Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1806-12-05

inc f4NgliSn, INC hNlcTtCduS any
descended from the sa1neyancestors Were
not the Franks, who conquered and esta-
blished themselves in France, and the Sax
ons, who invaded and settled in England
the same people, descended from the same
primitive orparental stocks (similar qucs-
tons viii apply to all Europe) and we're
no. these contcnding nations again united
BY the Norman conquest and the subsequent
wars and perpetual intercourse between
the contending princes of the English and
French throne
IF these things be true, what man, what
Englishman, Scotch Irishman, French
man or American, can say that he can trace
his own genealogical descent from high and
respectable antiquity
In Wales, in the highlands of Scotland,
in the mountains of ireland, and in Britain,
in France, the ancient Celtac may be dis
covered, bat even ieit could BE done with
exact certainty, Whit will it avail Who
can tell who tie Cc.tae themselves were |?
were they the aboriginal inhabitants OF an
Client Gaul, oy did they either drive cut or
extirpate their predecessors!
But suppose that some small remains of
antiquity should bc traced and established :;
what then, can it @: ought it t. have any in
Huence upon the character or policy of ma
tions as thew now xist The general hosti-
lity which France and England have long
preserved towards each other, has Drocec-
ded from the inbuman and barbarous poll
CIV of their rulers. These things have gil
ven to Europe long night of darkness, of
error and disgrace: But now it seems,
that the day star Of truth is about to culigh-
ten the world, the suspicious events which
have happened uron the cont ent, and par
tiCuiariy in Germany, give rise to antici-
tt,,, >h, TO-,
with gladncsG and with gratitude.
Many readers will perhaps treat these
things as the visions or sanguine mind
but how will they be surprised--how will
their benevolent hearts expand with the
tumults of INDISPENSABLE low, when they o.
pen their ewes and ears and will look and
listen? They will find that all the anticipa-
tons which have been propounded by this
pen are derived, from sources which cam
not fail. They will find so much in the
past for regret, and so much in the future
tor hope and consolation, that it will be
impossible to t;rn from the one to the o.
Their, without generating the causes and au-
thors Of those events which promise to be
81 rroDtious.
When the English nation shall awake
from its errors, and open its ewes to the OPP
pressions w lich thev bear, as well as those
which they infict and have long inflicted
in every part Of the inhabited and civiii-
zed globe, will they not claim from their
rulers, notifications, or innovations like
those which have been recommended!
VIII not the same spirit which reused the
Hampdens, Pyms, Sydneys and long list
o. other patriots, excite the people to op-
pose the entertainments of the Crown
SuCh Entertainments % those which excited
the nation to arms and brought Charles the
first to the scaffld, which prompted the
fist settlers of America to become fugi-
tivcs and outcasts from the country Of their
nativity, and to seek an asylum among the
slvlges of n trac<less wilderness ? 1t was
the same spicit which prevailed in Amcri-
CT, in the year l773. a. 5. 6 Sc 7, and pro-
duced the American revolution and indie
pcndency. What was this spirit 1t was
the Honest blood Of honest and brave En-
glishmeu, which operated TO the same great
purposes, as well in England as in Ameri-
ca.
IF any one should be allowed 70 assume
credit 20 himself and to deny it to another,
on account Of the place ofhis nativity, on If
any extraordinary merit could be derived
from that sole cause, then would the wri-
ter of these sentences, boast that he is an
Englishman--6r at least that he is descen-
ded from English ancestors. But he holds
such determinations in contempt, and al
though he highly respects the enterprise,
the bravery, the industry and the homer Of
the British nation, he cannot allow himself
tobe soblinded against the laws ofhumanity
and universal Justice, as 70 tolerate or vim
dcate what his heart condemns.
Tohis mind, no state Of things TO be ex-
pected from rcduciEgGthe British present.
nence upon the ocean, can be worse, than
the fate of the murdered Pearcc, or more
dcplorable than that OF our countrymen,
who have been constrained to fight in bat
ties in support of ar intolerable and unjust
usu-plti0n.
Europeans and Americans being all des-
ccnded from the same original stock, inha-
biting the same planet, actunted by like
passions, senses and desires, we ought to
examine and pass sentence upon the con-
duct of nations, as upon that of i:dividuals,
and upon each as if we were exotics or
missionaries from another planet.
Ifthcrc be reader whose mind is sufi :
cicntly expanded, who can be 50 much in
sul1ted from the aff,irs of this globe, as
to examine ana decide upon these things
with impartiality and Justice, it is TO him,
that an appeal ought to be made it is from
bin, that reasonable answer and decisi-
on ought to be expected it is by him, that