Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-06-29
ALEXANDRIA.
MONDAY MORNING, June %.
ITO sHEw
The vENS AGE AND BoDY OF The TIME
HIS FORM AND PRESSURE.
I" TO sHEW
No. @.
TO TIE FARMERS OF VIRGINIA.

u
What We deprecated, has at length taken
place. and our once peaceful and happy coun-
Try is doomed TO feel all the miseries Of war
IN vain We ask for what in vain we look round
US Tor the causes that demandit In the mes
sage oil the President, advising the measure,
we see nothing but what has existed for years,
aud Of course was better cause Of war long a
go, than now--because experience has taught
US, that Notwithstanding these aledged iniu-
ries, our country was yet hourishiDg, and the
people contented with every thing, but the
stupid systems Of our rulers, which injured US
more than all the aggressions complained Of.
You Can now Judge calmly of your situation.
This last desperate plunge Of a domineering
faction. and of an ambitious and prejudiced
chief magistrate, II is to be hoped, has opened
your eyes, and dissipated your fears as to the
intentions of their political opposers. Short
ly after the election of Jefferson, handbll,
put about by some of this party, thus defined
q Fcdcralist"-" lie is one who has predi-
lection for war, taxes, public debt, extensive
executive patronage, and augmentation Of the
powers of the general government" 70
whom does this character now apply. You
have got IPar, (Which you have not had since
the revolution from the hands Of Democrats.
You have loans Of money, and must have tar-
es 10 an enormous amount imposed uhon you
6y Democrats, yes by men whose pretended
love for peace and economy, was to save you
from all these direct fa1cs, they were so
prompt to do away, when they came into pow
er . You have flu5ic debt, of the very worst
and most destructive kind, ia the form OF
8 Exchequcr bills" isSnea by Democrats
Some OF you remember the fate of your paper
money systems. and history will tell you, that
an independent House OF Commons in Eng
land has become the echo of monarchical Will,
from this very cause. Men who Can, in This
qvay, command millions, will not cease to find
pretexts, even by foreign 7vu,s, for increasing
the amount Of this paper debt, because they
increase thereby their personal influence.
Corruption and speculation will be the order
Of the day and than where Q where will
be found that freedom which our fathers
fought for ind We Inherited You have eae-
cntiUe Patronage, fortified by standing army,
and the application of millions of your hard
earned dollars, fixed upon throne OF iron, by
Democrats; and yet you are asked to distrust
the views of Federalsts, and rely, implicitly
upon the sincerity Of those, who have {" said
one thing and done another" But they ask,
can Federalsts complain Of what they did
themselves? In tie first place, ask, can
they be honest men who Practice what they
pretend TO condemn 2 In the next place, let it
be remarked, that the objects of the federal
administration were dsfenSive, and therefore
republican that the views Of the present
rulers are offensive, and therefore monarchical.
This is u fundamental and true definition.
1t is a fact, now made known by the democrats
themselves that, at the time Mr.. Adams put
our country in a posture Of defence, the Exc
cutive Directory of France actually threaten
ed an inUaSion q our country, and calculated
upon democratic aid, which some of them had
surely promised This was the probable cause
OF the violent opposition his measures had to
encounter. 1t was to dcfend our shores "a
ganst lawless banditti, that maas war their
pastime, and the destruction of human happi-
ness their study. The federalists wished to
see their country prepared. The peaceable
nation of Egypt became the victims of their
ambition and lust ofpower, and why not Ame-
ricans llkwise, when many seemed ready and
base enough to court the yoke. Happy may
We deem ourselves, if we now escape the de-
vouring grasp OF French domination, when
power is III the hands of those who tamely
submit 10 all the views of her despot, and en-
dcavor to destroy the only nation upon earth,
which hitherto controlled his boundIess thirst
for conquest. II federalists then, were no
longer trusted, because sushected (and that
suspicion occasioned by the arts of the present
men in power) of being friends to war, taxes,
public debt, and the extension of executive
patronage-ought you any longer to trust men,
who have Proved themselves friends to all
these dreadful evils; and have brought some
and are about to fix others of them upon you,
to answer no good object, and without even
the smallest rational prospect of accomplish
ing any worthy purpose, that an impartial
man can suggest, or sanguine one hope for?
*See The declaration Of Mr. Stanford of ":