The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-05-28 00:00:00, page 5

ejecting fortifications in the cenfrc of
5'°ur city, useless against a foreign foe ;
efficient only to overawe your citizens,
and to ruin their property in the suburbs ?
Would, in fine, the naval force have been
stationed alongthe river insmall detach
ments ? or would they not have been
collected so as to act with some advan
tage against the descending force ? It is
notorious, that at the moment \\ lien he
announced the greatest danger, of the
four gun-boats in the river, only two
were stationed as high up as Point-Cou
pee, and the two others at long intervals
on the river, so that they might succes
sively hive been taken, if half the sup
posed force had descended with the
hostile army ; and is it possible to sup
pose, that if the object had been to in
terrupt the invasion of Mexico, that no
part of the naval force should have been
stationed above Red River, and that
Nuchuoch«_s would Have been left al
most without a garrison? It is plain
therefore, from these acts, from these
omissions, from these arrangements,that
no serious danger was apprehended ;but
that for purposes best known to the
General himself, Ik to his {coadju
Xprs, it was deemed- accessary to keen
Up the alarm; to divide and weaken the
country ; to curb the town ; to keep all
its wealth in his power ; to scatter the
naval, and render the military force use
less; to magnify the forte of the enemy,&
terrify the executive, the legislature and
the judiciary into a dereliction of their
rights. As to the first 1 leave you to judge
whether or not he has not succeeded ;
the last remain yet at their posts, and
this day is to determine whether we are
to partake the disgrace of the one, or
share in the credit due to the others,
for let its not deceive ourselves as to
the effect which our approbation of these
measures, or even our silence will pro
duce—A sacred trust has been commit
ted to our keeping; a personal honor;
national dignity and the solemn sanc
tion ol an oath, concur in pointing out
our duty. Should we betray this trust;
should we disregard what we owe to
ourselves, our country, and our God ;
should wc he bold enough to bear the
reproaches of that internal monitor,
which no sophistry can relate, no pre
tended necessity silence, no power over
awe ; should we have the hardihood to
do this, I ask, can the boldest of us
meet his constituents with composure,
before they appear at their tribunal ?
Tjjc effect of this vfhn tenor, if it ever
possessed their minds, will be dissipa
tc^* "When w e render an account of
this winter’s transactions, will they, I
say, be satisfied with our list of di
vorces ; with our militia arrangements;
or even with our grand reforms in the
judiciary, if they should be effected ?
No, sir, they will inquire of us respect
ing events which more nearly concern
them ; they will inquire of their violat
ed rights : they will ask about their con
stitution, committed to our care ; and
in a stern accent, in which the voice of
the people must appear to us the voice
of God, they will demand whether we
did not, in his awlul presence, swear that
we would preserve that constitution in
\ iolable forever ? I hey will then point
to the open, avowed, undisguised in
fractions it has received in our presence;
before our eyes ; in our persons ; in the
very sanctuary of our legislature ; and
ask us what measure we took to pre
serve the constitution ? what steps to
avenge the injuries it received ? What
answers shall we, can we give to those
inquiries ? we reply, “ It is true we have
sworn to preserve your*constitution and
rights,it is true we have seen them open
ly violated and despised : we saw the
commerce oi your country endanger
ed, its citizens dragged disgracefully
through the streets, first to a military
dungeon, then to banishment and ruin ;
it is equally true we saw the peaceful
traveller stopped on the high way,
searched like a felon, and forced by vi
olence to ask protection in passports,
unknown and unauthorised by our laws ;
that private papers have been seized,
private letters examined ; that women
and children have suffered imprison
ment, exposed to cold and hunger ; that
our own privileges have been infringed ;
that our own dignity has been destroy
ed ; that our country has been slander
ed ; that your known loyalty has been
questioned ; and that your representa
tives have been insulted by a solemn
proposition to .violate their oaths, and
join in the unrighteous work of destruc
tion / / AH this we must proceed to
say; behold with tame submission, all
this ! some of it countenanced and ad
mitted ; and when solemnly called by
jfhc indignant voice of our country, to
express in our legislative capacity, the
feelings which ought to glow in the
breasts of freemen, we excused these
illegal acts; we palliated these enor
mities ; we threw the mantle of legisla
tion upon the nakedness, the folly^ the
vice of executive act?. Though
could not lessen the horror so consider
ably felt, we merely undertook to decide
the odium: we have humbled ourselves
in the presence of a petty officer, and
terrified by the bayonets of a single re*
giment, we kissed the rod and justified
the common saying by our mean sub
mission and flattery, that w you are
NOT FIT TO BE FREE1.”
Shall we be obliged to make this humi
liating confession? No, sir/ It is yet
in our power to retrieve the credit we
have lost; to assume the character that
befits us ; to address the legislature of
our country, in the language of manly
treedom; to shew to the executive how
much he has been deceived and betray
ed, by the civil and military chiefs—-•
and to give him an opportunity of d^s- *
missing the weakness which degrades,
and the tyranny which ruins his service
in this territory. And yet, sir, it ia
principally for our own credit, that we
ought to seize this occasion of shewing
that we are not the unworthy represen
tatives of a patient and patriotic people.
For, whatever ideas we may have of
our duty, the representatives of the
United States will know theirs; though
we may be silent, they will speak ; they
are fearless, though we may tremble ^
and should we flatter, they will never
cringe; and next to the consolation of
having done my own duty, I find one in
the certainty that there are at least ona
hundred and thirteen independent meft
in our councils, who have remembered
their oaths and will punish the betrayer* -
of their country.
INTELLIGENCE.
Baltimore, May 2.'
Remarkable Whir lav ind.
On Wednesday last, about 3 o’clock,”
took place, the most tremendous hurri
cane or whirlwind ever experienced in
this county. At the Fork meeting
house, called the Methodist meeting* •
near the dwelling of Aquila Hall, Esq. ,
were swept away, seventeen houses_
and several large trees, and fences were
swept off—in fact, not a single vestige
is left in that thriving place except the
meeting-house, and dwelling-house of
C. Govsuch.
The hurricane continued its course
from thence northerly across the Falls
ot Gunpowder to Hartford county ; and
lamentable to tell, the devastation con
tinued in said county, iu blowring down .