Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1808-12-17

excited. Ard how has tins nefariouo o'lSs'
sheen effected? BY the grossest inisrepre-
sentations and most palpable persers!on' o. !.
the objects. the causes, and the policy OF
,b;s a,,;,sed measure. By calumnies & mis-
tatements emanatlng too often apparently
from the seat Of this government. have
now in nv hand sample of cae OF them,
which AMONGST thousand other, OF the
Same sort has accidentally fallen Under my
notice. mfr. B. here read the following
aytraet Of a letter from the Boston Eeperto-
~. of the ed instant, purPertln3 70 be
written from Washington, and dated Noy.
Is. 1901 e 1t is said, and there can be
no doub. of the fact, that Mr.. Armstrong
has written letter in which he has this OBJ
seryation, 6 we have greatly over-ratea our
means of coercion, the embargo is not felt
here, and in England it IS forgotten. !
wish it was raised" Notwithstanding this,
these stupid politicians are determined to
keep it ON, Until they altogether destroy
YOUR commerce.; and | believe it would
give them not1the least uneaslEess to see a
lighted torch put to yonT shipping at the
wbaryes--indeed I have heard some of them
say as nueh."-E Boston Gas.
Sir, hope misrepresentation ofthis sort
do not issue directly from this house, and
vet the sentiment which hes just been read
is too much in accordance with the represen-.
tation which IN the course OF last spring
were eiyenin hand bills, circulated m a GER.
tain part Of Massachusetts,, purporting to be
an address made 70 public meeting of his
constituents by an honarible member o..
this. house who had iust come from the seat
Of our deliberations. We were there told
of confidential and undisg,iised disclosures
made to that gentleman by members Of this
house from the Southern section Of the UNI
ion, that n their opinion Our national com
merce was rather an injury than q benefit,
and that It's advantages were not worth It's
protection. do not know whether toe gen
tleman to whom the propagation ofsueh in
formation was thus publicly imputed, is
willing to be responsible for that which was
attributed to him in the publication last al
ludcd to; nor have heard that he has con-
tradicted it, and the declaration has been
left to work its effect upon public prejudice.
Sir, 1t is by calumaies of this sort that the
feelings and jealorsies Of our citizens have
been played upon, and this hostility against
your laws excited. AND after ali these ope-
rations have been brought into action, gen
tlemen come and tell us that the public OPT
Mon in Massachusetts is setting against us,
and tEat SO repGgnant are our laws to the
feelings and habits Of Our people that they
cannotbe executed. Si,,the people Of that
state and Of all New England, are people
vig;la:is Of their true interests, Jealous, and
very properly Jealous, Of their personal and
commercial rights, and resolved to vindi-
cate them against wanton aggression from
any quarter. Goaded as they have been by
articles like these, and operatsd upon bv
Misrepresentation Of the views OF their south
ern brethren, and of the object and policy
OF our laws, is it strange that they have
been wrought up to feve,ish habits, and that
the execution or those laws is cvaded and
in some few Instances resisted? I tlus. th.t
the means Of true information which We
have lately. diansed amongst them, viii in
agoodmeasure correct chose misconceptions
and al!ay those preiudices which have been !
thus artfully and wickediy excited. ,
We are next told by the gentleman, that
you cannot identify the yiolator of those
laws with the common unprineiplcd SNUG (
gier, that those. who break them viii not be
considered as the most worthless part OF
society" and therefore disreputable amongst
their fellow citizens. And why, sir, can
you not? Because, says he, the temptation
to violate is SO strong that human nature
cannot be expected to resist it---tEat the pa
tsiotism Of your merchants, though it may
induce them to she'd their blood Tor tne GOOD |