Berkeley and Jefferson intelligencer. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va.) 1802-1810, 1808-04-01

o@kNtyN kAS 1SNNy SAS ~ ~ "a w.
terests Of The United States! On the
contrary, are they so closely locked up
because they will not bear the light?
Would their disclosure rouse the spirit
ofthe people, still s~lumbering In blind
confidence IN the executive Has the
French Emperor declared that he will
have no neutrals? Has he required that
our ports, like those Of his vassal states
in Europe, be shut against British COM
merct2 Is the Embargo a substitute, a
miLderE firm Of compliance with that harsh
demand, which. If exhibited in its naked
and insulting aspect, the American spi.
rir might yet resent Are we still to be
kept profoundly ignorant Of the declara-
tions and avowed designs Of the French
Emperor, although these may strike at
our liberty and independence: And, in
the mean time, are we, by a thousand ir.
risa,ions, BY cherishing preiudices, and
BY exciting fresh resentments,. to be
drawn gradually into a war with Great
Britain! Why amidst the extreme ankle
ty Of the public mind is it stiil to be kept
on the rack ~oftearful expectation, BY the
president 5 p~ortentous silence respecting
his French dispatches lin this a
cealment there is danger. In this con-
cealment must be wraPt up the real cause
of the embargo. On any other SUPPOSE
ton it is inexplieable.
Lam alarmed, Sir, at this perilous
STATE Of things; I cannot repress my sus.
.picions or forbear thus to exhibit t you
the grounds on which they rest. The
people are advised to repose implicit con-
6dence in the National Government :
in that unbounded confidence lies our
danger. Armed with that confidence
the Executive may procure the adoption
Of measures which may overwhelm Us
with ruin, as surely as If he had an army
at his heels. BY false policy. or by in.
ordinate fears, M country may be be-
trayed and subjuGated % France, as
surely as by corruption. I trust. Sir,
that no one who knows me will charge it
to vanity When, I say. that I have some
knowledge Of public men and public sf.
fairs : and on that knowledge, and with
.solemoisy, I declare to you, that 1 have
NO confidence 10 the wisdom or correct.
e S Of our public measures: that our
country is in eminent danger that it
is essential t the public safety that
the blind confidence in our rulers should
a ; that the state legislatures should
know the facts and reasons on which i'm
Pottant general laws are founded; and
especially that those States, ,Uhosr farms
r O N he ocean and sUhosr kayUesfs are
gathered in every sea, should imr'sdiate.
~ and seriously consider harv 10 prsserue
them. In ali the branches of govern
ment, commercial Information is want
ing ; and in " this desert" called a city,
that want cannot be supplied. Nothing
the sense of the commercial States,
clearly and emPha.ieally expressed, will
save them from ruin.
Are our thousands of ships and YES
sells to rot in our harbors? Are
sixty thousand seamen and fishermen to
be deprived Of employment, and, with
their families, reduced to want and beg.
gary! Are our hundreds Of thousands
Of farmers to be compensdt to suffer their
millions in surplus produce, to perish on
their hands that the president may
make an experiment on oUy patience and
fortitude, and on the toHeting pride, the
boundless ambition. and unyieldingp per.
Of the Conqueror of Europe T
Sir, l have reason tobelieve that the
President eontemPla.es the continuance
Of the Embargo, until the French empe.
ror repeats his DEGREES, violating. as
well his treaty with the United States as
every neutral right ; and until Britain
~thereupon recalls her retAliating orders!
BY that time we may have heither ships
nor seanen {: and that is precisely the
point 10 which some men wish to reduce
us.-To see the imProvidenee Of this
Projee. TO can it BY po harsher name,
and without advertins to ulterior- views)
kt us look back to former years.
Notwithstanding the WELL founded