The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-10-21
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
To THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED
- STATES


90 5 STATES.
When in the midst of profound peace, and
at a moment when heewas enjoying all tho
benefits OF our hospitality, the perhdious and
ungrateful Briton suddenly attacked our de-
fenceless ship the Chesapeake and amidst
the murder of onr Citizens, degraded and
FRUSTRATED the flag of our country--the
| prompt and universal emotion excited by
the outrage. proclaimed us an United Peo-
pie. Glorious, my Countrymen, was the
exhibition of American character on that
occasion and grateful to every bosom, that
British gold has not corrupted, must be the
recollection of the patriotic flame that spread
with electric rapidity over the continent
Britain saw with terror and remorse. the
bright blaze of orr patriotism, diffused from
the eastern limits OF Maine to the distant
coasts of Georgia, and the still remoter
shores of the Mississippi. How grand,
how sublime spectacle. (says an Ane-
rican, then in Europe) 1t seemed as if
|" the hills and woods and streams of our
country, by some; wonderful influence,
had kiudled into sudden conhagration
4" and, across the illumined waves of the
|" Atlantic, offered to astonished & admiring
=" Europe, a phenomenon, as awful and por-
'' tentous to Tyrants, as interesting and con-
selling to the friends of Liberty and Vir-
tue"
4, In recalling your attention to this iilustri-
Gus era of popular enthusiasm, and inviting
you Fellow Citizens, TO dwell with emoti-
ons Of virtuous triumph on SO glorious a
scene of Union and Patriotism design,
not only to revive your sensbility, and keep
alive your resentment fer injuries fast, but
to prepare your sympathy for n fresh burst
lot indignation at an equal, il not greater
insult, recently altered to our national pride
n thay -. 81
which the toast of 1.-The President and u
nited States of America" was received by
the numerous assemblage of Ministers, No
lblemen, and merchants at the late London
dinner, given to the Spanish deputies
Can any American read this intelligence
unmoved! Is there spirit among us Sc
fallen, so degraded, as not to feel excite.
meut at such an, affront? trust not |
hope that even the cold, calculating disci-
pie OF maTmon, feels the hectic of a mo-
ment tinGling on his sallow cheek, as he
reads the account. What then must be the
sensations Of the genuine lover of his Coun-
try, when he sees the name of America, thus
treated with contempt, and her President
and People hooted from the presence OF so
respectable CIRCLE a company such as
the experience OF fifty years had never seen
cqualled in point of respect" NV own i'm
pressions authorize me to pronounce, that
In the breast of every true and faithful A
merican, this transaction will inspire emo
lions scarcely less powerful than those excl
ted by the outrage on the Chesapeake ;
and II any Sceptic friend of humanity, anx-
lous to preserve unbroken our friendly rela-
lions with all the world, was willing TO con-
slder that aggression as the act of an indi-
vidual, and not as an evidence of the hostil-
1ty OF his Government, let him now see and
acknowledge his error; let him behold, in
this dinner exhibition, an uDequivocal proof,
not OF the rancour of an Individual. but of
TIE hatred OF n whole ministry, and of the
aggregate body of the merchants Of Great
Britain, towards America. VIII it be said
by the advocates of that hostile asscmbIage
that the disappro5ation they expressed at
the oHercd toast, was ieyelled at the per-
sonal character of our President, and not
directed towards the nation generally -
1t were false and insolent suggestion false,
because the toasts were distinctly expressed
IN printed bills, evincing the contrary, and
insolent In the highest degree, BY implying
that either the British ministry, or the iner.
chants of that country, possessed the right
to asperse and insult the individual, whom
the confidence and affection of his fellow
citizens, had invested with the Office Of
Chief Magistrate Of the u. States.
j What are the British to brow-beat ms
out Ct the President of our choice Are
tfey TO dictate whom we are to elect and
are we not, as an independent State. to be
/, treated with common dccency, unless we
place some Pickering at the head of the
nation! Citizens of Massachusetts of Bos-
ton, would you wish to supply us with a pre-
sident on such terms Will you not rather
consign to merited infamy the corrupt apo-
logists OF Britain; and emulating the patri-
otto spirit that lately actuated the citizens
OF Baltimore, in destroying the pipes of Gin
which had been contaminated by submission
to the British Orders of Council.'' show
| that you are the worthy descendants of yuir
tea destroying ancestors Awake revive,
return, ennobled citizens of Boston, ts th9
patriotic ardour, that animated yon on OUR
Revolutionary struggle ResulIc the station
you then maintained in the DDion-VJben
| Massachusetts and Virginia, the eyes of the
| nascent republic, stood like two towers. awe
ing our enemies without, and animatinf- fb-
patriots within. Shall say, that YOU have
fallen from this glorious height.-.No. vour
patriotism only sleeps. and the hiss Of those
cXecrabie scrPerts shall awaken. not the
energy OF ah Msdnt Hercules, but the matu.
rlty and vengeance of his manly strength.
return to the impression whicl, the trans
actions of this celebrated london dinner are
calculated to make OH the patriotic citizens
| OF the United States And fret 7 ,,.,,.,,,,s