The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1812-05-29
THE CITIZENS

"eie leao anu Se'erahy put ny the CHAIR
man. Dem. Press.
:, THE CITIZENS
OF THE
FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF
PENNSYLVANIA.
10 their Fellow Citizens, the Peojsie of the
United States.
FELLOW CITIZENS
The friends of the United States and of
their constituted authorities, residing within
the first Congressional District of Pennsyl-
vania, deeply impressed with the solemnity
OF the impending crisis, and trusting that
their voice will not be without some effect
among the American People, have met to-
gether for the purpose of comparing and COL
lecting the general sentiment in this quarter
OF the Republic, and submit the following as
the deliberate, unbiased and unanimous re-
suit.
The story OF American wrongs has been
so often told, that the patriotic heart sick
ems at their disgusting recapitulation Yet,
as pretacing this last appeal, and for this,
as we most anxiously hope, the last time, it
may not be impropeT briefly to sketch an out
line OF that unparalleled, unmitigated, into
lerable series of national outrages, against
which, after too long an endurance, the on :
ly republic extant is now at length about to
exhibit the magnificent spectacle of an en-
pre- OF Freemen in the armour and attitude
OF defensive war--war for their sovereignty.
their rights, their blessings-7-war for the
reclamation of their properly, their persons
war tor their homes and domestic affairs
"a war STAYED off till every possible effort
at reconciliation has been put to beggary &
shame-a war, to which not one distillatisn
from the subtle, and anti-republican essen
ces OF ambition or aggrandizement has con-
trIhutPd hut which xu;l e.. -
rock of self defence-a war. without which.
or the rights it is to be. waged for, our sove-
relgnty IS servility, our commerce colonial
trade, ourpersons exposed to pillage, our
property to piracy, our boosted institutions
plleS OF theoretical runs, and peace itself,
that most desirable of all political enjoy
ments, contumely and curse.
From the tremendous conclusions which
have agitated Europe. since the eruption of
the French Revolution, the United States
OF America wiselykept aloof in an avowed,
impartial, unexceplionable neutrality: not,
as those who envy us .alledge, fattening our
soil with the disasters of the belligerents-
Tor European wars and British treaty res
tricted instead of expanding the immense
commercial resources Of the North Ameri-
can continent-bnt with characteristic en-
terPrse, integrity and advantage pursuing
the broad highways OF emolument, and ac-
curing In tranquility and forbearance,
whatever was not withheld or wrested from
us, by thegreat maritime powers. While
havoc, fannie and dilapidation were desc
latinS the Kingdoms of Europe, peace, plen-
ty and prosperity, driven from theii- abodes
in that region, fled over the troubled Allan
tic, and set up the ark of their covenant in
the deiightfol wilderness of this modern
land of promise 'a'1'
With the exception Of sons commercial
vexations in 1894 and 1897, the fortunes of
the only republic seemed to be enhanced,
as 1T were by an especial Providence to give
irresistible spleDdor and attraction to their
contrast with the fallen fortunes orail those
monarchies from which the original settlers
OF TINS country sprang. An advancement
IN population and afiiuence, an impr ovement
III science and the arts, in agriculture and
commerce, an eXuberanCe of the products
OF the earth, and an accumulation of the
ProhtS OF the sea, transcending ali example,
all calculation, all hope, distinguished the
desunlcs OF the American federation and
with certainly the highest allotment of the
evils inseparable from humanity that ever
tell to any people, without foreign or domes-
tic wars, without taxation, without any
more OF the pressure of government than
was absolutely necessary to keep the bands
OF society together, the perfection of polity
was accomplished, and the visions of phi
lanthropists realized in the establishment.
administration and astonishing success of our
free, republican institutions.
While thus situated, fellow-citizens, thus
prospecting among ourselves, the conflict in
Europe persisted to rage with undated vi
olence and, with short, delusive interlude
Of cessation in 1902, its fury for nineteen
years has never intermitted. 1t was al
ways evident that commerce was originally
one main object of the Contest and that It
is now the only object, appears to be conce-
ded on all sides. j
England, the first maritime power in the
world, who opened the batteries of her At
tack with all the Kingdoms of Europe for
her allies, being uniformly defeated in the
successive coalitions she Subsidized, finally,