Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1812-05-04
PROM TIE NATIONAL Iy4xLl1cExcsR

| we had hoped, from the temperate Ian
Suage of the representatives of the fedora
and eastern sections of the union on the
course OF measures lately adopted, that
when the national will was decidedly ex-
pressed, there would have been no difference
either in our public councils, or among the
lpeople, in rendering those measures efficient
1t was reasonable to calculate that, in go
vernment whose brief existence furnishes
scarcely any precedents, and in state of
the world without a parallel in preceding
ages, there would be much diversity Of Opt
Mon OF the best system to be pursued but
this system once planned, and sanctioned by
the highest and the only legitimate authori.
| ty, the will OF majority fairly expressed,
we did hope would have been the rallymg
point of the united affections and exertions
| of the whole people. We have not vet "a
bandoned this hope; although there are
| some indications of the existence of local
passions, that may partially falsify it. An
! attempts making in the important and pa
triotic state of Massachusetts to produce the
impression that the embargo is NOT HONESTLY
intended to be the precursor of war, but that
it is Intended to be the instrument of destroy
| ing trade; that &C ought not, therefore, to be
viewed in the light OF a precautionary mea-
| sure to insure our property in the event of
war, but as the fatal means of subverting
and annihilating the wealth and the happ-
| ness of the mercantile sections Of the nation.
Men that harbor and inculcate such senti-
| ments must be in the highest degree poison
ed by prejudice and influenced by passion, or
| they must consider those to whom they adj
dress themselves as under the dominion of
error and passion.
Ifthere can be confidence in man, the ma
ton have the strongest reason to confide in
| the multiplied declarations of their govern
| ment, both in its Executive and Legislative
Departments, and in the course of measures
taken in correspondence with these declara-
tons. For the seven past years remonstrance
has followed remonstrance against the inva-
sion of our undisputed rights as a neutral
nation; laws have been passed. having the
double effect of restricting the trade of the
aggressor and impairing our own freedom of
trade, and consequently manifesting, by the
evils we consent to endure, our solemn sense
of the Importance of producing radical
change in the disposition os the belIgerents;
an embargo of considerable duration, with its
heavy privations, and its natural tendency to
impair the popularity of those that imposed
It, has been resorted to; and last of all a
non-importation with Great Britain, the
known and anticipated effects of which were
the arrangement of our fiscal affairs, and
the consequent necessity of resorting to loans
or new taxes, which tend invariably to de-
rogate from the popularity of rulers. Every
one of these measures, fraught with self-pri-
! walton, and with magnanimous sacrifice of
popularity to duty on the part of the govern
ment, furnishes proof of the honest and de-
| termined purpose ofthe government to break
the ignoble shackles imposed upon our trade
| and sovereignty by the unprecedented in
,rlo fai Is
sors. If party virulence, blinded by passion,
or Infatuated by disappointment, has, from
time to time, ascribed co our government
feelings and views, which are now univer-
sally seen to have been unjust, it must thank
itself for all the evils that may have been
| produced by error or folly, or vice; and so
fatal delusion having once prevailed should
arrest the libellous spirit that has heretofore
so iniquitously sported with reputation and
truth. Those, whose predictions have been
invariably falsiied, should give up the trade
of prophecy, and no longer Willy what they
| do not or will not understand.
| The truth, then, is, the undoubted truth,
| that the embargo is meant to be the precur-
| sor of war, and that, so soon as the physical
resources of the nation can be arranged, war
| will ensue, unless the department of the Bri-
| fish government evinces a very different
\ temper from that which has hitherto pre-
Z! vailed To enter on vindication of this
| measure under this asfiect would evince a
| contempt for the understanding of the pub
| lie /; and not to have resorted to it, under so
| troubled sky, would have justly exposed
l our rulers to the invectives of those very
men, who are now most clamorous against
| it, but who can only give color to their
| philippines by ISLANDERS against others, whose
lives have been made M of a succession of
! public virtues. There is not fairer name
on the roll of fame, or among the records of
! patriotism, than Madison; and he is the man
WHO proposed the measure.
Let then the habitual opponents of go
| vernment realise--the lesson, though SO late
acquired, may be of signal use to ,hem-let
them realise, that what it processes it will
| practice. Let them know that the will of
the majority, when legally expressed, is the
law of the land that just governments we're
instituted for the good of Communities, and
that, under repnSiicsh sS5vernment, the
public good can only be decided by the voice
| OF majority, and that this voice must be
obeyed; that when it ceases TO be obeyed,
government is annihiated. Whatever then
may be yielded to remonstrance or concilia-
ton, nothing should be yielded to an attitude
| ofdehance; TO disorganizing spirit; to at
| tempts to array separate and local against
| general interests.
It must not be forgotten, moreover, that
| however in municipal affairs we may pros
per notwithstanding our divisions, and indeed
| profit by the sharp rivalries OF the different
| portions Of our people, we must, in our mea-
sures with foreign foe, act with the unbro-
ken strength Of a nation.
! The crisis in our opinion, devolves high
| -,