The gazette., 1799-02-04
FCR THE c.9zETTE.


government, L i'm dQDere 10 the Oplnl II InaL ~
is a mott weak and hmfy performance, and
that nothing is more ridiculous and childiih
than to regret the lofs Of liberty under the con
aitution vet while have been revolving tie
inconGGeacy of 70 narrow an acceptation If
this letter with the charader of its author,
have been led into a pretty wide fed Of what
will at leaR de!eYve the rame OF political ina
gination, and is more commemorate with our
idea Of Mr. Teferfon. Such thoughts as occur
to me are too rudely made Of detached mate
rials, and NY ieifure is 100 broken, for ne to
think Of difplaying from this text the whole
fyltem Of Jacobin opPof.ion for ten years Palt,
although with the very little advantages we
pofefs al this remotenels from confidential
agency, it is indeed precious document fer
this purpoie. In this view of the letter its au-
thor becomes entitled to that relpetl which isdne
to As perfeG lead,r Of party as ever tie Car
dinal De Retz imagined, and his view reRores
10 us the man whom we have lot Willie We
are conGde.ing he letter IN any iimPie l4nic,
or any fenf: hatcver but great ana c,mpre-
henGye one that embraces the f1rtheit outlines
Of cur hiRory fnce the revolution. | am deep
" fenible how weakly he blood of iriofr'ati n
circuates IN the extremtes of large dOminions,
bu; hoping fo- pardon where fail, lhill at
tempt a ketch Of what may Be deIaced from
this document by way Of TWO or three cAIys on
the letter to Mazzei.
ESSAY 7.
Tie fri great poinr to be afcertaincd, if Pof-
fble, IS the date Of this letter In all the copies
viii h have lc1n this is emitted, and We are
left to conjecture from the appearance Of It i
the Florence gazette, and the fubleqIent publ
cation in the Paris Monitor. In our gazette
the YEAR 1907 IS added to the Paris date Of Jan.
z5, merely bccaufe tile l.tter found its way into
American papers the May following th4t date.
Il IS Eatisfa0oriiy probable that The January Of
the Florence and Paris editors is the fame Ja-
nuary, and though tie year may eventually aP-
pear 70 havc been rightly fixed n this gRzet e,
the time when the ll;,er was wyitt.n is 70 very
material A circumG4nce of the obiervalons
which are TO follow, and the letter itfelf will be
70 much ilIucidated by this Procef, that fball
trv 70 alcertain the date with luficient exadn4Is
from exprelions and alluions in The paper itielf.
II can iucceeI in this, then it will be only
receGarY for f5Te pcrlon who knows, to infom
the public when NJ. Ma7zei left America, in
order to eRab,i!h the Teiod within which the
autkor fdvS our political lituatiOn vas " P;o-
diqi~u1y change" and though this d1tlm
would he Of fmall importance in ccmParilon
tn the infcrences TO Be made from he date Of
the letter, yet it would have its value to The
curious mind, and explain more clearly the
politics Of Mr.. JefTeIfon by comparing A fate
Of things that was agreeable 70 him with enc
which he 70 trong' y dilaPProtes. But | can
only endeavour to clear up the date Of the let-
ter.
tits ve~J evident that II vas written after the
organization Of lie government urder the new
contribution, and from the mention Of the
"banks and public FUNDS il no lefs appears that
It was fubleQoert 70 the clla5!ilhmeIt Ct the
-cvcnue-ly0em of the United States. From
ylious paris of the letter il is dear thltan oP-
petition to government was already formed and
unde~nood heir fyRcm, that it was organized
and that the writer was one Of the party
" IncratituAe 10 France" could not Be men
toned ualeS it was written ahe. the p-oclam7-
tion OF ne TIA .ty-snd lie progress ct iniuaice
70 France implies refofal Of The part If our
government 10 take part n the war. If The
q ELGbyfian HeJ," inGead of the con0i'uticr.
hould be taken to mean the Brit:lh treaty, this
ALTO viii have Geen Prlcr event but this is
hardly 10 Ne relied upon when il Is followed by
'ts- fyf lGn;srJ 4pbisb yftcfeded 1r la50ny5,'
for that party ince it was formed, has never
{" Numbered" nor fePt. Upon the whole, per-
ha1s he OILY certainty to which We can arrive
IS this, that the letter II M. Mazz-i was wit
ten afer the adoption Of the conHi,ution, after
the in1tulicn Of the revenue fyfem, after III.
Proclamation Of neutrality, after the iotrigucs
of Genet. and after Mr.. Jeferlon's reGgnation
Of TIE office of ha'e, to which Mr.. Randolph
ficceeded. To this may be added The proba
blity which aries from the European dates,
and from The Europeln knowledge Of our par
ties and avidity to gain advantage and confe
qucnce from them, that II wa, written fometin1c
in he year 1895. And finally, to }rengthen
this latter prelumrtion al viii recolle9 thar at
this time the new P.cGIent was to be chofln,