Berkeley and Jefferson intelligencer. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va.) 1802-1810, 1804-06-15

nuisance mas al Ieft US, uIl presently the
name itself we are Indifferent to retain or
not, and yet little longer even the name
wercnounce and make our vice our boast.
- our country destined for this sad re-
verse } Or does she not already exhibit
the worst part Of it! What has become
of the national character Of America -
Gone, we fear, to the tomb "of all the
Capulets." Sunk, withered and polluted.
Dashed in athe mire Of low and sordid
views ;-enervated with sel6shness; in.
feeted with 4 poisonous sophistry; and.
debased with the importation OF putrid
refuse, and aceumulating a gang Of = un-
happy {, cttiyess who, happy enough To-
cheat the gallows and the gibbet in Eu.
rope, are received in this .sasylum'' with
open arms and turning patriots Of '76 are
hailed, caressed and exalted BY the pow.
ers that be.-Those powers themselves,
who in turns support and are supported
every alien crew, are proof, and a
proof which promises to endure, that
revolution too must have happened in our
national character, or else that revoluti-
on which fixed the powers that be, could
not have happened to- the, union, or if
happened, could not endure. Had our
people been what they were in '76, Jef.
ferson would not have been President ID
1901. Were they now what they were
in go, he could not be Presiden ID sos.
The people are changed, and the qaali-
ties for their trust are changed with thefns
When we speak Of the people, We intend
the bulk Of number /; for under governs
ment where numbers, o. . majority Of
numbers, must ,controul. numbers are
sovereign, and sovereign Is the people.
: There is an intelligent and underlined por-
ton of the whole, who form an excepti-
on and as yet a respectable exception not
included in the present remarks bue
they are not more than an exceptions, for
they are minority. We repeat then
that the people are changed, and changed
materially Tor the worse. In point Of
understanding, if experience adds to un-
derstanding, however Il may be pervert.
ed, it cannot be supposed less now than
it was formerly. knowledge is neither
retrograde nor stationary, It must pro-
gress with the progression of years nor
in these days which are emphatically
termed enlightened Wilt be allowed that
there 10 more Of darkness over the public
mind than the days which are past. Yet
in those days with not more but, as they
will have it, with less information, the
people thought and acted right. IF then
they are wrong now, it cannot be for
, want of sense enough to know, for with
notagreater share Of sense they did know,
what 10 right, but it must be. for wantlo
principle enough to prefer right 70 what
is wrong. This truth may be unpalata-
bic, and il is truth not commonly told;
but it is time Il should begin TO be told,
and we choose to be among those who
begin. The fever Of democracy RACES
and spreads far and wide. because the,
corruption of manners, Of morals, and
of sentiments, spreading also far and
!, wide, serves both 20 communicate tho
disease and predispose the victims. In
isevery region where there Is Prohigacy,
there Is jacobinism, OF materials for ia
zeobinism, and where folly Is, jacobinism
win have subjects to act on, and toolsto
act with. Generally speaking, .throogh-
out the different divisions ofthis empire,
the quantity Of jacobinism, or ofdemoc-
racy refined and sublimated, Of any part
is already ascertained 70 be in the proPor-
ton of the praigacy and folly of that part.
In our southern states, negro slavery
may be a necessary evil, but il Is still an
evil, among the worst effects Of which is