Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1818-10-23


the other sets out with assessing al the
highest It's own merits and reward, and en-
deayors by impudent impostures TO caIole
the world into an anticipated acknowledge
ment OF them, and TO procure credit, not
for what it has done, or can debut for
what it may do should chance present an
opportunity. In short, like too many OF
our modern commercial enterprises. man
possessed with this kind of ambition, sets
up altogether upon credit, with convlc-
ton in lis conscience that unless he can
succeed in some bold, unprincipled Specu-
lation, he must become bankrupt, and
demands TO he, all al once, thought great, IN
order that he may as soon asPossIhle make
those whom he has cajoled, feel it, in the
ostentaiouS exercise of bis power, the dis
play of his inordinate pride and vanity,
and, perhaps, the qualification OF his worst
appetites. Candour, sincerity and TRUTH
sway the one, and direct and control all his
aspirincs:-the other is the perpetua!ly SER
vile, sneaking, temporizihg slave OF eXpe-
dient,-,he interchangeable servtor of his
own bad purposes, TO tie grailicalIon OF
which he hesitates not TO make every sacri-
flee but that Of his own pleasure or proper
y-has recourse 10 a thousand mean, un-
warrantable tricks, undermining falschoods,
and empirical experiments, 10 mask his real
character, because be knows II 10 be bad
ana to throw wrorg coloring upon that OF
his neighbor, because, seeing il TO be good,
it i, an offence in his eyes, and reproach
to his own fame by the contrast ii presents
TO it and thus he raises himself from the
mire in which nature designed him 10 wal
low, upon The ruins, perhaps, of the most
worthy OF his fellow citizens fame.
High in the catalogue OF men distinguish
ed for the first of these two kinds of ambi-
ton were the men who illustrated the cha
racter Of America in that period of its his
tory which filled the space from the year
ITO 10 the year 1890. If it be true, as
some sarcastic observers assert, that Re
have, by degrees, declined into the second
species, and that the vilest kind of amhi-
ton every day seems TO acquire stronger
and more extensive dominion over certain
persons in This country, it is surely sub
ject well worth investigation.-The great
TO no glory but that which they might catch
by reflection from the glory of their coun-
try, no profit from the dangers and labors
they incurred in liberating their fellow citi
zcns from a foreign yoke, but such as they
were to share in common with them: and
having effected that object and established
their great acquisition upon the basis OF
peace, they nobly resigned all those dis
tinc,ons and bauhles of power, the least Of
which constitutes the depraved ambition of
our aspirers of the present day the tram
guilty, the honor, and the happiness of
america engrossed the whole of their ambi-
ton. and even these they would accom-
p'jsh only ny means strictly moral and JUS
tifiable Those of the present day direct
their views to remote nations, who so far
from having any such natural connection
with US as would, III plain honesty and COM
mon sense, warrant our running material
risks, and mourning great dangers and the
very worst OF evils in their behalf, DO not
so much as speak the same language or hold
one common principle of faith with us
For those aliens, our modern Gracchi would
have US rush forth from this happy covering
of peace and harmony with the world, IN
der which we have for a short time enjoyed
the blessing that God and nature have pre-
sented in full measure TO our lips, and van
der abroad over the wilds of military adj
veniure-not like the good knight of La
Mancha distracted in a vrtuous cause, hut
like Huil5ras "colonciiins" in dubious or
a bad one, and adopting 10 our alliance and
protection the buccaneers ard pirates who
iniest the high seas, plundering those with
whom we are in amity, and not sparing
even our fellow citizens. This is the sort
of ambition by which our present cravers OF
power are said 10 be actuated, and ,hcse
are The means tthe ONLY means, It's true,
within their competency by which they
hope to vault into tie seat of government,
in order to lord il over the United States.
Even though all this should not he true To
the full extent in which it is given out all
over The union, yet the Universally OF the
suggestion is a proof that deprayed spiri,