Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1813-10-23

Ec1oCutods UH6 tD1t lUc governor rcfuSss
to pardon; the duty 0it the sheriff in sn.s
cass, he avs, though convinced him
self OF the mans innocence, would h.
TO hang him. There is no method 7.
yer heard OF, SO we'll calculated to mr.
pagate error without being detected =.
this Of artiully putting cases. The he,.
er is very apt to take il upon trust. :.
perfectly analogous. v hen perhaps a sir; r'
gle reflection would show il so di,sim;
lar in some one importan, particular ..
to render it totally inapplicabie-Le,us
however, take Mr.. Dexter's own case
state it a little more in detail. Ssppo,.
then, a man to be convicted of a capi,,,
offence and sentence passed, and the Sh,:
riff SHOULD now discover that one man
had actually beer mistaken for ano,h.r
and thas convicted Of crime of which
he had not even the least KNOWLEDGE
in such case, it would certainly Ie The
duty of the Sheriff to make an immed;.
ate communicates Of this discovery ~
the Jury and to unite with them in soi.
citing the governor fer pardon or "a.
prieve until the sitting ofthe legislature
according to the powers of the executive.
and if he could obtain neither, (which is
not supposeable case without the exis.
tence Of improper motives on the part Of
the governor) it would be the duty of tho
Sheriff, in the last resort sooner than be
the instrument Of putting to death the
certainly innocent, to resign his Office,
If MIR. Decker would resemble the
Two cases however, this Sheriff, with hi.
perfect knowledge Of the mans limo.
cence, has nothing, at all, to do with that;
he is to give himself no sort of concern
about it !; he is not to open his lips even
to inform the governor of the discovery
made since the trial, but to GO calmly /.
steadily with the prisoners to tho galiow.
put the rope about his neck, and launch
him into eternity. ! de not know how
MIR. Dexter might regard such an &C.
ton, but, for myself, should think "a
Sheriff who could act thus would, hin.
self merit death. altho' protected by the
laws from meeting it.
But have we to come to this Can tho
people OF the town of Boston, "the era.
die of American liberty" patiently sub.
nit to bear one of their own townsmen
tell them they are the mere executive
officers ofthe general government; that
il is only for the Administration to order
and they have nothing to DO but imph.
city obey! That il is for the administra.
lion to decide, and to issue its commands
and nothing is left Tor them bpt to re.
receive them, as sheriff receives the
| orders of court, to bow in obedience,
and blindIy to execute Has it, I ask,
come to this Do BostoniaDs listen pa.
tiently, quietly to doctrines so unworthy
the ears Of treemen as this Then are
they degenerate, indeed, ignoble sons Of
patriot sires. Different, very different
was Tie language held by those high spi.
iited Englishmen, who, at the breaking
out of the revolution which made Us a
nation. and during the whole Of the war
that succeeded, dared to take part with
us, on the very floor of the national le-
Rislature that declared it.--Not such the
language then held by the Galatians, the
Foxes. the -Rntkes OF that day. And
that do not speak at random, close
this article with few extracts from a
publication of Mr.. Burke's during the
secnad year of the American war. On
| this occasion and precisely on the ques.
ton we have been considering that great
man expressed himself thus:
cit is said, that being at quar with
the colonies, whatever our sentiments
might have been before, all ties between
Us are now dissolved, and all tie policy
aue haze tef ists strengthen the hands
| of government to reduce foem, On the
principle of this argument, the more
mischiefs we suffer from any administra.
ton, the more our trust 10 it, is to be
| confirmed. Let them bur once get us
INTO suar, and then, their fswer is safe,
and an act OF oblivion past for all their
misc oDduct.
But is X really true that e vernment,
is always to be strengthened with the ID.
strumsnts Of war, but never furnished
with the means of peace ? In former
times, ministers. allow have been some
times driven from the popular voice 10
assert BY arms the national honor against
foreign powers.--But the ,uisdon Of the
nation has been far more clear she"
these ministers haze been COMPILED TO
consult its inferests by treaty. We
all know that tire sense of the nation o.
bliged the court of Charles the second
70 abandon the Dxsch war. The peo'
pie OF England we're not moved from
their evident interest BY the court jar.
gon OF that day; nor was it enough to
tell them that they mere Ct Iar and they
mnst go through NTH IT," " The peo.
pie OF England were then az they are