Alexandria daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1803-1808, 1807-04-28
From sde Federal Gazette.
THET a 81 E T.,.No. ~.

We effered kind Of ap6io gy III our lns
,roducsory number for the careless. manner
IA which we expected 10 compose the
r ablet. Knswing that we Could not hna
leasure 10 polish our style, We 50 infor "a
ed the public. The case however was Dill
fsrsnt as il respected the subjects we mac
cente mplased TO pass under sxamlisaslioo !.
These being faniliarized to our mind
could -nri,her be insrils:cally Improved
By s,ylS, nor injured by haste. I the
rt,a,,sr therefore alone We solicited atsen.
ton.
Some persons il is understood, have
been offended by our preliminary number.
We certainly did nos intend to court pub
lie favor BY insdions Rattrry There are
among US and VIC arc proud 10 acknowledge
s II. palntess, poets, rssayisss, historians,
LAWYERS. and divines but although we
can sisw specimens far from indifferent,
in each of their walks, yet il will become
Us better for the present, TO be modsstthan
boas,ful. Vanity will overset the sounoest
iudgmen.. The time Is we hope ap
preaching, when we shalt sing down Pope
IN poetry !; silence the essay ct Adison IN
prose !: and turn Swift into ridiculs BY our
wiz: when the historians Robinson and
C,bbon shall yield TO American names OF
greater potenc, and merit; when our bar
.shaisbe Without parallel; and our poipiss
filed with Massaht ns, Bsurdalous, Hot
sons, Clarks, Blu lers, Fosters aud bialrs.
This momens We have said is approaching,
Ia the mean time let as appear dltident,
s,udy the best models, and endsavor TO sx-
Gel them.
Our re st nunber, we have learned. gave
DO lsss umbfage, TO few worthy patriots,
3 Who think i, landable TO load the govera-
meat and people of England with every
epitLes of con,e mpt and ambuse--Let ns
call 10 mind, that abuse is almost always
an evidence of infsriorisy or disapPoins.
msns.
In our second number on the article OF
for,i6cations, We have been much too br'et,
and have been much condemned on this
account. The subject deserved and called
fora more ample discussion, than { OBJ
tanned. As it stands, we acknowledge II
is scarcely an outline. We hope, howe.
vel. on some future occasion, TO do II more
Justice and to shew, 1st, that there arc
none of our maritime cities, which cannot
be rendered, by means of fertIhcations,
inpregnab.c to ships of war. Cd, that &C.
acknowledgements from full conviction that
they could be so defended, bossomed on
the report OF able engineers, had system
Of foril6ca,iehs proposed, and conforma-
BILE thereto, had some OF the works begun
under his presidency. Sd; that Mr. Adams,
acting under similar conviction, and i'm.
pressed with the necessity of the measure,
forwarded the works Recommended by
Washington. 4th, that Nj. Jeferson, tho
he happened once slight, and incidentally
TO mention the subjeetto congress, has sui,
fered the defenecs, erected by his psede
cessors, TO tall into decay, while his friends
IN and OUT of congress, have set the whole
syste N Of Notifications at nought, an6 ec-
deavored, by sounding in the eats of the
people, the magn,,ude ufthe expense which
would attend IFS completion, TO deer ths N
from wishing for its further prosecution.
s,h, that I'll: the system of Notifications
which has been commenced, shallbe com.
bleed, our cities, Notwithstanding our gun
boats, may bs destroyed by few ships of
war, aud more property taken from one Of
them than would completely forrfy the
whole.
la our third number we have shewn, that
our rulers appear to concern themselves as
little about the discipline of our militia as
about the fortitying our harbors; aud even
to entertain repugnance topreserVefo cur
little army that military spirit which It may
stilI be supposed to possess. Here we
might have dwelt on the prospects before
us. when with the arms of reason only,
.hau keen inxaaian far from our