Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-03-06
No. L.

fb;s country would be forcibly struck with
s1cb an interference, with the contracts ana
obligations of individuals, and would nata-
rally be led to enquire what great calarAity
a4l;cted tbe nation which resorted TO such
an expedient. For the great object OF the So
cial union being the protection OF person 9
property, and all personal comforts depend
nQ'4intimately on the security OF the acqui-
sitions of personal industry and economy
or in other words, of property. This Sc
curitv cannot be weakened without lnvaa-
i in e that personal happiness which is the
strong motive, as we'll as ultimate oDjeoS' o.
all human exertions; for it may justly DC
said ~you take my life when you do take
the means whereby live. In tins man
Iner the acquisitions OF mans industry be-
come. as il were, identified with his person,
sr5 forn, . part of his existence. In all
wise governments we therefore mark the
strictese attention bestowed on the protec-
ton of property and violent inVaslons OF
i i most countries, at least IN countries
where the laws govern, are. even PuhiSheu
with the loss of life itself. thus IN those
countries which are most iourlshing and
happy we discover peculiar energy gwen
70 the Enforcement OF contracts Every IN
d;yidual IS consequently reminded, that ne
r,,st not consider as his own, and use tor
his own purposes, that which heowes to a.
: unrticr. ~ otssss adherence to'thls princl-
nleis found sufficient, IN some nations, to
anrmount very great, and radical defects In
tieir political organization. Person and
nroperfy- being projected by hxed ana IN
mutable laws, inAexibly executed, VII soon
bring each individual to know his rights s
his duties, and among his rights ne WIZ
consider his right of property as important
as his. right of personal safety, 90 TACT the
connection between the two being SO mt
mate, that the one cannot well exist Without
the other) and in maintaining these rights
: for himself he will be taugat~th reciprocal
duties he owes TO others. thus mutual
respect Tor the rights of each other viii be
produced, which, in the end, may occasion
such habits as almost to supercede the ne
cessity &c law, at least of its execution.
Great Britain affords a striking example,
in our time, of the effects produced by
steady, undertaking maintenance Of the
rights of property, and as inseparably con-
nected Herewith an inaexible defence of
life and personal liberty. Whatever defects
the frame of its government, IN other re-
spects, may beeray, in these essentials to
human happiness, as well as national great
ness, 1t has not been surpassed, and proba-
bly, never. viii be surpassed by any other ma
ton in the world. 1t is, in fact, the conf
dence which all mankind have in the Justice
of the British laws, as to person and pro-
perry, which has made that country the asy-
lum for all those whom the tempests Of
Europe have compelled to seek a place
of safety, and made it the. great deposit
tary of the wealth of the civilized world.
Those are but superficial observers,
who impute such extraordinary effects to
transient or adventurous causes--nor will
an American, pleased with the theory OF
his own political institutions, be readily III
duced to trace them to the monarchic tea-
tuse in the British government, to its aris-
tocracy or hierarchy. He will DC induced
TO search for other causes, which have been
sufficiently powerful, not only to overcome
these deleterious principles, but the effects
of a. cold and uncheering climate, and a
soil difficult to manage, on which the sun
scarcely deigns to shine. In spite of these
adverse circumstances we find this people
risento the highestpitch ofwealth and pow
err, and thoughinhabiting as it were no more
than speck of the terraqueous globe with
hardly population of fifteen millions, hold
inc in lite hands the destinies OF the four
quarters of the world. These efeets can
not have been produced by Its monarchy,
Ats aristocracy or its hierarchy. For other
: =, their mel phhorhoOd enjoying more