Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1811-08-23

say tncs, INC person VINO moves III olHercht,
not to say contrary direction, can never
reach the point The person who Whites,
and thus attempts to lower such a character
in the public opinion, cannot himself possess,
or at least approve of those qualities which
constitute that character. In this way they
have said many things which some democrats
cannot easily answer. But will teach them
that their triumph has been rather premature.
admit that just such man was General
Washington--that precisely such were the at
tempts OF Mr. jefferson OF these attempts
| will mention but one proof-his friendly
and obstetrical aid to Calender, while in la
bour with g The Prospect before us" have
other proof in abundance, but they are well
known, and need not be mentioned Now
who will blame Mr. jefferson for cnvying
the honor paid to Washington? or who does
not know that envy is most painful sensa-
tion-that it disturbs the philosophical tran
guilty of the mind, consumes the health and
hastens the emaciated body to an untimely
grave9 AS good men as Mr.. Jefferson lave
ielt these painful emotions. If then the SUI
perior height to which Washington was ele-
waited over his head, was so very painful to
MIR. Jefferson, is he to be censured for at
tempting to remove the cause of that distress?
Does not every thing that has being desire its,
own happiness? Does not even the worm turn
up when trod upon9 Do not federaists them
selves sometimes complain, and attempt to
remove the cause of their grievances and
that too when their sufferings, in my opinion,
are much lighter than those inflicted by envy.
They must therefore approve that in Mr.. JEFF
terson which they do themselves. Now as
the superior height of Washington was the
cause OF this uneasiness, there was but two
ways in which this cause could be removed
either Mr.. Jefferson must rise above Washing
ton--or he must attempt to bring Washing
ton down a little below his own level The
first, 1t Is well known, was impossible. AS
we'll might the Owl rise above the Eagle
And must person be censured because he
cannot perform impossibilitiesp Mr. Jefier-
son was therefore reduced to this dilemma
he must either suffer the corrodings of envy
or defame the character of Washington, and
! thus attempt to bring it down little lower
than his own.
Thus by an argumentuna ad honinem,
have silenced the federalists Either they
must be silent and passive hereafter. whate-
yer be their sufferings or they must approve
the conduct of Mr.. Jefferson. They NAV
| take their choice
But it is possible they may be like Gold
smiths school master
seven tho vanquish'd, they may argue still"
They may suggest that there is some difference
between MIR. Jefferson and the people that of
course, he may be very comfortable, while
the people are suffering, and vice versa /
acknowledge the difference, and have reply
prepared
1t was honesty, integrity, frrhness and such
like qualities which gave such great 1oeight to
the character of Washington over the people
OF the u. States. Now confess that if our
! government resembled the form of an arch,
then the more weight that pressed upon it, the
| tirmer it would stand. These weighty virtues
would be very useful in despotic or monar-
chcal government, which terminate in a sim
gle individual, like the keystone of an arch.
Ii Bonaparte could possibly acquire such vir-
tues, the French people would not suffer from
their influence But this is not the form of
our government. We stand on the level of
" liberty and equality of course each indi-
vidual sustains the whole weight that presses
upon him. Any person may prove by actual
experiment that the greater the weight which
he is obliged to sustain, the greater will be his
pressure, that is, oppression. This pressure
will be painful in the compound ratio of the
weight and the PERSONS sensibility. En- pas
SAINT, would observe that Mr.. Jefferson. and
MIR. E. Randolph are most distinguished for
this kind of sensibility MIR. Jefferson ac-
quired such delicate feelings from the publ
cation of his correspondence with a certain
Frenchman, that he declined his visits to
Mount Vernon, during Washington's life
Such was the influence of these Washing
tonian virtues on the sensibility of Mr.. Ran,
dolph that it caused him to resign the office
of Secretary of State But, to return to the
point-The weight of Washington's charac-
ter was very great-this weight the people
sustained, not in the form Of an arch, but
each one individually. OF course their OPP