per
fed performance of its ^proper offices ; And
withcur this diftind organization of the “re
fpedive parts, it is demonstratively, impossi
ble, that the whole fhouid be perfedly organ
ized. The refpedive republics, w^b^are
itervolved and concentrated in the grand Re
public of rhe new world, are all arranged up
on similar principles ; The local policies are
analogous to the policy of the nation. And
the harmony of the whole, is a Fad, as glo
rious to the Columbian citizens, as k is in
ftrudive to France and to th£ universe.
The policy of these estimable republicans
has, indeed, fame remaining imperfedions—
imperfedicns, however, of which the common »
mals of political writers do not appear |o "
have ever-formed any diftind idea. Nav
more ! Persons who have denounced this po
licy, have,‘generally fpeakingr been fa far
from being masters of the fubjed, that they
have not only failed to develope its real de
feds, but the mass of their proposals for re
forming it, have been either of* no effedive
importance, or demonftrativdy wrorg. View
ed however? in the total, and notwithstand
ing its imperfedions, which may be peaces/-
bly corrcded, th is empire of laws has
i no tqual on the globe — Aad in point of politi
[ veal heroism, ihefe fcldierly citizens, are un
l doubtedly, fame of the most aftoniihing men
• that everexifted. As a body, they are most
. info med and difeerning of the human race.
; Potently attached to their republican save-
[Numb. 10