Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1808-06-14

sumo, when all Europe, with more than ava hun
dted sai OF the line. win many more seanen than
we have dare not face her. Ii j. not our cot
rage bur our force, whica cannot be made ade
quale>6y nasys Bat we must build a navy be
Cause ns;ions in ages past have done so. Is
there no wisdom but in antiquity Was Ulysses
TOOL because he was younger than Nestorl II
the experience of ages" tells us that great ma
vies have been built, the same experience tells Us
they have been destroyed. Let the British 20 on
incseasing their navy the inc case will insuse It's
ultimate destruction; II is vorucisus monster
and as,ss devouring the substance of the English
nation. viii destroy itscif.
These Essex men would fain make
us believe there had once existed a
large naval force in this country, and
that the present administration had
impaired it. The history of their
own former doings, however, is too
well known for The impositiont to pass.
The few vessels of war which we had
in addition to those now belonging to
the United States, were sold by them
selves. And when did they provide
for the defence of our ports and from
tier!" Where are their Notifications,
their frontier ramparts? What shock
ing hypocrites do they prove them
iselves. They claim the elvefrstyears
lot the federal government; yet they
cannot point to a single angle of our
coast that they have rendered secure.
Ask them what they have done, they
lower their eyelids, look towards the
ground, clasp their hands, and sigh
out, All! the great Washington 7"
they do this In tone of the most
admirable knavery : All the great
Washington = 1t is well for them to
shift the subject faom themselves to
Washington: the more of him and the
less of them the better. Their own
actions have no intrinsic merit, and
they appeal to the generals. They
put me in mind Of fellow cheating
his neighbor with the words of God in
his mouth.
The attempt to draw distinction be-
tween the administration and the 90
vernment is the very essence of absur-
dity. 1t is precisely Yruio's excuse
Tor impertinence when Major Jackson,
editor of the Philadelphia Register,
told OF his attempt to bride him. L
wonder the Essex Junto would bot.
row so stale conceit from a Spaniard,
considering how much they despise e.
very thing that has enyconnection with
Bonaparte. Without circumlocution,
the rule OF subtraction will prove that
an existing administration and the go
vernment are the same thing. Take
administration from the government,
and nothing of government viii re-
main; and converse, take govern
ment from administration and nothing
remains.
1t is worthy ofremark, that the re-
solutions present only one side of the
picture There is no statement of
the injuries and insults of England
and France, which were the real cause
of the embargo! II would not, pre-
sumo, hs.e answered the purposes of
deiusion if the whole aspect of affairs
had been presented in clear light ::
II was necessary to the views of the
Essex Junto to give nothing buta pro-
hle; this, they imagine, will set the
people to qarrelling. trust, however.
the citizens will examine for tAsm.
selves and look on every side before
they determine. IF they act otherwise.
they will do no better than the two
knights who met at pillar erected on
4. highway, one avering it to be black
and the other white, which terminated
with a battle wherein they were both
wounded when they found, on ex.
animation, that the pillar was black on
one side and white on the other. and
that little investigation would have
convinced them without fightino.---
Thus, the embargo Is an evil, butthat
does notsdemonstrate that there Is not
just cause for its existence. Let the
thing be investigated all round. and II
will be found perfectly correct mea.
sure, and there will be no wranglino
among honest men about it.
And now | will close these structure
with one remark on the inconsistency
OF the resolutions with the avowed
principles and the tenets of the federal
party. They call themselves fedora
Lists, they have contended for strepoth
enlhg the hands of government. and
have stigmatized their opponer,, az
disorganlzers. But these resolutions
breathe dissolution to the federalism
Of he efafea tepJ &c, a