The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1793-08-20 00:00:00, page 1

FELLOW CITIZEN!, ,
AT a period Hke the present, while Eu
rope is immerged in a bloody and difaf
troes war and the diftruftive fleel is keenly
whetted, on the ore part to pull down, and
on the other to build' up a government, A
merica from its neutral and pacific situation,
affords an sflyhun for the perfccuted of all
fefts and denominations.—Unmolefled we
enjoy the rights, of freemen and citizens,farC
tioned by wife and wholesome law?. It is a
fad generally conceded, that our country is
in a flare of neutrality. In foch state our
commerce flouriflies ; the abundent produce
of a happy foil rewards the labour of the in
' duftrious husbandman, and the rising prosper
ity of the United States affords ample sup
port co «he ufeful anzan and mechanic. In a
word, the voice of joyous peace and plenty
resounds throughout the land, save where the
beckings of a felf-interefted,difcontented crew
inflid upon the public patience, their pitiful
-abfardities. Thus fl mated my friends, Ihall
tve fuffer our happiness, perhaps our very ex
istence as a nation, to be annihilated, by the
ravings of knaves and mad.men. Shall we
precipiate ourselves into a most unequal war
to gratify the interested wilhes of a few mean
and avaricious individuals ? Who, my fellow
> countryman, are to fight our battles, were we
to engage in such a war? Is it the noiiey de"
claimer at a town meeting, or the idle, piti
* fol, fcribbljng fabricator of newfpaporial pa
ragraphs? No—such charafters are only war
riors in times of peace; their theatre lies hr
from feenes of militery aftion. Ie it then
the man, who by committing depredations on
the property of the belligerent powers has re
duced us to this situation ? no his objeft is
lucre, and so obtain it he would willingly
involve his country in everlasting misery and
disgrace. Who then fhaH ever bear the hea
vy burden & expensive toil of such deftruftive
measures? You my friends the brave and har
dy yeomanry of our country—you stall be
torn from your farms, from the bosoms. of
your families, and from the enjoyment of
domestic peace and happiness, again to tread
the rugged paths of war; to fopport a contclt,
Volume VIII.]
A Qua ker’s Letter to bh Watch-Maker.
Friend John,
THEREWITH fend thee my pocket clock,
which greatly ftandeth in need of rhy
friendly canedion ; the last time it was at
thy fchoul, it was no ways reformed by thy
discipline, even the least benefited thereby,
for I perceive by- the index of his mind he is
a liar, and the truth is not in him : that his
motions are wavering and irregular, that his
pulfts are sometimes very quick, which beto
keneth not an even temper ; at other times it
waxeth so sluggish, notwithstanding I so fre.
quently urge him, that when he (houldbe on
his duty, as thou knoweft his usual name de.
noteth, I End him numbering and sleep
ing, or as the vanity of human reason phra
feth it, I catch him napping. Hence lam
induced to believ*e he is not right in his in
ward man. Examine him therefore, and
prove him, I beseech thee, thoroughly, that
thou mayest by being well acquainted with
his inward frame and disposition draw him
from the errors of his ways, and (hew him
the path wherein he (hould go. It gneveth
me to think, and when 1 ponder thereon, I
am verily of opinion that his body is foul, &
the whole mass is concepted ; purge him
therefore with thy charming physic from all
pollutions, that he may vibrate and circulate
according to »he truth. I will place him for
a few days under thy care, and pay for his
board when thou required if. In thy last
thou charge# me with one eighth of a pound,
which f certainly will pay when thy work
deserves it. I intreat thee, friend John, to
demean thvfelf on this occasion with a right
judgment, according to the gift which is in
thee, and prove thyfelf a workman that need
not be albamed. And when thou layeft thy
correding hand upon him/let it be without
passion, left thou drive him to deftrudion.—
Do thou regulate his moticn for the time to
come, by the motion of the light that rule h
the day, and let him learn from that unerring
guide, the true calculation of his table and
equation and when thou finceft him convert
ed from the error of his way, and more con.
formable to the above-mentioned ruler, then
do thou fend him home with a just bill of
charges, drawn out by the spirit of modera
tion, and it (hall be sent in the root of ail evil
unto thee. By thy Friend
the Yeomanry of Mafachufeits.
FROM ?HE (BOSTON)MERCURr.
The American Herald of Liberty.
EXETER (New-Hampshire) Printed and Published by Henry Ranlet, in Main-Street, at fix jhilllngs and eight pence per annum.
I>w<
MANASSEH SMITH.
brought upon you by wicked, artful men—
your plough-fhires and pruning-hooks shall
be faftiioned into weapons of hostility and
death—rhe failing face of your country shall
be converted into a feene of murder and
bloodshed—your fields teeming with, tne yel
low harvest, (hall be desolated with fire and
sword—and for what ? To obtain the desires
of avaricious marauders, — to build up the bro
ken fortunes of difeonrented and needy ad
venturers.—’Tis for this my fellow country
men, you a|g to be plunged into a war— * tis
for this your profpeds are to be ever blafled,
and the bright temple of liberty and freedom
which year bravery has ereded, is to be razed
to the ground. No tny countrymen —Let not
your native reason and good sense fuffer you
to become the dupes of such designing, felf
interefted men.— Permit not yourselves thus
to trifle with those blessings which have cost
you rivers of blood and millions of treasure
in the attainment.
MR. RANLET,
IN your paper of the 23d July T/obferved
with a deg ee of anxiety the Old Bache
lor’s Defence.—l apprehend the author as
sumed the name of SENEX from this motive
—that age would entitle him to refpe6—
wh : ch would be al! he could claim from this
polite performance ; and although the name
of adifputant was ever hateful ro roe, y^Yleft
Mr. Senex (hould suppose my fpence as ah
acknowledgement of vidory on his part ; I
will inform him of his mistake.
Mr. Senex or Old Celebacy expresses a
degree of admiration at the invention of this
new method of Taxation ; as if government
had arriven to its acma, acd men as well aS
methods most move in a circle inferibed by
his whimsical imagination.,
He fays — “ H;>w will a wondering world
stare at such improvements ?” it may be,
and rHs wondering world consist cf no-body
but Old B*che'ors and Maids ; for whar
cannot be accounted for by natural principles
are wonders. He further prophecies a “blufti
•hat will pafis the lifelefs cheeks of the sages
of antiquity, at which the people of New-
Hampshire will rejoice ; and even the trees
of the sorest will be partakers in this gro
tesque appearance !” This is a period con
cerning which 1 have no knowledge; nether
dare I, like your long-eared ancestors, bray
out this spirit of divination ; however, since
Mr. Senex wa< pleased with raxing all kinds
of poppies, let me,a(k the impropropriety of
impoliog a tax on all other animals equally
useless: My idea would not be so much to
enhance our public coffers as to lessen the num
ber of those creatures which are actually bur
then some—neither is it so much fordeftroying
that unfortunate part of mankind, termed
Bugs and Fleas by Mr. Senex, as it is for
obliging them to conform their manrers to
the more civilized parr of their species.—
A connedion by many is certainly the grand
design for which a difference was made in
lex, in the rational World, if so to counterad
that decree is a crime, and if a crime, then it
is puniftiable by human legifiarors. Now,
Mr. Senex, (ee who can bray the loudeft.and
likewise fee if you can advise our legiflatora
into a more equitable method of proceeding
with the aforefaid animals ; but I fear your
flupidity and long ears will make but a faint
trial with sagacity and reason.
B-t Mr. Printer, my time is of too much
co».ifequence to curtail his arguments singly ;
neither will I excite frelh recolledions of hor
ror by adding one la(h to the scourge that tor*
tures the old Maids and Widows; but well
caution them to prepare for the severity of
the law unless they employ an abler advocate
than Mr. Senex. PUER.
Reply to the Old Bachelor s Defence.
r •
I 1 AJL" 1 I "J , ,
/tF The Members of the E-astern
Di/iria of the New-Hamplhire Medical
Society, are desired to take notice, that a
meeting offaid diftrifl will be held ar the
hoafe of Mr* Benjamin Lamfon, Innholder in
Exeter, on the hrA Wednesday of Septem*
ber next, at loo’Qlock A. M.
By order of the Prefluent:
Josiah Bartlb.tt, Jon. SePry.
( [of the fajiern Dijlrid M.,Society,
*793- '■ ■ ■,
Just Published,
By the Printer hereof, and to be fold at hitoffiee,
A NARRATIVE of WHITING
SWEETING, whp was exe
cuted at Albany for murder, 1.7$ 2*
for the HERALD of LIBERTY.
AGRICOLA.
TUESDAY, August 20, 1793.
Messrs. Childs and Swaine,
I HAVE been informed, that at the meet
irtg in the field;, on Thursday laft,refped
s”gs”g the propriety of addiefling Citizen Ge.
net, I was proposed as one of a committee
for that purpose—-and that it was suggested
by some one present, that I was oppoled to
the measure. v
The part which I have pursued, in the cost
public and unequivocal manner, and the at
tachment I have manifefted in various ways ,
for the French Republic, has rendered it ne
ceflary that some reasons (hould be assigned
for a condud so apparently inconfiftcnt with
former profeffions.
It may not be amiss to premise that some
weeks ago, I very earnestly originated with
another person and promoted means for an '
address to be then preferred to the miniftcr
of Frame. It being deemed premature by a
number of friends (though very much agairft
my opinion) I formed that address for myfdf,
which has been present: d to public view—&
though I am persuaded the affedion of Ame
ricans, to the cause of that new and great
Republic, is notin the faalleft degree dim
iihed, yet circumflances have lately occurred,
which might render it at least highly proble
matical how far we can be juftthed in du'y
to odrfeives, in the way of address, to cx
prHsour gratulaticns, through the Mtnijier to
his condiments, I therefore at least would have
been glad of a poftporem^nr.
My reasons were the following ; they were
fofficient for the time to me ; and for ti^
honor of my fellow-ci tizons 1 bdieve if they
had the fame impressions of their authentic!-,
ty, nine truths of them who met in the fields
wouM have embfac^d the fame opinion.
F’.rfl—Mr. Genet has declared that if the
President of the United States of Amer ca pur.
filed measures agreeably to his conflrudicn
of treaties, he (Mr. Genet) would appeal to
the people. Ibis, or the fubfiance thereof,
is contained in one of his memorials to the
President, or was verbally reported upon an
olhc al communication. Had he hid, he
would appeal to the conflituted authorities of
h s own country, for advice and direction, he
would have aded confidently ; and like a
man who knew the proper extent of his pow
er and duty : But to threaten the firft Magis
trate of an independent republic, that if he
did not conform to the pleafureof a French
M ffionary, he would appeal to the people,
that is, would incite them to infuFUdion,
riot, and treason, is a species of arrogance &
indignity to that Magistrate, and thro’ him
to the whole government, and every free A
merican, which Could n^ver have been expec
ted, towards a people who have m. n:je!?ed
. the moR zealous and decided partiality t,o the
nation he reprefewts. Mr. Genet, though
here ofore he was rhe fubjed;of a despotic
monarchy,ought by this time to have at ieaft
learnt, that in a country where there is no ty
rant, but the s known laws of the land, the
people, as (uch, have no judiciary, kgifla
iive, or executive powers to oercife but thro’
the medium of their re(pe&ive representa
tives, in their• fever al departments. By the
laws and Constitution of-our c< untryy ail the
powers of government have been consigned
to thpfe ' rcpre!en\ative«— they virtually con
stitute, ard are the feople, by reprefen tation>
freely and legally conferred—they are the
only organs cf the liw, known to us by the
constitution—to them alote in their different
flations,, appertains rhe exclu-five right of
making, of interpreting, and of executing
th^ laws when reqoitli-. Foreign AmbfAa
dors will find, most assuredly, that Ameri
cans are a sedate, orderly, reflecting kind of
men—too fenfibie to be long imposed - upon
by the intrigues of EngEflr, or Frenchmen,
and too spirited to fuffer their dignity and
sovereignty to be invaded by ftrange^, in
the commerce with the Guardians of our lib
erty and honor. If a French or Englilh
Ambaifador, Charge des affairs or Confol,
may fay to Us, or our Magiflrates, this is thy
confirußion you mu^ put upon your tree y, or
law. and shall observe the fame accordingly,
or I will appeal to the people— then, (inde
pendent of the audacity of the thing, which
ia the fame> whether right or wrong in his
Opinion) we have no further use fqr Prefix
denr,Congrefs, Governors, or Constitution :
We immediately become the vassals of for
eign usurpers. No, my fellow citizens, so
long as we acknowledge there does exist a
constitution, and . that under- it we have an
organized government, we; the people, ipde
penden toft hat cotrftitition and government,
have in our individual capacities, no aCU of
FBOM THE NEW-YORK DAILY ADVERTISER.
Political Miscellany.
sovereignty remaining,but those of thinking*
speaking, pensioning and lemonftiaung ; a
fovereigniy which I hope we shall forever re
tain inviolate. If our tnagiftrates betray
their tnfts, we have by our ojvn freewill,
already established tribunals,adequateto their
removal, or punifhmeot. If our laws are in
rhtmfelves deficient, we have preicribed the
mode, by which they shall be amended, ex
plained, or annulled—and if the conditution
itfelf, is impeded, we have, by it, declared,
rhe mode,-by which it (hall be corredied.—
Ged foibid, that in this happy, free, and
enlightened community, we, or cur posterity
(hould ever fee the day, that a mob, speci
ally under the auspices of any foreign influ
ence or connivance, (hould aflame the reins
of government, a^d didate in that form, to
their public truflees, and the continent, what
shall be the law of the land.
Secondly. It is repeated, that the French
Ambassador, when applied to by the Gover
nor of Pennjykvania to deliver up, or to order
from on board one of the armed veflels of
France in the Delaware, certain citizens of
the Rate, who had entered into the fervice.of
the Republic, the Ambaflador refufed so to
do—that he talked of the privateer defending
force by force—and even boafled that he focn
expeded the arrival of a fleet, by which he
would aflert his right and oppose force by
fori<?. I have however the charity [she pre
miles nciwithftanding] to believe this cannot
all betrue. But upon what piirciple, but
thai of contempt for our nation, and she gov.
ernment of it, could he refufe a request from
the governor so reasonable and ncceflary co
our part, as a people, who regard their pub
lic peace, and the faith of treaties.
Thirdly. There have been two publica
ticnr.in Philadelphia, one in Ergli(h,the other
in French verse, villifyicg in the most im
pertinent and opprobtous manner, not only
persons in the bigheft departments of Rate—-
but even Washington, the brave and vir.
tuous Father, and faviour of our country —
The fi.ft of these pieces, the Printer was fore
ed ro acknowledge, was written by Mi-. Ge
net’s Secretary. The latter is imputed to
him, as being in French verse, at which he is
said to hold a dextrous pen. Can ihete be
an American whole foul is not filled with holy
afledioh snd gratitude at the remembrance of.
the deeds and cordvd of General Wash
ington ? Ye;—To the dilgrace of human
nature, there aie even Americans, who hu(h«
ing the conyidion of confidence—who w;(h
ingtodeflroy thcFederal Government,& with
it our present tranquility and happiness, for
the chance of plunder in the wreck ; dark,
ccncealed, traitorous men, who hoping to
gratify their inordinate ambition, to raise
their difappoin ed expedations, and repair
their ruined fortunes,who ride in then coach
es, and hold thousands in bordage, unable
and unwilling to jpay their British debts, to
the amount of a million Rerling. I lay, there
are (uch who dare, impicufly dare, fjr tho(e
reasons to profane he reputation of that lol?
dier and patriot, whose name is revt red by
a.l the world. But language most want ex
piefficn for our cruelty, fupinenels, or cow
ardice, if at h int we tamely fuffer the ma
jefly of the nation to be insulted by the in
terference of foreigners in our internal poli
tics, and the wanton abuse of our public offi
cers.
Americans idolize the cause of the Fiench
— they confiderit thectuie cf mankind—and t
their own cause, and hat of their pcfierity*
for ages to come. They would fight, they
would die to (upport the independence of the
Gall can Republic, when convinced it is ne
cessary. They will ever pay a due refped
to the fervanrs of France, and ail other na
tions whilst they behave with propriety.*
These things have been fully evinced. But
Americans pay mo r e homage to their own
country, an<V° their own ministers, than io
those of any other nation—and if ever the
competition ariles, which is our favourite
man, thev will certainly, adopting the lan
guage of the Pbet, fay,
‘‘ Genet anti Wasiungton— -how they found!
“.A feather and ten thousand pound—”
Fourthly. It is al^o said, that Mr Genet*
hfis attached himfelf in a psf iicji’Jnr manner
to th'e known enemies < f the Federal Govern- -
ment; to the ievilefs c£ the Pj^dcpt, ar.d
of ad the ft. every public funaionary ci high
rank in it, and that bis general condi.^ has
been such as to rendet inTufpicjous that be
really wiflies by management with a certain
set of men to fnpport the standard of party in
Our already, feu much divided-land,. Jt these
impurataticns are founded in truth, end £
have fuflicrent'evidence to fatisfy my mind
that they are all literally cr fubflaotially
then if Mr. Genet'regards the true intends
[Numb. 7
>A<