Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1813-02-22


immoral and mischievous, a counteract my
influence in the ,igid and infexible integri-
iy oflhe good is pc cusrly requisite. II ev.
cry one, while he reads and~ fleets on the
character of Washington and his friends,
would resolve 10 initiate thcir virtues, our
untry might yet be saved The object is
certainly 100 important To be neglected, and
the reward of success will be too great To
be despised. N. z.
would not be underitood, from
having applied the epithets ." cor
rupt and venaI' to the administration
in my Taft, to a1ert that | have lie.
gal proof of what is legally uuder-
food by the term venality, nor do
allude to the Henry plot. The COR
ruption to which | refer, and of which
the proof is open and known to every
citizen, is the purchafe of partizans
by means of Office, and the general
tendency of the late laws of the
Union to demoralize the people.
This | coniider as the noit dangerous,
becaufe the leaf fragrant kind of cor
ruplion, and liable to be praGifed
without arouGng the fears and juf
indignation of the people. Nor is
any fpecies of bribery or corruption
more delete ious in its effects OFF,
ces may be purchafed by men quail
fed to fill them-of enlarged views
and honorable feelings by bribing
the lower claiIes of the people; but
the Purchafc Of partizans by means of
Office, can only be accomplished by
entruiting,offices to thofe who are to-
tally unfit to perform the duties by
promoting TO places of honor or e.
monument the mott profligate part of
the community, aad thereby encour-
aging vice, immortality and per6dy
Our laws, too, have been 70 contrived,
as 10 reward the evaGon of them by
enormous profits Although /; is i'm.
poiiible to prove the intention of thofc
who make the laws otherwife than by
their tendency, and although the eva
ilon of unconstitutional and bad laws,
is not in itielf immoral, yet fuoh is
the nature of the human mind, that
the evafion of even uuiuit laws, tends
to leilen our refped COR fuch as are
good, TO confound the diltinttions be.
tween right and wrong, and TO diff
folve tue attachment of the unfullied
mind to things honef, honorable and
facred. After the people fhall have
been a few year, under the operation
of fuch laws it will not be furpriiing
if they ihould practife corruption
without conjunction, and bribery
without oluih.
And, let me ak, what Jingle ad-
vantage has been gained by all the re-
itrietive msalures and penal laws /?
In what refpe6t is our country more
prosperous on account of them? Let
us compare the prelent Gtuation with
the Profpeets which prudent ma age
ment would have prefented to our
view. In what refpect is war more
advantageous thar peace How ara
we more happy under a voluntary
abandonment of the mott extsnlive
commerce than we ihould have been
in the enjoyment of it, while lucra
tive beyond the hopes of mercantile
avarice ? What benefit is to be derl.
we'd from a national debt of millions,
incurred at time when the .realury
might have been fepleniihed, and "a
bounding, without double duties and
direct taxes, which will be necenary
to pay the interest of the war debt
The profpea is too gloomy to be
viewed with calmnefs.
What indemnity can government
offer for all thefe evils Will they
attempt to lull the people into a fatal
foreetfulneis Of their mifmanagement
and of the exalted fituation from
which themfelves have fallen, by the
bauble of French treaty What fe
curity will a treaty with the depot
of Europe afford I What confidence
can our cabinet repoic in man no.
torious for the violation of his plight
ted faith Can they mention one
treaty, one infance of folemn engage