The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-03-15

az toiSttmes WRere would nave been your
constitution, your state rights. your Treasu-
~, the very honor OF your patton, if for the
last ten years the reins of power had been
trusted to federal hands. and q Hamilton or
Jay had filled the seats of a jefferson and
Madison.--Ask yourselves these things
and fhen 10 fhe pole. my Countrymen.
Where svere you in the years 'sS and 'eo !
4 is painful 70 review those days of ter
FOR, those scenes of trouble, when the con-
ssitution was stabbed to the heart, & when
every blessing that was dear to you was Ell
xher snatched away or trembling under the
gradual sappings of tyranny. But it is
sometimes necessary to seview the past for
the benefit of the present times. When
men come forward to claim your confidence,
you must look into the history of their
lives to see whether they have proved
themselves worthy of it. When they are
ambitious of power r, we must see whether they
San De safely trusted, by seeing the use
which they hope made of it but you can
not have forgotten the days of federalism
phen the national debt grew even faster
upon you, than the odious excuses which
were laid upon you--suhen public patronage
was augmented to swell the means of public
corruption--svhen eight per cent. loans were
but raised to replenish Treasury. exhaus-
ted by unnecessary expences-schena armies
and navies were but equipped to meet an
enemy that never dreamt of invasion--and
suhen as; the causes of complaint grew up,
the means of repressing it grew faster than
they; when gag was put into your mouths,
lest you should complain of the whips upon
your backs, and when the constitution was
.intringed by Alien and Sedition Law ,wh Oh
were imposed upon you.--You cannot have
forgotten these Odious times--nor can YOU
have lost sight OF that blessed moment, when
the Republican party arose. like the Star
of the Morning, to announce the approach
Of liberty and light.
And where mould you haze been at this
mDment--but for that evenis Perhaps your
constitution, mere blank sheet of parch-
ment, OF burnt. as Jonathan Dayton said,
<at the point of the bayonrt"--your State
rights gone--your freedom of speech gone
one great consolidated government stretch
ing ITS baleful sceptre over you, and at the
head or 1t, a strong armed, energetic, execu-
tive olisarchy, directing every thing by its
sovereign WIN and pleasure. Perhaps you,
Che good people of Virginia. " humbled into
Dust and ashes"--tne mere heWers IF wood
and drawers of water TO your federal rulers
And abroad, what zuouid haze Teen your st =
uationf Had that storm arisen, m the other
side OF the Atlantic, which have seen and
felt within the last four years; had the Bri-
fish and French Edicts been was d against
onr neutral commerce what then the fed
eralists have told Us in their opposition
speeches, what they would have done
They would not have resisted the British
isle, the only shield of oppressed hum anity
against the ravages of France z" They would
not nave stopped befor. the iniouitous man
dates OF Napoleon No. indeed-they would
nave 'unfurled the republican banner agajns.
the Imperial standard - hey would have
submitted to every wrong which C. Britain
would haveiniiicted; her impressments. her
murders, her outrageous attack on our natl
pnal tr'gates, her irnpositions on our trade.
He. orders IN Council ;--nsy. 1t is most pro-
oabie. they would have ioined her in fine
war--and bound ns Co her car. bv a trea,v
al alliance. or as Mr.. Marshall has pleas
ed to term it, by "a temporary arrange
ment."
But when you cast your eyes to the Re
publican administration, what do you see !,
Every good done which virtue and inteili-
8ence Gould effect--and if here and
there. spot obscures their Brightness
tits the fault of events which they could
MOI command or of a factious party whom
they could not control. The public debt is
disappearing--the Excise law Vanished
Louisiana, acquired by peaceabe purchase,
and the Key of the Mississippi. put into our
hohbo-thS CONSTITUTION RESTORED TO It's Ofi-
sinal purity--the. executive patronage di
minished--and within very few DAYS, what
have you seen! the principles and the in
tegrity of this party, coming out from the f.
cry test, interrupted b. power; for in spite
of every temporary Interest which seduced
chem, the Bank OF the u. States, which thew
had opposed in '9l, because it was Contrary
20 your constitution, is quietly laid in it's
comb. 1T. in the Course of their adminis,ra
Zion, indeed, some adverse currents have a
risen, was it their fault Was it for them
10 control the power of France on the land,
or of Britain upon the seas, or to prevent
the arbitrary exercise which has been made
OF that power, against the rights of our coud.
Try land IT the measures to which they
New for protection, have in some measure
proved unavayailing, to whom are you to
look principally for this disappointment--
put to the Federalists themselves--theJ who
nave opposed every step which has been ia
zen; and whose opposition has uniformly
SPIRITED up the attacks of G.. Britain upon US,
such is the British Party in America" a.
they have been hailed by the ministerial party
on the floor of the House of Commons-and
s itto any of them, or to any that act with
snem, or like them oppose the Republican
Party, that you, my honest countrymen. will
give your SURFACES at the next electionl
Is 1t into the hands Of your Breckenridees.
enat you will trust the powers of a Rebre.
sentative Is it over such puny and little.
MINDED politicians as Daniel Shelley, who
SITS and associates and sympathises and
xnaF h Rtr.E 4.