Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-04-25
EQUAL RIGHTS !
GENERAL NEETING.

EQUAL RIGHTS
GENERA LETTING.
At respectable meeting, consisting OF a
bout FIVE hundred adopted republican e.
tizens of the city of New York, held at
LYONS hotel, Mott street, on Friday e
vening, the 4th inst..
Mr.. drchibald Taylor being unanimously
called to the chair, and
DIR. Stephen Dembsey appointed secreta-
Ty--
The spbjoined address and resolutions
were unanimously adopted.
ADDRESS.
To The adopfed republican citizens q the city
ef NesO-2or&.
FELTON, CITIzENs,
A long train of disagreeable circum-
stances have called Us together and induced
3 Us to address YOU upon subject, which Tor
years, we have aeutely felt and deeply de-
plored. Some of you groaning under op-
preston in Your native land, have voluntar-
iiy emigrated from it, whilst others, more
afflicted by despotism and less favored by
propitious events, End yourselves II the con-
dit;on Of involuntary exile. All, however,
have. chosen as a resting place IN the journey
Through lie, this "asylum Tor the cypress
ed of all nations" Here, peri Z. mIstak-
imp the character of human naturc,we pleas
ingly anticipated, from those who avow
themselves the friends and champions OF
freedom, exemption from that religious per-
secution and civil tyranny, whose iron and
inexorable reign had forced US from cur ma
tive country. Alas! How greatly were we
mistaken How egregiously have we been
disappointed! Our constitutions and go.
yernments are indeed free, but between
these admirable institutions and ourselves 9
tyranny is INTERVIEWED, much less tolerable
than that from which We fed. We are Or
nominated FOREIGNERS, and treated as
SLAVES.
On this odioas subject, we beseech you,
fellow citizens, to listen to US.
The land in which we live, discovered by
an illustrious Spaniard, was settled by our
free, enterprising and hardy countrytnen-
Oppression in church and state, TO which
they were too proud and enlightened to suo-
init, forced them, as it has compelled you,
to leave their native homes, and to seek, IN
the wilds of America, freedom and repose.
Here, where the panther, held dominion,
they settled, resting their weary limbs, and
pionsly thanking God for their deiiverance
from the intolerance of the church and the
despotism Of the state: here, our noble ant'
highminded ancestors, introducing our
principles, our language, and our habits,
laid the foundation Of this vast empire: for
themselves, for theirtdescendants, and for
their countrymen. This therefore IS truly,
and we may emphatically assert, The lind Of
CTR tathers. Why then are we prosecuted
Why are invidious distinctions nlalignantly
disseminated and industriousiy maintained!
Why are we branded with the offensive cpl
tibet of FoREIGNERss
Fellow citizens, we are thirty-three years
old as pation-the moment before the de-
claration Of independence was promulgated
by congress and confirmed by the provincial
legislatures, every man in the colonies was
subject of the king of England. Then,
the English, the Irish, the Scotch, and the
native descendants of our country men, ow-
ed the same allegiance and received the
same protection. All,with few exceptions,
1eyolted, and of those exceptions the native
descendants of our ancestors were the most
numerous. In the memorable war for IN
dependence, freedom was afterwards to be
established and maintained) the Europeans,