The Republican ledger — Portsmouth, N.H., 1800-09-09 00:00:00, page 1

The Republican Ledger.
PORTSMOUTH, (NEW-HAMPSHIRE) PRINTED BY NUTTING & WHITELOCK, MULBERRY LANE, ADJOINING ROUSSELEFs MUSEUM.
NUMBER 3.—VOL. ll.]
'* WHEN YOU SHALL THESE DEEDS RELATE, SPEAK OF THEM AS THEY ARE; NOTHING EXTENUATE NOR SET DOWN OUGHT IN MALICE."
* The following spirited and highly republican
Address of a refpeHable committee from Jix
counties, in the State of New-Jefo on the
all important and interefling jubjeEl of the
approaching election of PreJident and Vice-
Prefideni of the United States, cannot but
° meet the approbation of eiery Republican.
The .COMMITTEe "7eSSEX COUNT!
to the PEOPLE of NEW-JERSEY,
^pELLOW-CipZESS,
7F ever any occafop juftified public Ad-.
dresses and individual exertions to rouse
a nation to a sense of their duty, the present
^undoubtedly such an occasion. The elec
' jn which is shortly to take place, consid
ered in connexion with its probable conse
quences, appears as important and interest
ing as any event this country has ever ex
perienced. It will fix our national charac
ter, determine whether republicanism, or
aristocracy, is to prevail, and perhaps turn
the suspended balance in favor of liberty,
or despotism, throughout the world.
Reduced by these considerations thus pub
licly to claim your attention, we may be ex
pe&ed to give a fummonary of our political
opinions. To this we submit with the great
est cheerfulnefs because we have been most
ungenerously misrepresented by our oppo
nents, and because we hold but a sentiment
but which we would be happy to write with
a sunbeam, that all mankind might view it'
and condemn us to infamy, if only that
tone sentiment were inconsistent with justice
and the rights of man.
Those great principles from which the
American revolution originated, which were
proclaimed by the declarations of that peri
od,'and which are recognized in the Con
stitution of the United States, from the
ground on which we have taken our ftan.d.
If those aftoniihing tranfaaions, which we
have so long contemplated with f&giuch fa
tisfaaion; were bfgan in rebellion, carried
on in delusion, and terminated in injury, to
ou'r fpecics, then we were highly culpable.
If Washington and his associates of '76 me
rited the abuse they received and the fate to
which the haft, vengeance of tyranny con
signed them, we deserve the degrading epi
thets so liberally bellowed upon us, and the
punishment with which we have already
been threatened; for adhering with our whole
topis, to the principles on which they aded,
and for using our utmost efforts to preserve
the inestimable purchase of their blood. But
to you, we dare appeal for a decision wheth
er you were rebels when you earned im,
mortal honors in the defence of your dearest
' rights, and whether the amoy patria which
then sprung every fibre of your hearts, was
an infatuation subversive of ill order and
deftruaive to Society. You turn indignant
from the bate idea. You feel that you are
the natural guardians of your own liberties,
and that none but those who wish to be
come tyrants would divest you of that jea
loufy,.without which they can never be pre
ferved.'^;^ ' ''-
The establishment of the present tonftl
tutio'n We considered as the concluding feene
of the political drama, big with happy con
ferences to the' human' race/ which had
'been afledon the American theatre. We
viewed it as the." bond of fate" for the se
curity of our rights : as the charter of a
mighty empire to rife, exulting in the days
of liberty and exhibiting the miracle of a
government, organized and administered for
the benefit of the people. As we had scarce
ly escaped from the iron gripe of despotism:
as we have abjured those tnafter curses of
our race, monarchy and ariftoerrey, we
fondly hoped we should escape their influence
Ind the innumerable miseries ever generated
by their contaminating breath. But our
^ pleating expe&ations have been disappoint
ed. The experience of a few fliort years
has convinced us, that there are men among
us, whom no tie but interest can. bind ; who
are aduated by an invincible thirst for pow
er; who would prostrate the liberties and
happiness of their country in " dust and
ashes," if they could but snatch a feeptre
and reign amidst ruins. And our misfor
tune is, that these men have been trusted,
and yet hold some Otare in the public confi
dence.
Passing over innumerable appearances of
the fame system, permit us, fellow-Citizens,
to ask you what is your opinion of the di
re& and violent attacks upon the Constitu
tion, which have issued from the press of
Fenno, at the time his paper, received the
;/'
r :
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 , iSoo.
support, and was considered the official or
gan of government?
Why is it that those who are so loud in
their applauses of the present administration,
manifeft universally un-irreconcileable ha
tred against the sovereignty of/ the people,
under the name of democracy, though tpis,
is the firft and only principle recogpized by
the instrument beginning. " We, the peo
ple of the United States, &c," What fpiiit
impels them to declare war against the long
•eftabliihed emblems of freedom, in 'which4
they are countenanced by the example of|
very high authority ?
How do you approve of a neutrality which
has affirmed the charader of a lyon to one
of the contending powers, perhaps because
it is a republic, and to the other, which is
a tyranny, Couches with the mean submission
of a spaniel ?—-Does it meet your views of
impartiality, that the injuries of France,
unjustifiable as they are, should receive a
tenfold exaggeration," and be blazoned forth
with innumerable falfhoods, to drive us into
a war of " extermination," while at the
fame time the more intolerable aggressions
of Britain are as much as possible concealed
from public notice, or unbiufhingly palliat
ated? I.
Because the Alien Law, of difgraceful
memory, was levelled at unfortunate foreign
ers, guilty of the'fame crime of which the
fathers of # American independence glory in
'having been guilty ;---and because it was
promoting the apprehension of Britain, and
cutting off the on ; retreat from the misera
ble victims of her cruelty, was jt matter of
indifference that a precedent should be eftab-
Jifhed under the fallacious plea of necessity,
by which the strongest barriers of the Con
stitution could be broken down ; by which
the legislative, judicial and executive pow
ers could be blended, to constitute a tremen
duous tribunal in the breast of a tingle man r
Does it meet your ideas of equality 0
rights, of freedom of speech and of the prefsf
that your public feivants, without any au-,
thority, and jn defiance of express prohibi
tion, should fortify themfelve§ with exclu
sive privileges ; retire into the dark tnyfte
rjes pf intrigue, and forbid you, at your pe
ril to examine their conduct? Is it any gra
tification to your feelings, that several of
your fellow-citizens, for attempting to lift
the veil from public measures and giving
opinions of their probable tendency, have
undergone the ordeal,bf a federal trial, and
are now Janguifhing in prison ? And to
fopply any deficiencies in. the legitimate
laws of the land and to answer party pur
poses, is ityour pleasure that the common
law of England, Turkey, or any other for
eign nation, with all its uncertain and ty
rannical decision, should be forced into ope
ration in the national courts; to the per,verlion
of justice and final annihilation of the state
"governments?
Under whose direction did the late secre
tary at war, in a letter to Virgina, virtually
declare at least one half of thd United States
unworthy of their own defence, and hint
that old tones were worthy of the highest
confidence ?-—What difpofitidh has led the
President to remain silent, as death refpe&-
ing the militia, while he has loudly and re
peatedly called for fleets and regular armies;
Was it asSas been allowed by pretty high
authority, to awe the citizens into silence,
to crush the spirit of tepublicanifm, and to
enforce fubrrfiffion to hateful lawsat the
point of the bayonet, that the late miserable
feleton of an army was raised ? 1
Are you fatisfied that the wade of public
money 'fhould be such, that after indire&
taxation h% wormed iffelf into every meal
you eat and every garment you wear ; after
you have paid a heavy tax on yoprhoufes
and land, [till five millions muff be obtain
ed on loan in One year, and three and an
half in another, at eight per cent per annum,
an interest before unknown? Are you will,
ing that fevery inch of foil you hold, and
your posterity to the latest geherations,
should be pledged and virtually mortgaged
for the redemption of these and many other'
enormous sums, while millions remains un
accounted for, in the hands of public officers,
who are thus capaciated to make vast for
tunes by those very loans, to amass whole
countries of the soldier's hard earnings, and
to roll in their gilded coaches among those
whom they efteemthe “ JwiniJb multitude,"
with the infblence of an eastern despot?
Do you. remember the immaginary plots
and conspiracies, vyhich have been conjured
;into exigence, to deceive you, and secure
your submission to violent and oppressive
measures ; and that the authors of these
were among the foremoft to juftify a ftrehgth
of power by which the President could
" advise and request" a diftria judge,
to deliver to the execution of the Britjfh bar
barity; a perlon under the proteaion of the
law, with the plea of American citizenlhip
in his mouth, and demanding a constitution
al trial by jury ?
Are you disposed to approve the ftai cha'm
rper proceedings of a branch of the national
I legitlature, against a printer who was hardy
enough to publilh some of their secret de
signs, evidently tending to fix an usurper in
the chair of state ? Indeed are you ready to
submit the constitution, which many of you
have sworn to support, and which you must
all feel your interest to preserve inviolate, to
the uncertainty of arbitary conftru&ion,
which is already introduced and which, if
pursued, must inevitably lead to consolida
tion, monarchy and ruin ?
You are now called upon Fellow-Citi
zens, solemnly to pause and refle&, whether
such tranfadtions, with many others of a
similar nature, have not taken place within
the Ihort time of the present admir#ftratiori
and whether they are not the necessary con
sequences of the President's political creed ?
We Ihall take leave to transcribe a few pass
ages of a book written by John Adams, en
titled, “ A defence, &c," to Ihew his ideas
of good government.
Speaking of absolute monarchies, he fays,
"the objeaion to these governments is not
because they are supported by nobles and a
fubordinatioh of rank." Pref. p. 7 Cobbet's
edition.
Os the " English constitution," he ob
serves, " Not, the formation of language,
nor the whole art of navigation and Ship
building, does more honor to the human un
derstanding, than this system of government.
The Americans have not indeed imitated it
i n giving a negative upon their legislature 'to
the executive power ; in this refpeQ their
balances are incomplete, very much, I con
fefs, to my mortification."
Vol. i. p. 70.
" So I Ihall shew in (another place) that
a nobility or gentry; in a popular govern
ment, not overbalancing it, is the very life
and foul of it." ib. 164.
" To shew the utility and necessity of
different orders of, men and of an equilibri
um of powers and privileges." ib. 177.
" Thank Heaven ! America understand
calling conventions,; and if the time should
come as very possibly it may, when heredi
tary descent ihall become a less evil'than
annual fraud and violence; such a conven
tion may prevent the firft Magistrate from
becoming absolute as well as hereditary."
,Vol. 3, p. 28, -
A sense df duty would lead him to intro
duce the diftinftion of the " well born,"
exclusive "privileges," .and a " nobility"
to preserve " the life and foul" of our po
~pular government/' This would soon tend
to the condemnation of ele&ions, under the
name of, ^ annual fraud and violence ;"
the calling of a convention of the "gentry ;"
the establishment of an " hereditary": ty
rant and " nobility" with a mock repre
sentation to a& under their direction, to per
form their drudgery and fanaion their crimes
truly according to the wonderful and " stu
pendous" British system.
As to the " English Constitution," so
highly applauded, by Mr. Adams, and
which he is so mortified that the Americans
have not more closely imitated, we have
never seen it, neither do we believe rhere is
any in exigence. Their best law writers
fay, " Their King; Lords and Commons
iare omnipotent, and that their King can do
no wrong," which observations amount to
as complete a definition of unlimited tyran
ny, as any thing ye can conceive. But on
turning our attention to that goterdment,
in its operations, we are at no loss for its
true charaaer.---We know that the mon
archy and aristocracy, instead of " checking
and balancing" each other, have engaged
the whole authority, and united to oppress
and enslave and destroy the people. They
have proceeded with funding systems and
loans, till there is not calh enough in the
world to extinguish their debt. They have
governed by mobs and falfe alarms, by sedi
tion laws and landing armies, till the na
tional spirit has funk into the meanness of,
Ilavery. They have plunged into ruinous
wars, and Carried dettruaibn over half the;
globe to prevent their miserable fubjeds
[1 Dot: 50 CTS. PER ANNUM.
from assuming the natural rights. Even at
this day, while their prime minifler besides
imposing taxes which would take a volume
.to enumerate, is contraaing a loan for up
wards of ninety millions of dollars, to carry
on the Work of daughter, while he is de
stroying the manufactures to recruit the ar
my ; while the princes and Wellborn, the j
nobility and clergy, rioting in immense re
venues, extorted from the hard earnings of
the industrious poor, these injured and in
sulted forts of labour, are reduced, by knave
ry and famine, to the necessity of fublifting
on cheap soups, supplied by the charity of
their oppressors ?
These Fellow-Citizens, are a few of the
blessed effe&s of that government which is
represented as the standard of perfe&ion, and
which you are censured for not more exa&-
-ly imitating. If there can be any thing
more aftonithing than that a man who held
fuch.doctrines should ever enjoy your fuff
rage, it is, thit the present administration
has preferred so much appearance of repub-
Ircanifm, and has not bent more after Brit
ish examples
From this disagreeable view, permit us
to turn your attention to the author of the
Declaration of Independence. We are not
in the habit of facrificing to the shrine of
adulation, nor even of fuelling too high the
dream of merited applause. The placid re
fleaion of having deserved the gratitude of
a free country, is the highest reward to a
virtuous mind. Yet we think if ever any
political character would juftify a handsome
etilogium, Thomas Jefferlon is that charac
ter —We shall however, without going into
those warm ex preffions of approbation which
our feeling would dictate, content ourselves
with observing, that his abilities are allowed
by.all parties to be eminent ; his integrity
unimpeached ; his adherence to the princi
ples of seventy-six undoubted. He has pass
ed with honor to himfelf and his country,
through various important offices, from a
member of the firft Congress to Vice-Prefi
.dent of the United States. Hisenemies, who.
feel themselves continually accused by his
superior virtues have come forward against
him with all the malice of their nature.
Unmoved by sedition laws, which afe not
intended and which he wants not, for his
prote&ion, they pour forth the torrents of
their abuse without restraint, and if any
thing coming from them,' can possibly add
to the luftre of his name, it is that truth_of
ten impels them, in spite of themselves, to
allow that their fear of him is founded in
his excellent qualities and that his merit,
while it repels the effect of all their malig
nity, renders him highly dangerous, and
likely to succeed in the election. , As the
tall summit of the Andes, towers into the'
region of everlasting serenity and the florins,
the whirlwinds, and thunders, while they
vainly spend their rage against his sides, and
expire in the vales below, only evince his
unapproachable elevation, so rises the Man
of the People, smiling in re&itude, amidst
the impotent assaults of all his adversaries.
These are the two most confj■ uous can
didates for the Prefidefocy of the U. States
though it is said with some appearance of
probability, that many of Mr. Adam's pre
tended friends and former supporters, diffa-'
tisfied with his moderation and because he
recoils from some daring attempts which
they have in contemplation, mean to'give
their interest to General Pinckney, as more
hardy in the cause of defpotifm.'Survey for
a moment the princip!es'of Mr. Adams and
tht tendency of bis administration, and trem
ble while you ask yourselves, what must be
the chara&er of General Pinckney, and
What would be the consequences of his di
re&ihg national affairs ?
. .It Is true, citizens of New-Jersey, you
cannot exercise a dire& choice in the ap
pointment of eleaors for Pfefident and Vice
President. You have refpe&i+ely petition
ed for this privilege which your neighbors
of other, dates enjoy ; you have demanded
this precious right which the constitution
undoubtedly gives you. Your petitioners
have been treated with contempt. Insult
has been added to injury, and your two last
legislatures, at least those of them who.ftyle
themselves exclusive federalifts, in fa& de
clared that you are unworthy of being trust
ed in a vote of such vast importance. But
they have not yet assumed to themselves
their own appointment; and it remains for you
to decide, at the approaching election whether,
those who deprive you of an invaluable right, and
premeditately abufe,you, yet retain your confi
dence ; whether you are willing to be considered
1/