Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-01-23

nenccment of tic re, olrtion. He exIor.,s
the house to remember that wbiie they ". r.
INDUCING themselves OH down beds, in Com.
fort and idleneSs. that great officer was ;,
during hardship. danger and priya,iop. 70
secure them and tier fellow citizens f., ~
the ruthless ou'ragcs OF a sanguinary los .
and he pat Tito them whether they would
not rather see tho:s two miscrean,s eyecr
! Ted, than that the frontier should lie deIu.
sed with hood, and New Orleans laid u
ashes. He Confessed his contempt for ,h,,
sqeamishness OF feeling which disappnvo,
of martial law, when we had only raw NJ:
litia tomeet the invincibies OF Weling,o,
He said cur statute books contained a, q
verlasting declaration Of war agains, the 6,
wages. and that the president would Lava
deserted his duty to his country and 10 God
if he did rot put down by the strong arm, or
power, those who could not be res,r,;o.4
from outrage by the precepts of our divine
religion; at the same time he did NOT diso,
tromgentiemen notwithstanding humsnn,,
those sa'ages, when il could be safely done.
and he would be as far, he hoped. as Them
from splitting single drop of Indian blooI
unnecessarily: but when savage foe 60.
Oh by that worst of all things a ,;r;,;,ai
savage, carried on desth and .des,,,c,io,,
he would repcl and punish them by al ,hs
means in his power. 1t was sayiog h.,
necessity was the grants plea-and !, w,s
equally true, the good men as well as had
were compelled to submit TO its mao6,,o
For his part, his plea was, TIA, mercy and
justice should go together, hand IN hand
not that one OF them should be pushed for
ward TO the injury of the other, as was Now
attempted. Gentlemen had talked Of mill;
tary usurpatlon, and quoted history to show
no" fearful thing military ambition w.s.
but had they duly considered whether ,ba,a
were not other things of which il .bovod
us to DC more afraid than of the v;olarco
or ambition of a Caesar, a Cromwell or
BonA parte--oush, we net, Che a.ked) +.
be more afraid OF realizing the ingra,i,pJ.
OF his country to Belisarius-or IN. ban;sh
ment OF Arisiides for his virtues? Letus
lsaid colonel Johnson) fear to be unjust
let us fear to take fiom our grey ba,dod
warrior the ouly recompence he can now
receive Tor his services-,he gratitude Of
his country-and not, like Saul be afraid
TO hearthepraises ofthegreat capt. thatslew
uol'ah. am, for my part, much less a.
iraId OF the CromwelIs and Bonaparles of
the world, than | am Of that sickly feeling
which produced that ingrstitude to him
who has more than once ri.ked his alto
serve his country. | had much rather. said
ne, that Ambrister had lived and become
penltent, than have been put TO death-bu,
that Shall not induce me, now that it is i'm
possible, to vote for censure on man who
has rsked SO much for his country"
do not pretend, for you know that il is
quite out ofmy plan Of communicating with
you, to give you report of Mr.. Johnson's
whole speech SO many short hints as |
have been able TO squeeze into letter,
which is longer than usual, send to you-
but can 60 no farther, unless it be TO state
10 you, as briefly as | can, Ills conclusion
81 am sir, (said hey as little disposed to
war as any man-and trust in God that
we shall never again hear the tap Of hos
tile drum in this country 81 wish the hal
cyon days ofpeace to remain uninterrupted
till the last great consummation of all things
but, sir, if bayonets are presented to our
breasts, and fighting becomes our only al
tentative, I will tell you that the most
prompt, vigorous and unanimous measures
must be taken to subdue The foe"
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