Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1806-05-15

ed lis assembly from csi- Iasisson.
But our nyriads of militia might DEFY
the world ia arms. Excellent hopes these!
When Austria in vain opposes two hundred
thousand veterans tothe progress OF soma
pare, when Russia is repel'ed IN the pitch.
| ed battle of Austerlitz, when Prussia with
it's armies, complete in numbers and disci.
pine, stands still, not daring 70 STIR, and
waiting to acknowledg Bonaparte conquer
or; or TO come more plainly 20 the point,
when we see half million OF Engilsh so-
lunteers, as formidable and as sttt la buck
ram as il is in ,hesspower of taliors TO make
uniforms, parading the coasts OF SUSSEX
Essex and Kent, and yet trusting only to
the vigilance of the British navy TO hinder
the French from crossing the channel
sarely, when we see these things, we must
be unwilling to reflect, or utterly incapable
of reflection, if we can suppose that the ar
ray of the militia IN the seoretaiy's Office
would transplant fear from Mr.. Jeferson's
bosom into Bonaparte's.
To say nothing of the improb abillty OF
the militia obeying the call for actual SER
vice, or, If they should appear promptly
and In suficien. numbers, of the lmpossi-
bility of OBTAINING them 10 service long G.
-nough to make their arms of the least im'
aginable use, dreful experience has at length
instructed nations, that when they are IN
danger, they ase to be preserved from It
by their real soldiers. These are made, NOT
in tailor's shop, by facing blue cloth With
red or yellow, but By learning in the field,
that subordiuatIon of mind that viii make
na=n do and ensure their dong al! that men
possibly can do.
Old Rome did not Out number her eng
mics, Two legions each, of less than SIX
thousand men, and as many OF the Latin
or other italian allies made complete con
sular ARM. Such an army routed the nurn-
berIess forces of Mi,hridates and Antio-
chus. 1t cost the Romans more exer,ioas
to subdue Persaus, king of Macedon than
to conqaer all the east. Ills phslanx, OF
sixteen thousand men, was harder 70 break
than all the million militia OF the other Sue
cessors of alexander. Rome, by the pers
lection of her discipline, became mistress
of the world,
Would Bonapar;e calculate on the yigor
of our government, as an lnsupe'ap'e OBJ.
stace to his military attempt on the United
States? Would tht congress majority, lie
Roman senate, create meaGs aad employ
them, win spirit tina, would prefer deail
to servitude or tribute? The French Ham.
bal surely, VITA cur Il miiiions Of tribute
t,ie ;tpIH haDf
no diseouraging fear OF this sor,. Wnen
he reads oar treaty with fripoll, by which
it appe ars that we chose tribute when VIC.
tory was within our reach when he sees
that the hey of Tunis presames to say by
his minister at Washington, pay or tight,
what can Bonapar;e coolluds bu1 that no.
nor is name, and IN America al empty
one, aud that our national spirit can never
be reused to higher pitch, than 10 III oke
calculation. With us honor is q coin,
whose very baseness confines il a, hoEs
for currency. Such people, he will say,
are degraded before they are snbdued.-
They are too ab]ect to be class or en-.
ployed among my martial slaves. Let them
tell 20 feed their masters and TO replealsl
my treasury with tribute.
Is there spirit in our people that would
eupply the want Of it in onrrnlers Our
total appropriateness both BY land and sea,
to make even shew OF resistance against
an attack, is certainly NOT from the was Of
military means in the L States, bot from
the dread Of a loss Of popularity If they
should call them forth,
Why is i: unpopular? Because the pro-
gress of French domination is not seen ar
all, or is seen with a fatal coInpiaesucy );
because we love our monly better than
our country; because We ENJOY Our case
almost as a1uch as we love our mooey, and
because by shutting our eyes 10 car public
dangers escape the insupportable terrier