Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1805-03-13
F,sm the CPM. } REGISTER.
THE DEFENcE-Ao. II.


mind, in relation to the municipal institu.
tons of our country, necessarily lovolvcs
the retrospect Of scenes. which it is the sim
csre wish Of every vir,uous and patriotic
constitutionalist to bury in oblivion. The:
spirit of party is the most ysnomous ana.
inyeterate foe to religion, order and law.
That, indeed, for the last few years, :h,re
have existed among us division OF s.n,i.
ment, and discorcarce in our po!ticIt
objects, which have poisoned the source OF
domestic happiness, and threatened to SUBJ
vert tbs fabric of national prosperity, is a
fact too notorious 10 be concealed, and too
injurious not TO be lamented. To the fatal
prepondcrance of the same spirit, in our
present public concerns, must be ascribed
most Of the prosecutions we endure. and
all those evils, which it is our duty, pos.
.ible, to remedy. The revival, therefore,
of the memory of past dissentions, gene.
rally as impolitIc and pernicous. as the
disposition which leads to it is malignant
and detestable. Yet the magnitude OF the
present occasion requires, that the motives
of those who have long been sedulouslv
our Jurisprudence. should be unfolded with
frankuess and vigoT. And in displaying
the folly of Their arguments, and the ntia-
robustness of their objects, it is absolutely
necessary to revert 10 ,he former character
of their policy.
II, with the commencement OF the war
between Great Britain and France, which
Il, III
present division of our parties, did not al
together begin at that aera, undoubtedly
their hostility burst forth with redoubied
violence and ardour. In the course Of the
contest, to which that event may be consi-
dered as the parent, the rival sects bestow-
ed on each other the appellation of French
or British, according to the sentiments
which they respectively manifested, in fa-
vor of one or the other of the brlligerene
nations. In the progress of the hatred
which grew up between the different inter.
ests, it soon became an object Of impor-
lance to the present ministerialists, to FIX
upon their antagonists the odlum Of an IL
legitimate attachment to the British con-
stitution; of desire to assimilate our
.
and of burthening the people of this coun-
try with system of neutrality-suspicious., ad-
verse to their habits, and ruinous to their
liberty. This charge was so ingeniously
and powerfully urged; so often and boldly
repeated and SO plausidiy supported, by
the natural and irresistible current of e.
vents, that it unquestionably made very
serious impression: Men who had been
Simpsons in combat, and Solomons in
council" 1vere in truth believed, $50 have
cut off their hair for the who're of Eng
land" Individuals, equally artful, ul-
principled, ard enthusiastic, who had at
first regarded .his ridiculous ehimera az
the weapon Of attack upon others, rather
than as an instrument Of danger to the
freedom Of their coantrymen, became, az
last, perfectly persuaded OF its actual ex-
istence. Thus animated, by the success
Of their first endeavors, and taught by their
own zeal 10 be convinced Of the patriotism
of their efforts, as well as warmed by tha
blaze OF the revolutionary conaagra,ion.
witch had burned up and destroyed every
ancient institution in France; Mr.. JeRer-
son and lis adherents thought it necessary
to prescribe every relct Of our former
connexion with Britain. Not only, there.
fore, were the circumstances of the war,
which terminated in our independence, de.
claimed on with every circumstance Of ex-
aggeration and terror: not only were tn,
people of that nation represented as tos
most cruel, oppressive, proaigate, corruTr,
and tyrannlcai, on the face Of the globe /:
not only was their political constitution
made the object of open, vehement, and
incessant attack, but their municipal laws
and usages, their administration e justice,
and the character Of their judges, was TIC
theme of endless, outrage, calnmny, and
defamation. The works Of Calender, par-
ticularly, an author, whose writing, seem,
in high degree, to have been worthy of
the sanction of Mr.. Jeferson's aPproba-
ton, were alphabetically directed towards
rousing the indignation of eur people, a.
gainss the whole syssem of British juris-