Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1808-07-26
TO THE PEOPLE or VIRGINIA.

~ III bOTi<r' Oc NlhSlNiA.
FELLew CITIZENS,
You have seen the French I'm
periai Decree. and the British Orders of
IConncil, by which our commerce is in ef.
fect, destroyed. The injustice Of these
two nations towards America, has brought
us TO answer to ourselves this question,
hRE VIZ CAPABLE or BEING sNTIRgLrIN,
DEPENDENT, OR ApE WE MORT IF we are
act, II we muststill get the nccessaries OF
ht= from fegeigu countries; we have be
fore us IL choice of evils, I'VE may con.
lanue oar commerce as we have lately
lcarried II on; send cut our flss 10 he in.
suited in every sea, send out our ship i
and cargoes to be piundered by the cor
saits OF France and England. send out
oul seameu TO be seized, impressed, i'm.
prisoncd, hung up on the yards Of BIRTHS h
SHIPS or chained 10 the oar and forced To
hight for their enemies against heir friends,
forced 10 become instruments of violence,
rapine and robbery even against the per.
sous and property of their cOunttymen
Or we may choose another eyil.--We
may still get the products Of Europe, by
lesgueng ourselves with The one or The
other of the great beiiiEerem powers
and claiming for our commerce the pro
teclion OF our ally /: but what are 10 be he
consequences of this alliance III firy.
Is TO be Immediately involved in all tie
quarrels OF that ally aud The last, To- be
enslaved by her: such is The Concurrent
warning of all history, ancient and modern,
There is third evil, by the adoption oil
which, we may still supply ourselves viii
European mGuulaGlnTes-that is, to per
nit the ships of that power, which com
mandS the ocean, to become the carriers
of our trade to become of course its
monopolist; TO sell us her articles ano
take ours nj her own price--which il pre-
cisely the servitude in which Great Bri
tain held our commerce, while we were
colonies to her, and from which we wagcd
a seven years war to emancipate ourselves
Such IS the present state of the world
so perfectly have nations broken through
( all the restraints Of national courtesy SC
enireIy have they beaten down all thos,
barriers of national law which formerly
guarded their intercourse so furious and
desperate is the conflei that agitates al
Europe, and so wild and licenlious the e.
narchy which RACES upon the ocean, tina
if we must sill have the products of Eu
rope, we must be content to get them b,
choosing among those evils. We mus
ge, them either by our own ships amids
insult, violence, piunder, ifDpressment an,
mercantile ruIn---or we must get them bI
the ships Of that ration which triumph
upon the ocean, and on such terms as III,
shall prescribe To us--or we must ge
them under the prote Sion ofan ally, at th,
price Of present peace and future indcpen
/ dcnce.
Thus situated, what remains for Us Il
do, but TO Withdraw from all intercourse
with those Unjust nations, and look to ihos
internal sources Of supply, with which tn
bounty Of Heaven has so abundsotly blcs
sed us. II, as we hope, we have the vir
tue to match the crisis which presents il
lself; If we possess the patriotic sell-deni
AZ, The consistency, the enterprise and per
severance, Of which our fathers in III
gave us so illus,rious an example the
indeed we shall be independent, for on
: independence will be placed beyond III
Influence OF foreign conlaQ or collision