Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-01-15

the whele there is no need that he should
be tyrant in the gross, when ne can be SO III
detail, nor in name, when he can be SO IN ell
feet that for parliaments to establish tyranny,
there is no need therefore to repeal Magma
Charta, or any other of the great supporters
of our liberty. 1t is enough if they put them
selves corruptly and servilely under the IN
fluence Of such prince, or such "a minis
ter
Mr.. Sawbridgs, in speech in the British
house of commons, (l772) speaking OF the
long parliament in the reign of Charles the
second, says 1t is notorious OF this parll-
anient, that whenever any scandalous royal
measure was carried in that house OF COM
nous, the members were invited to dinner,
and found under their respective plates the
sums which each mans prostitution was tho't
to deserve
Although the revolution in England, In
1888, saved the liberties of that nation, which,
else, in all probability would have been soon
annihilated, and although the rights OF British
subjects and of the nation at large. were by
that much better established, guard
ed and secured, than they had been ever be-
fore, vet all along since that period, 1t has
been found necessary to keep up strict and
constant watch against the encroachments OF
the crown; which, Notwithstanding, has at
certain times become SO great as to threaten
the total subversion of liberty; and that too
without altering in any wise the forms OF the.
constitution that is to say, tie majority IN
both houses of parliament becoming the ser
vile tools of the monarch, the people would
be enslaved by laws as it were OF their own
making.
These scraps of history bespeak the people
of the United States in the solemn language
of edmonton. 1t was said by that man Of
deathless fame, Fisher Ames,-'' Our wis
" dom framed a government, and committed
& it to our virtue to keep; but our passions
&C have engrosscd it, & have armed our vices
to maintain the usurpation. And is it not
verify so Nay has it not been much more
glaringly so Of late than it was when Mr..
Ames penned this sentiment For four
years back, the American executive, TAX
ing advantage of the vast influence OF its
patronage and the blind rancour OF party, has
governed this nation with almost unlimited
sway. Witness the embargo, which, at the
bare recommendation of Mr.. Jefferson, was
voted without taking the trouble of delibera-
ton. Witness also the passing of the non IN
tercourse law of 1910 and that of ISL J.; OF
both which, according to Mr.. Smith, our pre-
sent president was the real though secret au-
thor. Laws, partial, and pernicious to the pub
lie interest laws, passed, not only without
conviction of their propriety, but even against
conviction, and merely from the impression
that such was the wish of the executive.
All this while the bulk of the people, caught
like silly fishes IN net, are much at their
ease: not perceiving that their liberties are in
any danger at all. The forms of our consti-
tuition remain as they were; it has the same
checks and balances, as at the beginning;
mominaHy independent Senate and House Of
Representatives, sc. sc. Hence they see
no danger. Nay they are SO infatuated as
to think an entire devotion to the presi-
dent to be an indispensable qualification
for senator, or member OF the House
of Representatives insomuch that in
most of the deinocratical districts of the y.
States, any man, how we'll soeyer he might
stand with his party in other respects, if he
were only known to call in question the wis
dom of the executive, would of course be an
unsuccessful candidate for a seat in Congress.
Not only SO, but he would be denounced, and
covered with reproach
HISTORICUS.
FRENCH PAPERS.