Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1811-08-02

" happiness between duty ana a'vane
/. tage; between the genuine maxims 0,
8. IN honest and magnanimous policy ana
Sc the solid rewards Of public prosperity
and felicity"
Is it not strange does it nat astonish
the rejecting mind, that with this senti-
; meut of the Father of his country before
no. a sentiment exactly coincident with
holy writ. and confirmed by reason ana
universal experience, that we should Ut,
ter!y disregard the solemn injunction, ana
act in direct opposition to its sacred I'M
port .e
But so is the melancholy fact. One OF
the most lamentable and awful effects OF
the Jeffersonian policy has been, by the
arts of duplicity and cunning to destroy
all distinctions between right and wrong
and eradicate from the human mind the
nice sense Of moral truth and propriety.
The whole career Of the French revo-
luton from its commencement to the .es-
Enlistment Of the present tyranny, has
been a continued series OF shameless IN
trigue, Discrimination, and the violation OF
every moral and political rule, that false
hood and deception could devise or prac-
tlse and such has been our admiration
of that sink of corruption and infamy,
that we have copied their vile habits, and
initiated their still more attrOcious DEEDS.
When a person without principle or
talents, wishes to obtain and secure Ia
cratiye and honorable station he must de-
ceive the world, by keeping them blind to
his defects. and making pretence.to eX-
cellencies he does not possess.
Among all the evils that have cursed
this country for the last ten years, and
they have been many and severe. there Is
none so deadly and remediless, as the de-
struction Of the moral sense Ofthe cOmmu-
nifty. divertins the mental eye from the
steady observance of the eternal principles
oftruth, equity and justice and obscuring
honesty and integrity in cloud OF Chi
eanery, Intrigue and del"sion. Ages will
not suffice to wipe away the faint OF these
evils from the minds OF the American peo-
nle. and restore them to the simplicity OF
manners and purity of sentiment that
we're prevalent in former times.
AS long as the present period OF our
history shall be remembered, it will be
mentioned as the reign OF error, illusion
and guile.
1t has been the policy of Mr.. Jefferson
and his coadjutors to attribute to their
opponents vices which Go not detile then
and deny them the virtues that ornament
their lives ascribing to themselves every
excellence, however Unworthy, and, jug
gIer like, to throw mist before the null
titude, that qualities more specious at best
than solid, might be magnified into the
cardinal virtues.
Look into the Gazettes devoted to the
ruling party, and see in what manner JEFF
lersonianism is supported and indicated.
Instead of an honest exposition of facts and
fair reasoning therefrom, We find little
else than rhapsody of unmeaning words,
jargon Of incoherent phrases, Il rant
of indiscriminate censure and applause ;
and all in a strain of blackguardism, that
the lowest retailer at Billingsgate would
blush to utter.
The most unblemished ct aracters are
no security against the venom of these
slanderers: No villain too polluted & rot,
len to receive their unqualified applause.
BY persevering in this way of writing
and speaking for years, the people have
become callous to rational sentiments,
confused in their ideas Of rectitude and
pro!iigacy-they fear all-they distrust
all-and conlide in the integrity of none.
The pleasure and honor of introducing
this state oftbings, belong exclusively to
Mr.. Jefferson and his colleagues.
How variant is this from the precept Of
Washington! Is this to regard virtue as
the only means Of happiness? We find
by woeful experience that the contrary
leads to wretchedness and misery.
Can that character be a good one,
which depends on misrepresentation for
IFS support Are those measures lauda-
bic which are adopted with closed doors,
and carefully concealed from those most
:,toro.tad