Republican ledger, and Portsmouth price current — Portsmouth, N.H., 1802-12-07 00:00:00, page 2

From the Wilmington Mirror.
THE SOLEMN PROTEST
Os the Honorable Ex-fudge B TT, againfl
the late expreflion of the public will, which
goes to proJirate at the feet of the People, the
official capacities of James A. Bayard, as
Reprefentatroe to Cong refs, and through that,
his claim upon the Government for fix dollars a
day.\;
THE result of the eledion of the sth
October coming within the sphere of my
knowledge, I co ,'d not but perceive that
the meaning and dejign of such result was to
divfl myfofin-law of hit office, and to vest
the fame legislative powers in another per
son, potfefled of different political principles
—Placed, by this meafute of the people, in
circumfhnces equally disagreeable and un
expe&ed, evident motives of serious paren
tal duty, as the fubferiber conceived, require
ed that he should deliberateon the lituatiou
of his son ; and judiciously decide upon^
great question, which necelfarily presented
itfelf for his deep consideration.—Aster the
“ THE PEOPLE,
THEIR OWN WORST ENEMIES."
It is probably known to mos of our readers
that, the! lon. Richard Bassett, of De
laware, one of the late fudges of the Circuit
(. ourt, and Father in law of Chevalier Bay
ard, late Reprefentalive in congress from that
State, has written and published a folenin Pro
tefl and RemonJirance against the repeal of the
Judiciary Law. The following handsome
Burlesque upon that pompous production has
lately appeared in the " Wilmington Mir
ror," and contains afummary of all the argu
ments adduced by the Right Honorable fudge
against this constitutional exprtflion of the pub
lic will.
the abolition of a Court of Law is as much
within the constitutional power of the Legifa
ture, as the choice of a Representative in Con
gress is within the rightful power of the Peo
ple.—Judge Bassett bad the fame cause to
complain of bis removal, as of the election of
CAESAR A. Rodney in the place of James
A. Bayard. The people will be equally af
felted with bis " Solemn Protest" in the one
case as the other.—The Ghost of the departed
Judiciary, which haunted us for ajeafon, is
at length laid in the <' vastly deep" and all the
Bassetts and Bayards in our Country,
will not be able to call it up again from its ever
Idlingflumber.—[Chronicle.]
Total, 1,255,033
This statement exhibits, onh, the more
important arrangements of the government,
in which there ha^ been a retrenchment of
former expences. To pursue it in detail,
would carry as beyond the limits aligned to
this difeuffion. A more minute examina
tion would display the fame system of fru
gality, in the more minute appropriations of
the public money.
Enough has been said to excite attention
and enquiry. The people possess the facul
ty of examining, comparing and contrasting
for themselves. Let them eXercife this fac
ulty, and they cannot be much longer de
ceived. They know the difference between
economy and profusion. They know the
former is necessary to the preservation of a
Republic. They know the inevitable ten
dency of the latter to the fubveifion of a free
government.
The time is at hand, when they will look
beck with horror, upon the perils they have
escaped, while they remember, with grate
ful emotions, the faithful services of thpfe
who have refeued their Country from de
flru&ion !
occasion, lay before the public a codicil to
this account. The People will then fay,
in the language of the @ecn of Sheba, to
Solomon “ Behold ! the one half bad not
bun told us !"
As a reverfoof this difgudirg piaure of
prodigality, we now holp up to view a state
ment of annual savings, in the expences of
government, refusing from the various a&b
of the last Sefiion of Congress. In the tri
umphant language of Republicans we again
call upon the people to
*, READ THIS!.
In the fortification of harbors, and DdlA
the defenfive protection of the fron
tiers, being lets than the appropria-'
tion for the preceding year 139,5° O
In the support of the Army, lets
than the appropriation of the preced
ing year 554;° 00
In the Navy, the difference of the
appropriation for the peace ellablifh
meut, including a diminution of the
appriation for the relief of Seamen 215,000
in the Repeal of the Judiciary aft,
by which is saved the salaries of six
teen useless and supernumerary Judg
es, appointed for life, 45,000
In difeoDtinuing Cammiffioners of
Revenue, and St&;rjhto)dant of
Stamps - 12,033
In reducing the appropriation for
Foreign Intercourse 21,000
Ditto— for prosecuting claims for
captured property, 35, 000
In disbanding an Army of four
hundred and sixty seven Excise Offi
cers ; average a compensation at
500 dollars each 253,509
Another proof of a conspiracy againji govern
ment and religion.
It may be relied on as a fad, that letters
from fume federal lawyers in Connect
icut (tboje noted friends of order) were writ
ten to gentlemen of that profeffion in the
state of Vermont ^vifingthem by all means
to plead to the jurisdi&ion of the circuit
court, and if possible to procure a continu
ance of all the causes, so that it might go out
to the public as though the court had scru
ples as to the conftitutiona|ity of the exist
ling circuit court. The contents of those
letters were communicated to the gentlemen
'u the bar of that state, but the disorganizing
proppfal was rejeded with disdain.
Am. Mer,
most pithy difeuffions in the Federal Ark.
and animated exertions among our friends
to diffiife federal principles, a majority of
the people of Delaware adopted the opinion
“ that they could feled a more suitable char
acter to represent them incongrefs :"—and
that majority by means of the ele&iin in
question, has divefled my son-in-law of the
office and compensation of congressman, to &hich
he was eledied years ago. It must be con
ceived, that I could not remain an indiffer
ent- fpe&ator of what was going forward.
As a father I had my concern in the result.
His right of office too,and the very ferrous in
jury which would fall upon him and family
from the meafufe, naturally enough excited
anxious folicitude.—lt was impossible, also,
not to feel deeply affeded by many of the
avowed motives for his removal, and the e
le&ion of another.— Motives which attached
upon his political rectitude imputations of
the ugliest- hue. Yet after all, if 1 fland
flrait in my fboes, it flrikes my mind that the
election is in itfelf null and void ; and this,
I shall go on to prove in the bettermeft man
ner lam capable of. Primarily in the firft
place I shall prove, that if men do not aft
virtuously, they do not act lawfully.—Now
I fay that gratitude is a virtue—l also fay
that the people of Delaware have not a&ed
gratefully towards my son-in-law therefore
not virtuously, consequently not lawful.—
Which makes it null and void. Secondari
ly in the next place, if it firikes other men's
minds as it does my. own, I thinka man
ought always to be kept in office during his
life time. This I take to be an axiom and
a very powerful argument. Thirdly in the
last place, there has been so many cases of
insane people with unsound minds in the
Hate, I don't beleive they were capable of
judging or choosing aright ; therefore my
son-in-law must of course remain in office
until the return of the people's judgement.
After these observations, it remains only,
that I fhoutd conclude with a difiina exhi
bition of my opinions, resolutions and mo
tives. And firft, for the reasons assigned, I
maintain that the expreflion of the public
will on the sth is void —And further, that
my son-in-law does of right " fill hold, his
office as at sirs!." Should the opinion herein
delivered, finally prevail, no doubt can be
entertained but the people will with alacri
ty and good faith cure the difeontinuence of
his office as congressman, and enable him to
resume his usual functions —In the interim,
I hold it my bounden duty to claim the oft
fice thus appertaining to my son-in-law,
and publicly to protest against the voice
of the people of Delaware, who did not
Jiand Jiraight in their fboes when they ousted
him. In circumstances so distressing, I
conceive it an obvious right to give publici
ty to the foregoing opinions and reasons. I
have been left without any other means of
declaring and making known my sentiments
and claims for him. Those who know the
course of my life, will acquit me of any
views, except those of tender parental affec
tion, which profeffedly (and I trust really)
govern them ; having always exerted myfelf
in his behalf to the extent of my humble
abilities ; yet the act which I shall now sub
scribe, is the most important of my life with
reference to paternal obligation. If any
difference of opinion between me and my
son exjHs, it relates merely to the points of
time for expressing my sentiments. I can
confidently assert, that on the main point we
perfealy coincide; he rather thinks I ought
to have protested before the public will was
exprefled. Nevertheless notwithstanding,
my own conscience dictates that I had better
do it late than not at all. I have delivered
my thoughts for the benefit of all those
who may have become unpopular, and are
called to reflea on this interring fubje&.
They are feebly expressed ; perhaps errone
ously conceived ; they are however Jincere.
My most ardent with, is that the termination
of this conflict may produce fafety to hi, of n
fice, and his salary. I have done what 1
deemed a sacred parental duty in Support of
that office and salary. I have done it new,
,because my life may not be spared till tomor
row. I commit ail to those who fland.Jirait
in their fboes to decide, fatisfied that honor,
philanthrophy and gratitude, will guide and
ian&ion their judgment.
R D. B IT.
Dated at Home tbeiitbl
day of October, 1802. J
Congress bad proposed a duty of five per cent,
on imported articles, the money to be applied as
a fund towards paying the interefl of loans to be
borrowed in Holland. Tbe resolve was sent to
the several Dates to be enabled into a law. Rhode-
Island absolutely refufed. 1 was at the trouble of
a journey to Rhode-Inland to reason with them on
the subject. Some other of the Dates enabled it
with alterations, each one as it pieafed. Virginia
adopted it, and afterwards repealed it, ,nd the
affair came to nothing.
It was then visible at leaf! to me, that either
Congress muD frame the laws De ceffary for the
union, and fend them to the several Dates to be
euregiftered without any alteration, which would
in itfelf appear like tifurpation on one part, and
passive obedience on the other, or some method
muD be devised to accomplis the fame end by
constitutional principles, and the proportion I
made in the memorial was to add a Continental
legislature to congrejs, to be elected by the federal
States. Tbe proportion met tbe full approbation
of the gentlemen to whom it was addressed, and
the conversation turned on tbe manner of bringing
it forward. C. Morris in walking with me after
dinner, wished me to throw out the idea in the
newspapers. I replied that I did not like to be
always the proposer of new things, that it would
have too assuming an appearance ; and besides,
that I did not think the country was quite wrong
enough to be put right. I remember giving the
fame reason to Dr. Ruffi, at Philadelphia, and to
gen. Gates, at whole quarters 1 spent a day on my
.return from Rhode-Maud, and suppose they will
remember it because the observation seemed to
Strike them.
But the embarrassments encreafing as they ne
cessarily muff from the want of a better cemented
uhion, the Date of Virginia proposed. 'holding a
eommerciai convention, and tbit convention,
which was not Sufficiently numerous, proposed
that another convention, with more extensive and
better defined powers, Should be held at Philadel
phia, May to, 1787.
When the plan of the federal government, for
med by this convention, was proposed and submit
ted to the consideration of the several Dates, it was
strongly objected to in each of them. But the ob
jetbons were not on antifederal grounds but on
constitutional points. Many were Shocked at the
idea of placing, what is called executive power,
in the hands of a single individual. To them it
had too much the form and appearance ofa mili
tary government, or a despotic one.—Others ob
je&ed that the powers given to a prelident were
too great, and that in the hands of an ambitious
and designing man, it might grow into tyranny,
as it did in England under Oliver Cromwell, and
as it has since done in France. A republic muD
not only be so in its principles, but in its forms.
The executive part of the federal government was
made for a man, and those, who consented, againil
their judgment, to place executive power in the
hands of a tingle individual, reposed more on the
fappofed moderation of the person they had in
view, than on the wisdom of the measure itfelf.
Two considerations, however, overcame all
objections. The one was, the absolute necelfity pt
a federal government. Jhe other, the rational
reflection that as government in America is found
Ctomag ^aine,
To the Citizens of the United States.
LETTER the SECOND.
AS the affairs of the country to which I am re
turned are of more importance 10 the world, and
to me, than of that 1 have lately left (tor it is
through the new world the old must be regenerat
ed, if regenerated at all) I shall not take up the
time of the reader with account of feenes that have
passed in France, many of which are painful to
remember and horrid to relate, but come at once
to the circumstances in which I find America on
my arrival.
Fourteen years, and something more, have pro
duced a. change, at least among a part of the
people, and I afit myfelfwhat it is? I meet or hear
of thousands of my former connexions who are
men of the fame principles and friendmips as when
I left them. But. a non-defcript race, and of
equivocal generation, assuming the name of
federalijl, a name that describes no character of
principle good or bad, and may equally be appli
ed to either, has since darted up with the rapidity
of a mufhroom,-and like a nitifhroom is withering
on its rootless halk. Are those men federalized
to support tlie liberties of their country or to
overturn them ? To add to its fair fame or riot
on its spoils ? The name contains no defined idea.
It is like John Adams' definition of a republic in
his letter to Mr. Wythe of Virginia. It is, fays he,
an empire of laws and not of men. But as laws
may be bad as w ell as good, an empire of laws may
be the belt of all governments or the worst of all
tyrannies. But John Adams is a man of paradox
ical heresies, and consequently of a bewildered
mind. He wrote a book entitled “ A Defence of
the American Conflitution, and the principles of
it are an attack upon them. But the book is def
eended to the tomb of forgetfulnefs, and the bell
fortune that can attend its author is quietly to
follow its fate. John was not born for immor
tality. But to return to federalifm.
In the hiflory of parties and the names they
aflame, it often happens, that they finifh by the
difeft cantrary principles with which they profefs
to begin, and thus it has happened with federalifm.
During the time of the old Congress, and prior
to the eflablifhment of the federal government,
the continental belt was too loosely buckled. The
Several states were united in name but not in fact,
and that nominal union had neither center nor cir
cle. The laws of one date frequently interfered
with and sometimes opposed, those of another.
Commerce between state and date was without
protection, and confidence without a point to rest
on. The condition the country was then in was
aptly described by Pelatiah Webfler when he said,
" Thirteen saves and ne'er a hoop will not make a
barrel."
If then by federalists is to be understood one who
was for cementing the union by a general govern
ment operating equally over all the dates, in all
matters that embraced the common interest, and
to which the authority of the fiates severally was
not adequate, for no one slate can make laws to
bind another, if I fay, by a federalifi is meant a
person of this defcription,(and this is the origin of
the name) I ought to fland firJl on the lift of feder
alifls, tor the proportion for eltablifhing a gene
ral government over the union came originally
from me in 1788, in a written memorial to chan
cellor Livingston then secretary for foreign affairs
to congress. Robert Morris miniller of finance
and his associate Governeur Morris, all of whom
are now living, & we had a dinner and conference
at Robert Morris's on the fubjeft. The occasion
was as follows.
ed on the reprefentatike fyflem, „ errcr in fl
firft essay could be reformed by the fame quiet
and rational process by which the conftitution'w&s
formed ; and that, either by the generation then
living, or by those who were to succeed. If ever
America lose fight of this principle, fte will no
longer be the land of liberty. The father u ill be
come the assassin ot the rights of the son, ^d hte
descendants be a race of Haves.
As many thousands who were minors are grown
up to manhood lince the name ^federalist begad
it became necessary, for tlreir ihiormanOTi, to gb
back and Show the origin of the m.me, which is
now no longer what it originally was: but it is
the more necessary to do this, in order to bring
forward, in the open face of da, the apoflacy of
those who firft tfremfehes federAifts.
To them it served as a cloak for treason, a
mafic for tyranny. Scarcely were they placed in
the teat of power and office, than federalifm was
to be destroyed, and rhe representative fyffem of
government, the pride and glory of America, and
the palladium ot her liberties, was to be over
thrown and abolished. The next generation was
not to be free. The fen was to bend his neck be
neath the tather's foot, and live, deprived of hie
rights under- hereditary controul. Among the
men of his apostate description, is to be ranked
'."5 ex-president fohn Adams. 1; has been the po
litical career of this man to begin with hipoerrty,
proceed with arrogance, and fiuifh in contempt.
May fpch be the fate of all fitch characters.
I have had doubts of John Adams ever lince the
year 1776. In a conversation with me at that
time, concerning the pbamphlet Common Sevfe,he
censured it because it attacked the Fmglilhform ot
government. John was for independence because
he expected to be made great by it ; but it was
not difficult to perceive, lor the surliness of his
temper makes him an awkward hygocrite, that
his head was as full of kings, queens and knaves
as a pack ot cards. But John has loft deal.
When a man has a concealed project inhis brain
that he wants to bring forward and fears will not'
succeed, he begins with it as physicians do by fufe
petted poison, try it firft on an an -mal, if it agree
with the stomach of the animal he makes further
experiments, and this was the way John took.
His brain was teeming with projects to overturn
the liberties of America and the reprefentatfre
fyliem of government, and he began by hinting it
in little companies. The secretary of John J?y,
an excellent painter and a poor politician, ibid
me, in presence of ahother American, Daniel
Parker, that in a company where himfelf was
prelent, John Adams talked of making the govern
ment hereditary, and that as Mr. Washington had
no children, it should be made hereditary in the
family of Lund Washington. John had net im
pudence enough to prapofe himfelf in the firft
inftanee as the old French Normandy baron did,
who offered to come over to be king of America,
and if congress did not accept his offer, that they
would give him thirty thousand | ounds lor the
generosity of it ; but John, like a mole, was grub
bing his way to it under ground. He knew that
l^und Wallington was tinknow n, for no-body had
heard of him, and that as the president had no
children to succeed him, the vice president had,
and if the treason had succeed and the hint with
it, the goldlmith might be lent for to take mea
sure of the head ot John or of his son for a golden
wig. In this case the good people of Boston might
have for a king the man they have rejected as a
delegate. The representative fyliem is fatal to
ambition.
Knowing, as I do, the consummate vanity of
John Adams, and the (hallow nets of his judgment,
1 can easily picture to myfelf that when he arrived
at the Federal City, he was Strutting in the pomp
of his imagination before the presidential house or
in the audience hall, and exulting in tbe language
of Nebuchadnezzar— ‘ A not this great Babylon
that !hve built for the honor of my majesty I"
but in that unfortunate hour, or Scon after, John:
like Nebuchadnezzar, was driven from among
men and fled with the speed of a pofl-horfe.
Some of John Adams' loyal subjects, I fee, have
,been to present him with an address on his birth
day ; but the language they use is too tame lor
the occasion. Birth-day addles, like birth-da,
odes, Should not creep along like dew-drops dk>wu
a cabbage leaf, but roil in a torrent of poetical
metaphor. 1 will ghe them a Specimen off the
next year. Here it is—.
When an Ant, in travelling over the globe, lifts
up its loot, and put it again on the ground, it
Drakes the earth to its centre ; But when YQU,
the mighty Ant of the east, was born, &c. &c.Lna
the center jumped upon the furfam
This, gentlemen, is the proper Dyle of addrels
from well bred Apts to the monarch of the ant,
hills ; and as 1 never take pay tor preaching, pray
ing, politics or poetry, I make you a present of if.
Some people talk ot ijnpeacb ng John Adams ;
but lam for Softer measures. 1 would keep him
toniake fun of. He will then rawer one of ite
ends for whifh he was born, and he ought to be
thankful that lam arrived to take his part; I
voted in earnett to save the life of one unfortunate
king, apd 1 now vote in jell to save another, it is
my fate to be always plagued with fools. But;
to return to federalism and apoftacy.
The plan of the. leaders of the faction was tw
overthrow tbe liberties ot the new world, pn^
place government on the corrupt system of the
old. They wanted to hold their power by a more
Rafting tenure than Ibe -chuke 01 their constituents.
It is inipoffible to account for their conduct, and
the measures they adopted, on any other grounds
But to accomplish that object, a flooding army and
a prodigal revenue muit be railed ; and to obtain
tht fe, pretences mull be invented to deceive. —
Alarms of dangers that did not txift even in ima
gination, but in the direct Spirit of lying, were
Spread abroad. Apofhcy (Talked through the land
in tbe garb of patriotism), and the torch of ueafo@
blinded for a while the flame of liberty.
For what purpose could an at my of twenty- five
thousand men be A anted ? A single reflexion might
have taught the moil credulous that while the war
raged between France and England, neither could
spare a man to invade America. For what pur^
pose then could it be wanted ? Tlie case carries its
own explanation. It was wanted for the purpose
of dellroying the representative system, for it
could be employed for no oilier. Are these men
federalist ? If they are, they are federalized to
deceive and to destroy.
The rage against Dr. Logan's patriotic and vol
untary mission to France, was excited by the Shame
they felt at the detection of the falfe alarms they
had circulated. As to the opposition given by the
remnant of tbe faction to the repeal of the taxes
laid on during tbe former admimOration is easily
accounted for. The repeal of tbefe taxes was a
Sentence of condemnation on those who laidD era
on, and in tbe opposition they gave in that repeal
they are to be coufidered in the light of fl^nimus