Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-03-17
FOR THE ALEXANDRIA, GAZETTE.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT.
TIE measure now pending in the house
of representative, is certainly, il consl-
dered with view to its extensive OBJ
iects. the natu of those object and tie
effects which, if attained, they must have
upon the agricultural, the CONNER cial,
and the manufacturing Interests OF this
couotry-I might add, too, upon the mo
rails and manners Of our people; and, in
Shot, the whole compound mass OF those
things which give character to nations,
assign them their respective ranks IN
worldly estimation, and enlarge the tyre
in which they are recorded in history
is PROFESSIONALLY the most importsnt
that has ever employed the councils OF
the union, or invited the attention OF the
public. 1t is more particularly deserv-
ing Of profound consideration because its
effects. whatever they may be, must be
more permanent than those OF any other
mrasure-not the evanescent phar toms
os the mnment-which, having displayed
perhaps CANDY attractive coloring Tor
day, to answer the purposes OF some To-
cal advantage, some personal parade or
individuals pro6t--or worse. some deep
ambitious scaeme-are swept away with
the first breath of Ructuating policy, and
leave not even on the surface of the
scene over which they have passed
vestise Of their having ever existed -
but a great, radical, and endless success
sion of national benefit, eonierring at It's
very outset the means Of general anne
Iteration to the union, and increasing
their propitious fruits every day that
passes over the heads Of our posterity.
in uniformly augmenting abundance 4;
and 10 which, If the whole were duly
considered, the only objection the most
carrying casu,st, with all the malignant
sophistry for which such malcontents are
rem rkable, could impute to it is, that it
will be likely to d. too much-to hasten
to premature perfection the greatness Of
the country--io our progress to the high
est station Of national power and felicity,
to take the lead Of time itself, and leave
it, as Johnson says Of Shakespeare's ere.
alive genius. +" toiliDg alter It in vain"-
to lift US to the summit Of opulence, pow.
err perhaps snervating luxury, and, ac-
co,,ling to the usual course OF humanity,
to the vices and feebleness which follow
in .uxury's train |; and ultimately to our
decline, at an age when no other nation
under the. sun had ever attained even
the rudiments Of refinement. Something
Of that kind has been already thrown out
in debate'--bpt merely as an auxiliary
argument in favor Of an old proposes
sion which fixps. in the mind OF the gen.
tleman who spoke it, the vice Of the mea
sure not so much in its remote moral
consequences as in its immediate pcliti-
cal heresy from the respectable doctrines
Of the founders Of the constitution, and
its myriads OF subsequen speculative
admirers. To that charter Of our rights
and liberties bend with all the homage
that is its duel look with reverence
anc admiration to the wisdom, the TRUE
patristism, the moderation. the inaexible
frmness, and even to the cold preventive
cautioL, which seems, through the whole
process, to have retarded the march Of
their minds---to have hung like letters
upon every step Of their progress, and
By Mr.. H. Nelson.