Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1812-05-02

Eceipt Of this letter, to cause an inspection to
take place Of all the arms heretofore deliver
ed to the regiment under your command and
that YOU will, with the least possible delay, BY
post or otherwise, report their condition to this
department.
You will also report the strength OF the
Cavalry and artillery (ifany) attached to your
regiment. Whcresoever delinquency has
occurred, either in the distribution or safe
keeping of the public arms, you will take I'M
mediate and effectuaI steps to bring 10 notice
such delinquents, that they may be exposed
to such penalties as the law inficts The
preservation of the public arms is all object OF
such primary importance, that the necessity
Of an unwearied attention and an unceaslng
vigilance to this subject, cannot be too strong
" inculcated. Whilst on the other hand, we
cannot too highly applaud that wisdom, under
the guidance of which Virginia procured arms
TO be placed in the hands of her citizens, who
might thereby be prepared In any exgency
to defend their blrth-right: on the other, we
cannot but deplore the negligence and listlesS-
ness (Which all agree in saying) have marked
the conduct CT but too many OF those TO whose
care has been conhded their preservation.
Let those who have been guilty OF such
objectionable negligence rccollect, that
when the day of reckoning shall arrive, (and
come it WILLY the vengeance of an abused and
injured people will fall heavily upon the heads
of those who have betrayed the confidence OF
their country.
tits far from my intention to excite any pre-
mature or. unnecessary alarm and wish
reu distinctly to understand that am in pos
session of no other information than that W hiCh
is common to every cltizen-Yet, under my
pre- sen, impressions, arising from the proba-
1le course of events, should be wanting in
my duty, were / not to call your serious at
tentoa to the threatening posture of our Fo-
reign Relations. Il is time we should be up
on the alert; that we shake off the suplneness
which paralyzes every manly effort; that we
should be sensibly alive TO, and prepared for
the approaching crisis.
It seems that no alternative is left, but an
appeal to arms or an iynominious submission.
America will not even deliberate which to
choose How long shall we sit with our arms
folded together, and still hope for the cont
nuance of peace-wben BY long series OF
acts, such hope is proved to be illusory
There was indeed a time when such a hope
might well have been INDUCED. Separated as
we are from the Old World by a mighty ex-
panse of ocean; quietly pursuing our honest
and Legitimate avocatlons impartial III our
ceilings and irreproac liable in our conduct to-
wards all nations; with justice tor our guide
and peace for our object, repeat again, We
might we'll lave hoped to have been exempt
from those calaInities with which, as with the
bosom of desolation, an angry God has swept
the face of Europe. But rational as that hope
once was. it would be madness any longer
70 INDULGE in it. The measure Of our sui
fering. is fall !; that OF our patience is
exhausted The high seas, the common
inheritage of all nations, have been usurped
.by our impiacable enemy, the disturbers OF
the peace of mankind, who contemporary
disregards those laws which had justice for
lheir basis, and the universal consent OF All
the nations of the earth for their authority.
Our vessels have been seized and conhScated
upon no other pretext than that Which IL COM
mon to every spoi!er. Our lawful commerce,
with the products of our labour, moistcned
with the sw eat of our brow, has been expo
scd to continual spoliation--our native born
citizens have been carried into captivity TO en-.
dure hardships, at the enumeration OF which
humanity recoils; and to complete the black
catalogue of wrongs, the nation that has done
these things, in the very moment when she
was processing, ardent friendship and desire
for peace, with pel6dy peculiar to herself,
audaciously laid her bloody and unhallowea
hands upon tho Ark of our political salvation
the union Of these states--aad, by means the
most Raei,ious, sought its destruction. She
Who boasts, that she is fighting the battles of
civilized man, and forms the only rampant a.
eainst universal despotism-she who aspires
To the proud and enviable character OF feed
ing and keeping alive the holy lamp of Llber-
ty--cooly and deliberately plots the subver-
sion. through all the horrors of civil war, Of