Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1815-10-20

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Iof democracy. Is claimed to- be ,yDIts
Inrincipai friends and supporters, cannot
lie upheld and defended, without . per-
lpetual resort to imposition and fraud
Tiff IL be. as is loudly insisted upon, tIle
lcause Of truth and virtue, it is wonder
Iful that it should never rely on truth and
virtue for its support.
| We have had our attention particular
Inv drawn to refIeetiOns OF this sort, by q
long article published in the National In,
fteIiigencer Of September as, addressed
to Tie peopleof Maryland, on the sub
Iiect of their then approaching election
III was original in that paper, and If we
have any skill in compositions Of tins
sort, it emaaated from the cabinet mint
mot only The style leads us to This cen
Iclusion; but.the art displayed in it, the
cunning mode Of arranging the subject.
and conducting the argument, sayors Sc
strongly of the JetIersonian school, that
lit viii not be easy to convince US b.
mere circamstantiaL eridence, that this is
Ia mistaken opinion.
The great professed object of this
writer is--to draw a comparison between
federal and democratic policy, in order
ito shew the distinguished merit which
the latterais entitled to over the former.
His attention is directed
i. 20 Taxes.
2. To Public Expenditure.
s. To Loans.
A. To the payment Of the National
Debt.
i $. To the Repeal Of the Internal Re-
venue.
6. To War.
i z. 10 Diplomatic Patience.
s. To Embargoes.
9. To Non-Intercourse.
10. To Attempts to Shackie the Free
dom OF the Press.
/. Taxes.-In order to shew that the
federalists, when they were in power.
taxed the people, as thoroughly as the
democrats have done, since they have
borne the sway, the writer resorts TO
the following ina,le---a mode, ebelieve.
perfectly new. tie gives kong list Of
the titles of acts passedby congress, for
the laying and collecting revenue, from
the first Establishment of the government,
number Of the following years,
containing no less than o.. Now v ko is
so stupid as not to perceive, at once
that if congress dabbled in the businessI
of revenue in so many as 27,laws, the
number and weight of the taxes must
have been not only extremely burthen<
some, but much more so than has been
the fact under the Jeffersonian admins
trations? Ifany of our readers are dull
enough, or unreasonable enough, not to
admit this consequence, We can only as
sure him, his persisting in it, goes the
whole length of defeating the object Of
this iaborious writer-for it is by such
premises, and such a conclusion, that
he attempts to support his position.
But there is degree of baseness In
this attempt at impos;acn, which strong
ly speaks its origin. The real scheme
Of the writer is, to make the people of
Maryland believe. that the imposition of
taxes, at the outset of the federal govern
ment, was unnecessary and oppressive.
1t is true, that for the purpose OF cloak
ing his real intentions, be affects de-
gree of candor, when he says" Be-
Iieye, net, however, that for mere taxa
ton, | mean to condemn" But, did
that aftectation of candor lead him toE
state what was the situation CT the coun-l
try, at tie time the government COM
menced its operations ? Did he inform
the people of Maryland, that the nation
was at that time in the lowest state OF
ard depression-that it owed
the immense debt of the revolution, and
had literally nothing to pay it @ith-thatI
commerce was at a low ebb, agricultural
and the arts, scarcely active enough, tel
furnish the people with the necessaries|
oflife-that state taxes were enormous-
" oppressive, that formidable insurrec-
tions existed in some parts OF the coun-
try, and that the national power had
long been withered and broken.
When congress first convened under
the constitution, they had to natoe all
things new in the .ystem Of public affairs.
AS commerce began Immediately to re-
yiye, the first, and, indeed, the only
source of immediate revenue, was the
\ lsAnn,, ,rancnlc and marchan-