Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1822-09-28

chief, Is the fSpntaih and the boundary,
Of active power there men have no
will, and evan wishes are criminal; for
spopernmsnts whichsare in the hands OF
"a few, the evilissmore inveterate, DO.
cause every aristocracy is q plurality
Of tyrants, whore they are supreme !;
and where united with 9 chief, are an
organized conspiracy against the laws
Of God and the happiness OF man. 81
In.such governments there 10 no hope
but an insurrection, and no. argument
but blood shed; for these reason and
discussion are criminal faculties, which
say kill or be killed.
Every human government has chs
tendency; and under the name OF e
represe NATIVE government, it 10 possi-
bic to realize in practice all that dare
be done in the system Of despotism, or
that it may be done with less potent
and appalling external. The Athenian
republic has been stigmatized for the
crimes Of body Of cOnspiring osi-
garchs. -
Aristides was banished for. his vir-
tues-Miltiades was ,ncarcerated for
yictories-Socrates was murdered tor
being the most virtuous and disinter-
ested of men the republic has been
reproached for those actions in the
same spirit that Alexander has been
reproached for numbering his friend !;
but the murder of Clytus was the act
of Alexander the murder of Aristides,
Miltiades, and Socrates was not by the
republic, but by men who were hostile
disregardful, or Indifferent to the prin-
ciples Of the republic when men cast
the reproach upon Athens for those
crimes,i is an injustice; unless it be that
the people merit the reProach for suf.
fering their worst enemies to murder
their best friends. The murder was
the outrage Of the laws and to con-
denim the laws because they were viola
ted, is no more Just than to Justly the
murdered men because they were MUIR
dered. i.
Soon about to retire from all con.
Germ in political concerns. the emotion
under which these ideas are committed
to paper, is like that of an approaching
departure from animal life. The re.
collections ofthe past, and the views Of
the present produce the most serious
reflections: such as under different cir
cumstances might not appear SO vivid
lyto the mind. This nation is rapidly
on the declne-a moral disease in:ects
it--and the most astonishing circum-
stances that is apparent, is the cold in
difference and apathy tina. pervades the
whole country. Every day the coun-
try presents worse cendition-each
year is worse than the preceding, and
men appear to think-no they do not
think-they appear to wait for politi.
cal millennium, which is to arrive by
letting eOery thing alone.
We did not mean to say so much,
and what might be said, would fill
volume: but it is not improbable that
in speaking even the truths that are
here stated, and which express more
than they say the very same studied
egotism, which is part Of the disease Of
the day, will feel more offended, than a
disposition to regard truth OF reform
error.
1t is in the power of the American
people to restore their country to pros
perity and plenty-it is in their power
to do it. a ~
But, first of ell they must understand
their disease, and must cure it, for,
whenever they resolve to understand it.
they can apply the remedy-it is in
their hands, and if vain glory mislead
them, OF if they suffer themselves to be
misled--then they must bear the aflic-
ton, and the reproach which has been
so frequently cast upon, the people
that they are their ozrm aUorst enemies.