The Republican ledger — Portsmouth, N.H., 1799-11-06 00:00:00, page 1

STANDING ARMY, No. 111.
mr. Parker, I
" WeJhall feel the flrongeft motives to fill on our
knees, in gratitude to Heaven for having been
gracioujly piefed to give us birth and education
'inAmerica and for having defined us to live under
her laws—we hare reason to exult if we make
car comparijon with England, and the English
"Csnftimtion, —In America " there is no Stand
ing ARMY. (PRESIDENT ADAMS.)
THE most tenahtable ground a man can
take is to recur tofrfl principles —lt is
a path which can be pursued with the utmofl
fafety and fatisfa&ion—in a Republican gov
ernment it is a duty in which every individ
ual is called -upon to pradice—for if the o
riginal sentiments are right, and a system is
adopted upon such reasoning, as naturally
arises from the premises, every deviation
from them must be considered as counteraa
ing the object of the establishment.—
The question then is, whether a Standing
Army in a Republic is considered as confid
ent with the fundamental principles of such
a form pf government"—the United States,
are avowedly declared to be a Republic—
the form of our Constitution is in dire& op
position to a monarchy—even the' British
government is announced by the President
as inferior to our own—and why ? Because
the sovereignty is in the people —because, there
are no titles of hereditary honors, and because,
there is no Standing Army. These are the
three prominent points in which a republic,
and a monarchy differ—and the diftindion
is very evident from the nature of the gov
ernment, as the monarchy is the will of the
Prince, while the Republic is the will of the
People. —The former naturally introduces
the sovereignty of the monarch, and the lat
ter the sovereignty of the people. Sovereign
ty is the essence of government—wherever
'this is placed, there the energy of the gov
ernment reigns.
To shew therefore the propriety of the
President's devout adoration to Heaven, that
there is no funding army in /,merica, we need
only observe, that while such an estab
lishment is made, the sovereignty of the peo
ple is Conveyed in a great degree from them
selves, to the funding army —for as Dodor
Thatcher justly observes,." if any individual
feels an injury doneto his country, and with-;
es to restore it to a ftateof happiness, with
a bayonet at his breast, a dragoon will compel
him to silence—is the people, awakened to fee
their interest and their duty, assemble for the
purpose, a military force is at hand to subdue
them, and by leaden arguments to convince
them of their error."---The Dodor reasons
like a patriot and a philosopher on this point,
# and in the ftrongett manner (hows, that
While a (landing army exists, the sovereignty
of the people is wrested from them. The Pre
lident in the fame judicious manner contem
plates the happiness of America, and with
bended knees to Heaven, exultingly pro
claims, there is no fandin^army in America.
Happy, thrice happy America—when the
renowned patriots are thus pointing out the
fatal engine, •• wnicn nas cver ueen wiciuea
by the hand of domination." —While they
are adoring the Jupreme Being in accents ot
praise, that America is free from this
scourge, can any real friend to his country'
be backward in joining them in their devout
exercises I—while contemplating this fub
je&, I was naturally led to examine minute
ly the sentiments of our orators, on the fub
je& of standing armies—they are documents
of the most substantial nature —under the
deep impression of massacre and daughter,
they warned their fellow citizens of its per
* nicious and deftruaive tendency —and while
weeping over the mangled corps of bleeding
townsmen, they spoke a language which
warmed the bread of their attentive audit
ory.
Agreeable to my plan, of fu,porting the
Trfident in his sentiments, I Ihall offer the
following extra&s from the oration of Doc
tor ThomasWelch, delivered March 5, '7B.
Ihe learned and ingenious Do&or thus
proceeds, " A militia is the most natural de
fence of a free state, from invasion and ty
ranny. They who compose the militia, are
the proprietors of the foil ; and who are so ;
„likely to defend it, as they, who have receiv
'ed it from their ancestors—acquired it by
their labour, or obtained it by their valour ?
Every freeman has within his breast the great
'Clientials of a soldier, and having made the
use of arms familiar, is ever ready for the
field; and where is the tyrant, who has not
reason to dread an army offreemen ? .;
" In the battle of Nafeby, in the days of
f#OM the Constitutional Telegraphe
NUMBER II. —•VOL. I.]
PORTSMOUTH, (NEW-HAMPSHIRE) PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GEORGE fERRY OSBORNE, jun. MULBERRY LANE, NEXT DOOR TO ROUSSELET's MUSEUM.
" WHEN YOU SHALL THESE DEEDS RELATE, SPEAK OF THEM AS THEY ME ; NOTHING EXTENUATE NOR SET DOWN OUGHT IN MALICE."
The Republican Ledger.
originate.
These must have been the ideas of the
President, when prostrate before the Supreme
Being, in thankful adoration—that in Ame
rica there was no (landing army. These
appear the leading sentiments with which
the orations on the sth of March were
fraught. The citizens of Boston, on these
occasions, gave full assent to the deftru&ive
tendency of such establishments, by their
unanimous applauses to their orators. The
absurd idea, that a (landing army is necessa
ry XV corniroin me cmzens OTariepuurrc, ^
too absurd to be noticed—men who cannot
take care of themselves, arc a poor fubfti
tutc to take care of others. _,
, " Go call thy Sons —inflru& them what a
debt they owe their ancestors, and make them
swear to pay it, by transmitting down entire,
thofefacred rights to which themJelves were
born."
" In transports of gratitude, whole com
munities have weakly facrificed at the Shrine
of a deliverer, every thing for which their Ar
mies have fought, or their heroes bled."
" Nations the molt renown'd among the
ancients for their wisdom and policy, have
viewed the army with an eye of attentive
jcalqufy ; the Romans characterized for per
sonal bravery, trembled for their Country,.at
the fight of one hundred and fifty Liters or
peace officers."
" When a government has a body of
flanding troops at command, it is ealy to
form pretensions for the distribution of them,
so as to effect their own purposes ; when a
favourite point is to be carried, a thousand
foldiers'may convey irrefidable arguments
and and compel men to aft against their feel
, ings, interest, and country."
Further extracts are needless, for the
whole oration hath the fame patriotic senti
ments. The dodor reprobates in the strong
est terms, a body of mercenaries^ and advo
cates the militia as the certain barrier of the
rights,wad liberties of the people.
Here then, let us fellow citizens pause,
and for a moment reflea, how it is possible
for any American to vindicate the eftablhh
ment of a Handing army; There is nooth
er way to account for It, than what has al
ways taken place in other countries. The
dissolute—the idle—the needy, and the am
bitious seek patronage and support through
this prostituted medium. A bankrupt views
it as the city of refuge.—The profligate as
the mantle for his dissipation.—The ambi
tious as the stepping Hone for preferment—
and the avaricious, as the source from whence
all his arts, intrigues, and impositions are to
[The reader, whose object is knowledge, whose pursuit is after
truth, will undoubtedly be gratified in.pcrufing the following.—
To dispel the thick milts and “grofo totofi, which has of late
o'erfpread the minds of the people, should be the study of every
enlightened citizen : And we are happy to find there are some
to be, found, who are willing to devote their time and talents to
this laudable purpose; and who dare oppose to the late fashionable.
tenets of the Clergy, truths drawn from scripture, reason and
common fenfe.J EDITOR.
For the Republican Ledger.
MR. OSBORNE,
THE events of providence at the present
day are remarkable, dnd demand par
ticular attention of those who are the friends
offod, religion and virtue, as they are an
m& accomplishment of the predi&ions of
ms word, and an additional confirmation of
the faith and hope of chriftians ; especially,
the downfall of Antichrist, the man of fin,
who for ages has ereded himfelf into the feat
of God and blasphemously assumed the hon
or which belongs to God alone : and it is
worthy of observation that this event has
been brought to pats by th6 fame powers
which had set him%p, and so long supported
him in his tyranny over the b^ies, estates
and confcwnccs of men, and who, according
Cromwell, the number offorces were equal
on both sides ; and all circumstances equal
—in the Parliament's army only nine offi
cers had ever seen actual service, and most
of the soldiers were London apprentices,
drawn out of the city two months before :
in the King's army there were about 1000
officers, who had served abroad, yet the vet
erans were routed by apprentices."
" Rome advanced on the zenith of glory
and greatness, and conquered all nations in
the times of the Republic, while her army
was an unpaid militia,"
" When Communities have so far mistak
en their interest, as to commit the defence
of every thing valuable in life to a Standing
Army, the love of ease will scarcely permit it
to reaffume the unpleasing talk of defending
themselves."
AFriend to the President.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1799.
to the predictions of the divine word, were
to be the instruments of his deftruaion.
Whata Convincing proof this of the divine
authority of the scriptures, and the sovereign
power of tla mediator over the hearts of
men, and the eVents of time !
Might it n§t be reasonably expelled, that
the nations whb call themselves protestant,
who separated from the church of Rome on
account of her idolatrous worship and usur
pation of the (acred unalienable rights of
confcience,efpecially ministers and churches
who have so long been earnestly praying for
the accomplifhnient of this predi&ion,
would join with elevated joy that triumphant
song ; Alleluia, Salvation, and honor, and
power Unto the Lord our God : For true
and righteous are hisjudgments ; for he hath
judged the great Whore, who did corrupt
the earth with her fornications, , and hath
avenged the blood of his servants at her
hand. But, strange to relate, protestants ap
pear to lament the event now it has taken
place, and are uniting their efforts with in
fidels, papists, mahometans, and idolaters, to
continue the bloody war with that nation
who hare been instrumental of fulfilling the
decrees of the Almighty, and the predictions
of his word, and to restore things to their
former state ; in particular that nation
which has been celebrated as the bulwark
of the protestant religion against Popery,
and whole king is (tiled," Defender of the
faith, are straining every nerve and exhaust
ing their wealth to hire popifh powers to re
(tore and defend the cxercife of that relig
ion to which they themselves are profeffed
enemies! ',
And what is (till more strange is, that our
nation, the descendants of the pious fore
fathers of this country, who were driven by
the persecuting foirit of popery in England,
in the reign of Charles, and the pontificate
of Laud, to seek refuge in this then howling
wilderness, and to enjoy that liberty they
were denied in their native land, and who,
themselves in the late American.war experi
enced worse than savage cruelty from the
barbarous armies of that nation, in their
wanton deftruaion of the lives of thousands
of their fathers, brothers, sons and intimate
acquaintances, deflowering their virgins,
burning their towns and property, laying
waste their plantations, decoying and carry
ing away their (laves, and every mark of im
bittered enmity in their power ; for us to
form a close alliance with a power by which
we have been treated in the most inhuman
manner, and which has spread desolation &
misery in every quarter of the globe where
they have gained any footing, and to aid them
in their efforts to restore the reign of civil
and spiritual tyranny in the nations of Eu
rope, is strange indeed : But is it more
strange than true?
Were a stranger to arrive in this country,
unacquainted with the abilities of her rulers,
the the wisdom of her councils and the se
cret reasons of public measures ; when he
(hould hear the bitter invectives and exe
vnrmm^ ~aganrn: rnv TrenCT tor their de
throning popifh kings, and overturning the
free republics of Europe, though one in the
least acquainted with their hiftory must
know that they retained no more than the
empty name, and have for ages been in ab
jed slavery ; when he (hould read the labo
rious produ&ions of orators, poets, poetas
ters and pamphleteers, discharged on the
public ear, and drefs'd up in flowing fuftian,
with metaphor heaped upon metaphor to
answer the end of argument with the po
pulace ; and (hould observe our expeniive
preparations for war, at &time when no en
emy is invading the country, would he not
be ready to conje&ure from this appearance
of things that we were preparing for a cru
sade to France, to aid the combined powers
to exterminate that 'nation of Atheists, to
reinstate dethroned popifh princes in the ex
ercise of their arbitrary power, and to re
place the trippie croWn on the head of his
hoiinefs ; and that, perhaps, we may exped
that our commanders in the expedition will
receive in reward for their meritorious ser
vices, the honor of knighthood,and a perma
nent residence in some delightful illand in
theMediterranean,like the knights of Malta,
to be defenders of the holy Roman catholic
faith ? Though we know that no such ex
pedition is contemplated, yet would not the
bitter enmity publicly expressed against the
French, and the apparatus for wa^ in a
time of peace be a ground of suspicion to an
entire.ftranger.
The public alarm at the dawning of lib-
[1 DOL. 50 CTS. PER ANNUM.
erty on the long benighted, and enslaved na
tions of Europe, and the Combination of
profeffed protellants with infidels and idola
ters to revive the reign of superstition in
those nations, is a further confirmation of
the truth of chriftianity, as herein is fulfil
led what was foretold by the fame spirit of
prophecy which predi&ed the ruin of
spiritual Babylon. That on this occasion
the kings ot the earth, who had committed
fornication with her, and had been fuported
in the exercise of their tyrannical power by
means of her dominion over the confeiences
of their fubjeds, and the merchants, that is,
the spiritual merchants, priests, friars, bish
ops, arch-bishops, cardinals ; the whole pos
se of proud domineering ecclesiastics ap
pointed in her hierarchy, afeending from
the dirt to the (kies, who have been enriched
by her sorceries, would join in the.general
lamentation, faying, alas, alas, that great
city Babylon, that mighty city 1 for in one
hour is thy judgement come.
But in vain are their lamentations and ef
forts to fruftrate the decrees of Heaven.
The kings of the earth may set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against
the Lord, and against his annoipted, but he
who fitteth in the heavens on the throne (<
his glory, (hall deride their folly and mad
ness; and vex them it! his fore displeasure.
He will defeat all the designs and attempts
of impotent mortals against his kingdom,and
at the appointed time fulfil whatsoever he
hath spoken. Babylon is doomed to certain
deftru&ion. She is now falling to rife no
more. The time is near when he who is
king in zion, and governor among the na
tions (hall appear in divine glory and ma
jesty to put an end to the present disordered
date of things, and th introduce that glorious
happy state in which dwelleth righteousness
When the light of divine truth (hall (hine
forth with fevenfold luftre—when wars and
fightings (hall cease to the ends of the earth ;
all rule and authority opposed to his govern
ment (hall be put down, and the kingdom
and dominion, and the greatness of the king
dom, under the whole heaven (hall be given
to the people of the faints of the most high.
He who teftifieth these things, faith surely I
come quickly, and every chriltian will be
ready to fay, Amen. Even so come Lord
Jesus. Q.
RICHMOND, OCT. 12.
From a conviction that-a considerable part
of the captures of American vessels, said to
have been made by the British, are fabricated
for the purpose of perpetuating ancient ani
mosities, and from the difficulty of distin
guishing the true from the falfe, we have
hitherto refrained from publishing any.
There are however some so well authentic
ated, that longer silence would appear like
Af>ffr?l>m &#oO.
To swell the catalogue of abuses, there are
also accounts of recent insults and enormi
ties committed by them, which no circum
stance or situation can palliate, and which
cannot easily be disproved. Os this descrip
tion is the case of Capt. Giles, of the schoo
ner Betsey, of Beverly, in the state of Massa
chusetts.
This insulted and lacerated American
seaman, in a plain, unlettered stile, has en
tered a protest receding his treatment on
board the British (hip of war, Daphne, and
transmitted it to the government of his coun
try, authenticated by his own, and concom
itant testimony of his mate and two of his
crew.„ By this it appears that he was caufe
lefsly and inhumanly flogged for the space of
thirty minutes by the boatswain, frequently
knocked down by the captain, (who aded as
an auxiliary) and finally returned to his own
vessel unableto stand, The offence of which
he had been guilty, was his daring to address
the lieutenant of the Daphne by the familiar
title of " friend." -
How is he answered, and what the profpe£t
presented by this appeal I
He is informed by the secretary of (late,
(for the reply amounts to nothing else, that
an exparte rex amination had taken place on
board the Constellation frigate, and that the
British captain had there denied to Captain
Truxton, upon bisfolitary honour, what Giles',
his mate, and two mariners, assert upon (heir
oaths —that therefore his representation ,of
fads Was untrue, ^nd the treatment which
he had received, such as he merited.
Remarkable Conberfon.
(From the " Virginia Federalist, one of the most referable fed*
cral papers in the United States.)