Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1811-04-18
From the Connecticut Courant.
PoHticc! Theories confuted by Facts.

theories which however have been fenlarKa-
bly confutcd already, by time and facts. ihey
grew I'D in the night of intatuatio;l, and have
been withered by the light OF experience. IL
the wild theories of philosophists have lntoxi-
Gated us, the lessons of sober experience are
sufficient, in number and force, to bring us a.
gain to our sober senses or wouid oe' II VIC
we're not binder than moles. The lamp Oh Po-
litical knowledge never shone SO orlght' per-
haps, as at the presen: day but It's sanitary
light is conveyed to US, not from theory out'
from facts.
Time was when it was thought as clear as
any axiom in Euclid, that nation to be /ree'
needs ouIy TO zyW it. France put the thing to
the test. Thirty million people, at once threw
off the yoke of government, and burst every
bond and lipament of society and then they
declared themselves free. We (the American
people generally thought the French, by de-
nlolishing their old government and enactlng
code IF rights and swearing to maintain Ii
berty and equality, had consummsted republi-
can freedom. Thousands verify believed
French liberty to be of much purer essence
than our own. The mild, equitable and saiu-
tarv administration OF Washington, the best
that any portion Of human beings ever perhaps
enjoyed, they thought tyrannous, and gave 1t
their decided ara venemons opposition.
French liberty was the theme OF their tongues
and pens, ana the darling wish their hearts;
and they found sources Of Joy in the horrible
murders committed in FranCe---necessary
sacrifices, as they thought, to dear liberty.
And what qvas the French liberty, SO much
admired, in our country, and which ,orn.d
the brains of half our people 1t was 9 pna-.-
tom, nullity, existing Only IN name. It has
been said, Bonaparte robbed the French
of their liberty. Giving the - his due,
Justice acquts him of that crime. BoHSparte
found them slaves, ready made to his fa'nd.
From the taking Of the baslile to the usnrPG-
ton of Bonaparte, there was not q day wnen
the French, properly speaking, could be ca
led free.
In the language of the eloquent, ard almost
prophetic F. Ames,--" Vino had liberty?
Not the rich they were robbed and driven
into Punishment {; not the great military Off
GERS who gained glory in the American war
they were slain: not the farmers; their har-
vests and their sons were in reQuisi'on not
the merchants they were SO stripped, that
their race was extinct they were known
only on the grave stones Of Nantz and Lyons
they were remembered in France, like the
Mammoth, by their bones.--But say the de-
mocrats, the feohLr, the many, IN other words,
the rabbe of the cities were free {: bread was
issued out to them by the public. Yes. but it
was the bread of soldiers, for which they were
enrolled is national guards to uphold the ty-
ranny OF robbers and usurpers and as soon
as this very rabble relucted, the more despe-
rate cut-throats from Marscil@s we're called
for, to shoot them in the stro cts
This is not exageration: it is lively re-
presentation Of what was, in sober fact, the
condition of France, from first to last, while
she was called republic, and while the de-
luded people of America were making burnt
offerings of roasted oxen at the shrine of
French liberty. And what in those times pre-
vented the United States from rushing head
long into the deadly embraces Of France
FIRST, the merciful appointment of God; and
next, tie firm phalanx of federalism, with
Washington at its head. We were then upon
the very edge of the precpice from which
we escaped almost miraculously. Had God
in his wrath given us philosopher for
president, at the time wien Genet made his
diplomatic visit to this country, unquestona-
UlyS lIOlll lliIiO W W. oiOuIO udSC
been " hewcrs Of wood, and drawers of Wa
err for France.
Time was when half the people of these u
nited States were seized with the frantic no.
ton, that France would, and III very short
time too, republicanize the whole civilized
world. A sort of political millennium was
looked for, when every valley should be eX-
allied, and every mountain and hill brought low;
when there would commence and flourish the
reign of equality among men, as well respect
ing their conditions as their rights. That
(" Miring schst the 4oorld had got,
Each should fairly take his lot
"Eqxals dr.
The French republicans, as they were mis-
called, declared war with the palace, s peace
to the cottage. They pretended to be the
champions of equality among men, the world
over and, in the year 1902, gave positive as
surance that they would aid and assist malcon-
tents of every nation, to pull down their re-
spcctive governments. They sent over all
Europe, and into Asia, Africa and America,
apostles of French liberty; who, in the name
n