Republican gazette — Concord, N.H., 1801-11-12 00:00:00, page 2

THERE are periods in the affairs of
nations, in which it is not only the dic
tate of policy, but the command of
duty, to review past events, to inquire
into the error of particular measures,
to trace them to their causes, and to
endeavor to suggest remedies for them.
It is confidently believed that the
present is such a period. The recent
agitation of feeling, which disturbed
the harmony of public, and the peace
)f private life, is faft subsiding into a
date of tranquility and security. No
longer at war with any foreign power;
but on terms ofamity with all nations,
and the enjoyment of domestic happi#
nefs; the mind may be considered as
free to pursue the ufeful deductions of
reason, uninfluenced by passion, and
unalarmed by fear.
On the improvement of such perh
ods, it is not rash to affirm, depend the
permanent happiness of individuals,
and the stable refpedability of states.
Every thing announces imperfection
in the temporary policy that governs
nations, as well as in the great political
institutions by which they are guided.
No man of candour and intelligence,
whatever share he may have taken in
past events, will, on reviewing them,
fay they have been dictated by the
most perfect suggestions of reason.—
He will have the magnanimity to ac
knowledge, whatever portion of com
parative merit he may claim, that ei
ther his own ads have been in some
cases mistaken, or the constitutional or
legal rules of aftion whereby he has
been controled, have been imperfect
or erroneous. It is only in the mad
paroxifms of party violence, in which
'the fury of assault demands equal vig#
or of resistance, that man, forgetting
that he is a being of limited powers,
proudly fays, «I am perfect. Quest
ion not the wisdom of my measures.
They admit not of improvement." In
such periods, man, boasting infallibili
ty, is a madman: Invested with pow
er, he is an object of terror ; but he in
spires not refped. We look back af
ter such aeras, with gloomy humility,
at beholding the noblest powers of tne
mind, not merely loft, but employed
in ignoble puipofes.
Behold citizens of America, in this
picture, the delineation not of any par
ticular period, but of the mischievous
effects of the violence of passion, and
the subjugation of reafon.'
The object of these remarks is to
shew the necessity of viewing and ex
amining, with coolness and candour,
but with truth also, past errors.
Confider not, fellow citizens, such
attention and enquiry as tending to a
muse the fancy, or to employ unpro
duLively the powers of the mind in
the man to whom the administration of
John Adams gave the power of dif
lolving the legislature, and in the de
bate, upon which Harper insinuated
that it would be proper to give' the
PrefiUent a like power to dissolve and
prorogue Congress, as the British king
does their parliament.
SOBER REASONING— good for
both Republican and Federalist.
NUMBER I.
From the National Intelligence*.
trains ofabftraCt reasoning. No. This
were not only useless, but worse than
useless. The obje&s of fich an en
! quiry are deeply momentous. Their
effects will be improperly/ improved,
;the mttodu&io#of cure, for those e
-Ivils which ^^ h^etf/fore diffracted
our councils, ar^agi/.ated the nation.
The people, I affirffwith our patriot
ic president, afe all republicans, all fe
deralifts. They are all in, pursuit of
happiness. Their great interests are
the fame. They have every wish that
early education inspires, and every
reason that experience devolves, to
Icement1 cement & confirm their union. They
know, that united thy stand, and di
vided they fall.
With these feelings, with these views,
what more do they require, to be in
fad united, than a correct knowledge
of their true interests, and a vigilant
protection of them?
To infufe this knowledge, and to in
spire this sentiment, is my ambition.
Happy, if I can eradicate one error
from their minds, and implant in the
consciousness of doing good, the high
est retribution that can be conferred.
One of the greatest sources of divi
sion among our citizens, has arisen,
from the different, and in some cases,
the opposite conftrudion given to the
federal, constitution. Each fide.has
declared the other to be in error ; &
accordingly as different systems of na
tional policy have been purftired, have
different conftrudions and publica
tions of delegated powers, been tranf
fufed into the ads of the government.
Much, probably, by far the greatest
portion of this difference, has sprung
from error : For it is sincerely believ
ed, that moftof our rulers bad at heart
the public welfare; though, from a
partiality to pre-conceived ideas on
dissimilar systems of government, they
have frequently loft fight of it.
-That a division exists among many
of our citizens, as to the meaning of
several of the most important members
of the constitution,a division too,which
future events will probably rather wi
den than diminish, can be doubted by
no one.
From what has this division arisen?
In part, it has certainly arisen from
the ambiguity of the Constitution, and
from its not having anticipated all the
cases which have occurred under it.
Is not this ambiguity susceptible of
removal ? That it is susceptible of re
moval, partial at least, if not entire,
cannot, in my mind, admit of question.
A review of the past events will ex
pose the cases in which a diversity of
opinion has existed. In these cases,
either certain powers, denied by the
opponents of the government, have,
been exercised by it ; or certain pow
ers, declared by the opponents of the
government to exist and require exer
cise, have been neglected by the gov
ernment, and have remained inopera
tive. In both cases a more precise e
numeration of powers, affirmatively or
negatively stated, would lessen the ex-,
ifting obscurity. 'j
In my next number, in order to at
tra& the attention of the public to the|
fubjed, I shall (how, that the general
evil under which a people can labor,
is the existence of a constitution which
Mr Maddison, the present Secreta
ry of State, and the bosom friend of
Mr. Jefferson, has been honored
with muchfederal abuse. The reafona
are obvious. Conciliating manners,
exemplary morals, unimpeachable in
tegrity, a luminous understanding, in
defatigable industry and long experi
ence in the public concerns of the
United States, have given him great
political weight of chara&er. He was
a distinguished member of the Old
Congress, in which he moved the Rec
ommendation of a General Convene
tion, sot amending the Articles of Con
federation. In that Convention, be
was one of the Committee of five, who
drafted the Constitution, the greatest
part of which is in his own words. In
the Convention of Virginia he was
pre-eminent.—His arguments prevail
ed, against the eloquence of the ceb
ebrated, Patrick Henry ; and the
Constitution was adopted. Its adop
tion in that State was the turning point
ofits national adoption. The Con^
ftitution owes more to Mr. Maddi
son, than to any other man. In the
firft Congress, under it he moved the
principal explanatory and reftridive
amendments, which had been rec
ommended by the Coventions of
Virginia, Newyork, MaffachufetU, &c.
which being finally adopted, united
& reconciled the body of Republicans,
many of whom had insisted upon their
previous incorporation, as a condition
of adopting the Constitution. He con
tributed essentially to the organization
of the new government, and the estab
lishment of the several departments ;
and was generally acknowledged to
be the most influential member of his
favorite branch the House of Repre
sentatives until the Hamiltonian system,
clothed and armed with the popular
name of Federalism, began to . unfold
itfelf. His discerning mindearly per
ceived the anti republican tendency of
that deep-laid system. He considered
it a devia ion from the spirit of the Constitu
tion, leading in its consequences, to a perver.
fion ofthe fundamental principles of cut Rev
olution and Republican Government. He ac
cordingly gave it a candid but decided opposi
tion. Among the firft points of divergence,
was the funding of our domestic national debt,
on which futya he advocated the principles of
a diferimination between the original proprie-,
tors and the present holders of public fecuri.
ties. Another fubjed of system atic difference
To the PEOPLE of Newham,Jhire.
O When men, of the abilities of a Solon,
are willing to apply their talents and intelli
gence for the public weal, it behoves every man
carefully to read and candidly to confider, their
dispassionate discussions of subj&, truly and
seriously interesting to every Man, who wifhet
the enjoyment of real Rational Liberty.—
The Public Good is the aim of this writer— He
is near the Seat of the General Government ;
and may therefore be presumed to possess good
information, relative to the public tranfa&ions.
— Butit is the business of EVERY minin the
United States, to READ and to JUDGE for
himfelf—lt is the general diffufioo of knowl
edge among the WHOLE PEOPLE, which
shall perpetuate their Freedom and happiness.
With a hope of adding to their stock of Politi
cal knowledge, the People of Newhampfhire
will be presented with the writings of SOLON
on the fubj^a of the Government, through the
medium of the Republican Gazette.
confers, upon the government created
by it, powers not properly circumscri
bed and defined. SOLON.
CT Os JAMES MADDISON.