The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1815-05-24
POLITICAL.
FROM cOpDErr,s wErrnr Rre1srER.
No. l..
AMERICA.

D.
err at PHILADELPHIA.
At Meeting of the county of Somerset,
on the 9th instant, 4 curious occurrence took
place with regard to the peace with Anne
yica. Twill first give the account OF it from
the TINES ne7cshGf,er of the 10th inst and
make on it such observations as Iaost natu-
rally present themselves. The reader should
FIRST be informed, however, that the meeting
was held for the purpose of discussing a pc
tton to Parliament against the ProEertg
Tar, or Tar uhon Income, which tax
ought, By law, to expire in few months,
but OF which tax it is supposed the COVE rnment
means to propose the contt,uafion, or reri-
yaL.-The following is the report Of the
TINES
"On Monday last, at the meeting OF the
bceeholders, &c. holden at Wells, to petition
Parliament for the repeal of the Property
tax after the business Of the day was dis
posed OF Ian account of which has already
appeared in this paper, MIR. HUNT re-
marked, that the meeting should not dis
perse without expressing its thanbfulness to
those by whose efforts peace had been made
between us and America. He therefore read
resolution, which he submitted for their
appreciation: That the thanks of this NEE
ting are due to those by whose exertions
peace with the Americans the o,,ly free re-
naming fe0tiie in the qpo7id has been res
tored to this country" Sir ]. e.. HIpPIsLFr
could see no reason whatever for calling the
Americans The only free hcohle in the -voykd,
and should certainly divide the meeting If
the motion were persisted in. 1t was q IL
BEL on or o7vn country; for his part, he
HATED THE AMERICANS. They were
q ser Of slaUeS to the Government of France.
and some expressions Of disahhro6atior
arose. when MIR. Dickinson said, that he
certainly must join in deprecating the reso.
luton. He hoped the meeting would not
consent to compliment any nation at the ex-
pense OF our own, and of every other on the
globe. He had considerable reason for be-
lieving, that the Congress at Vienna was now
employed in endeavoring to u;,1ivet the
chG'is Of the suffering africans /; and engag-
ed, as the powers of Europe were in so .a-
cred cause, he could not consent that any
aspersion, direct or indirect, should be cast
upon them. Mr.. HUNT, then requested the
Sheriffto put the resolution, which, upon the
shew OF hands, was negatived by very con-
siderable majority"
Whether there be any free co,t.fry in tte
qDorld, still remaining, besides the Republic
Ot America. rs a question that do not choose
to decide or to give my opinion upon. Pat
cannot help observing, that the question was
decided In the negative by meeting of the
county of Somerset, only by "conSidera6ie
majority ;" and, must further observe, that
the report OF this considerable majority"
comes to us through the Times nsqyst.ate7,
that channel of skunk abuse OF America
and all that is American. Let it be remen-
bered, too, that the power of deciding who
had the majority, lay wholly and absolutely
with the Sheriff, who is an officer appointed
by the crown. This being the case, the
words, " considerable majority will be pref
ty we'll understood to mean am thing bit a
large majorsy--and perhaps, some people
may doubt whether there was any majority
at all. AT any rate, the County OF Somerset
6tUided upon the question of, whether Anne
RIGA was, or was not, the oniy free country
iefi in The world. This was, at least a aues.
ton for which many were in the affirmative
1t was received and put to the vote without
any marks OF Interpretation while, or tie
other hand, he was hisSed, who said that he
hated the Americans and who called them
the SLAVES ofthe French GoUfrnnenf. And
amy, good Sir John, do you hate the Ameri-
cans What have they done to YOU? You
say, that they are the slaves Of the gov
eminent of France !; hut you do not find if
Convenient to produce any proof of what YOU
say. This, Sir John, is one of the old stale
falsehoods Of the Times newspaper which
you are retailing az second hand like a Grub
street pedlar. You are, IN this instance, a
poor crawling initator Of wretcbed grinder
OF paid-for paragraphs. Prone, or attempt
to prove what you say. Attempt, at least,
10 prove, that the AMERICANS, are the slaves,
or have been, the slaves of the French; or.
you must be content 70 go about saddled
with the charge of having made an asser-
non, without biting either able or willing to
shew II to be true. ] assert, that the Amcri-
cans were not in any shape or degree subser-
Went TO France. l assert, that they all along
acted TIE part Of a nation truly iudehendent.
assert, tnat they, in no case, Showed par
TALLY tcc the Government of Napoleon. II
amy proof'were wanted Of their having placed
no retjenc4 uhon Fruncc, we have it IN the
fact, re iact so honorable, 81 glorious to
them, and SO unfortunate for MS ! mean the
fact of theirc onfu4Wing fhe coife8t after Ma
f,oleon mas ftS1 doRH. and STILL rs firmly as
before, rcfHsHg 10 give nh to as one siuple
print, thoAgt they saw us allied with all Eu
rope, ana tho they saw the whole of our mon
strous force di ccted against them, having no
other enemy t. contend with. This hroDes
that they placcl no reliance upon France
l"hen they dec lred war, they saw us with a
powerful enemy in Europe. Upon that cir
cums,.uce, theyp course, calculated, as they
had rghtto do but when that enemy, con
trary to their exbectaton. was put down ali
Of q sudden, and the whole OF cur enormous
force was bent agltit America, she was not
mtiDldatcd. Size stu set us at defiance she
faced us she fought; and az The end Of