The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1810-05-23
AMERICA PRINCIPLES.
FROM THE BOSTON PATRIOT.
A REVIEW
az WORKS or FISHER .G.MES
NuMBER-y.
IA Fear al Jrontick Fear
4 see, 4 see asee neor" coLIxNA


"IET us assert genuine Independence of spirit,
we shsll be false 10 duty and feelings as Ameri-
cans, II We basely descend to servile dependence
on France or Great Britain. a. 81
Such was the language Of Mr.. Ames on
the 9Th January, l794, and with this Just
ana honourable sentiment he closed his
speech against Mr. Madison's resolutions. To
this sentiment now adhere, and in these pa
pers am endeayouring to defend it against
the goblin terrours of Mr.. Amcs himself,and
sne more deliberate alarms of his publishing
frisads- ,.,,,sg. "a =. ..
The object Of these terrours, ,was compound.
ed OF Two ingredients, which in i7e4, had
at least an appearance of congcniality and CO.
operation French power and dctnocracy.
ihe alliance between these two tremendous
monsters was surely dissolved long before
Mr. Ames portrayed with such pt.,tick
powers the Dangers of American Liberty.
But although Tor ever separated OH the scene
OF real life, they were still united in dreadful
harmony in the world Of imaginary fear, and
they tortured his fancS, with all their horrid
shapes and sights unhog, as the images of
the night-mare pass in confused succession
before the waking slumbcr of disease.
The degree to which his understanding
was affected by these horrible visions can be
described only by himself In the /" Dangers
of American Liberty" after bitterly COM
Isaining that even among the fede,slists there
were perhaps not five hundred who allowed
themselves 20 view the progress ef licep-
tiousncss as SO Siieedy,so snre,and SO .Jafak, as
the dcplorable experience Of our Country
shews IL is, and the evidence of history and
the constitution of human nature demonstrate
that it must BE-" He opologizes Fur this sed-
eral apathy by the following picture of his
own sensations.
" Our days are made heavy with the pressure of
anxiety and our nights restless with visions of hor-
rour. We listen to the clank of chains, and over.
hear the whispers Of assassins. We mark the bar
barous dissonance Of mingled rage and triumph in
the yell Of infatuated mob; we see the dismal
glare Of their burnings and scent the loathsome
steam of human victims offered in sacrifice"
PSF
A man must have no ordinary share Of NAL.
ice In his competition, who could wish 10 see
his direct foe, in the state of mind indicated
by this paragraph. But this was not the
worst There Is a species of alienation in
the intellect, for which the miscries of te m
poral life are not sufficiently distressing. Me-
lancholy arrangement often terminates in the
belief Of the unhappy patient that he is actu-
ally suffering the torrents OF eternity The
frequency with which the ideaof He'll returns
in the latter compositions of this volume con.
nected with French conquest and democratick
triumph, affords too strong presumption that
the natural tendency Of tho authors distem.
per was to t.iat issue.
"It Democracy is an illuminated Hell tha; in
the midst Of reiaorsc horrour and torture rings with
fesvity for experience shows, that 10y rcm;ns
TO this most malignant description Of the damncd
the power to make others wretched" p. 432.
BY comparing this paragraph with on,
written some years earlier, we shall perceiv,
that one he'll, was as inadequate to the immen
sity Of Mr.. Ames's fears, as one world was t.
that of Alexander's ambition. There wa
the /" HELP France, and the " HELP Deme
cracy. .
&c p.ho,d France, that open Hell, still ringing will
o.on;ea and basphemies, still smoking with suffer
- and cr;mes. ip which we their state Of tor
ment. and perhaps our future state" LAGOON P 81.
This was written in 1899, when there re
NAMED in the writer's mind some hopes tha
we might possibly escape these internal re
qions. But in 1905, these hopes we're al
extioeuishcd, and to He'll we must go. 70
| Immediately after the passage which pro
nounces Democracy to be Hell, comes de'
erip,ian of the French Revolution IN sne au
thor's most glowing manner, and which h
closes by saying, " have written the histor
Of France. Can we look back upon 1t with
ou, terrour, or forward without desta'r:
When consider the state OF heai'h II
which these things were writtcn' 4 cahno
bur feel a sentiment Of compassion for tn
| .,T.r;,us of the author, which checks tn
,;;snosition, almost irresistible 10 presen
them in the ludicrous light which would b
most appropriate to them.
The same indulgence, however, is by n
means necessary for the editors who hay
published these politica! spasms to the worl
for political wisdom. When Mr.. Amc
shrieks out,
"Look look, fellew-countrymen, ss We do'
vour dear, innocent children. Ask your hearts
they can bear 50 racking question, whether sna
II IN una