Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-10-30

We nave fcGH OF WaIo, " LSvoiat40Aio TX
states. and the destruction OF empires. W.
have been t0la of countries devastated by
fire and sword, aad Delayed with blood, and
we have paused perhaps in our reading, and
calmly remarked, these were really horTi-
BE periods" Bat we have beheld these
wonders and distrcsses III Our own tim );
we have been witnesses of what indeed has
been continually recurring since the forna-
ton Of society but interest now adds a
thousands horrors to the form OF danger, and
magnlies it to a giant bulk. Dangef! ap.
pears 10 be the waschword Of the day. Each
one prompted by hi. avn fears, conceves
himself obligated to communicate an equal
norton Of alarm to his fellows. The com
mon. is, by universal consent, declared to Dc
wonderful, ana the really wonderful, to be
uBexampled and supernatural.
What are the present SUBJECTS OF alarm
WHY do our politicians assembleat the cor
ners and work themselves into fever with
factitious fears? Why do our prints TEEN with
moni,ory addresses, AID ring the t9csln OF
danger to the people? Are the fountains
of our wealth broken up? Are we sinking,
without hop. Of relief, into the gulph OF an
initiation? Are our enemies atour backs, de
vas,acin, our homes, and butcherlng our
friends! Is it such an epoch OF danger as
was never before Witnessed IN the world, as
/. b;g with destruction, and unavoidaoy to
be succeeded by still more unfavorable cir
curastances
Not at all. A succession of really won
derful events ha. indeed wrought wonder.
ful change in the continent of Europe. A
people, goaded by oppression to violent et-
fort for relief, ran, as the people will run, to
an opposite extrema-'rosn sleepy dullness
10 furious eifervescence, which evaporated
their Remaining strength, and left them more
spiri.less than before. An Adventures, rails
cd in this general eferv>scence from the
bottom 10 the surface, was first to seiz:
orizr, the government Of this people, which
any other bold spirit and clear head, aided
by an equally favorable concurrence of cir.
cum stances might have done. HIS govern
,nent, as is universal IN similar clrcumstan-
ces, he has r, nd-rcd despotic nation OF
slaves he has transformed into fighting auto
nations, and principally by superiority OF
force, aided by portion OF address, Nc has
oyercon,- the au!oratons OF the other princes
Of Europe. Against the mistress OF the
sea, he has waaed war by striking at her
cos,merce, and excluding ner from the con-
,irens, TIE ports OF wh!rh h= holds II his
own hands. With the insolencc OF DOM
naering power in planning tn, destruction OF
a rival nation, he unw arrantably lnvades the
rights of on- which IS neutral, and which
from sone unacccuntaoe psrtla!l:y or short
sighted policy, docs not staEd up TO oppose
his encroachmeDts, until it has drawn on it
the retaliation CT his opponent, when it sud
denly becomes sensible 20 It's dlsagrseable
and contemplate situation.
This is a stateE. tnt Of our condition and
of the circumstances which have induced it
Is there any thing uoexamp:ed in al. this
Is il uncommon that excess should induce
satietv, that extreme liberty should be sue
ceeded by anarchy, and 6aa!Iy an unnatural
eX.~tion by proportTonable neTtness IS It
contrary to the course OF human events, that I,
a man should sometimes arise, who, by
concurrence OF causes, should make more
rapid advances and climb to loi,ler emf (
prnce on th= hill Of fame than other men (?
And arc there instances in history, i'll
which nations, like individuals, have been
fools, and have bcenblnd to, or mistak-
en- their interests, & have afterwards become
sensible of their folly
The events, then, which have occurred,
are not unexampled. SO neither is the ST.
tuation produced by them desperate. But,
in the general disposition to magnify our
dangers, an attempt to lessen the fermida-
bic conception which we have of them will
be riliculed and despised ; for perhaps eve
~ age since the beginning of the world has
been esteemed by those who lived in it, as