Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1825-07-08
RICHMOND, JULY @.

GENTLEMEN W G nave reached crisis in the !
political movements OF our country, when the Con- |
stItuiion, which we revere the stay of or hopes
and the Palladium of Liberty, must be wres,ed
from those hands that have polluted it with their
touch, and that would -shatter il into fragments i'm
the pride OF their us,lrpation, or when the hopes
the anticipatiors, and the promises, which we have
fondy and ardently cherished, must be entombed
for ever, and the friends of constitutional liberty
must yield themselves up the melancholy and ap-
paling conviction, that yet human ingenuity has
conrved no adequate restraints upon the in,rigues
OF the crafty, and the aspirations of the ambitious:
that, even here, liberty is but an ephemeral plant
that blooms for day and fills the earth with its
fragrance, then fades, and withers and dies leav-
ing the land in which it iourshed agita,ed by The
| commotions OF anarchy, or desoiated by the pes
tien'ial breath OF desrosm. Who that looks upon
the events passing before Us, that does not per-
ceivea cloud gathering, which, if not dissipated,
will ere long burst upon our heads? The waters
are indeed smooihupon their surface; the Lion
and the Lamb lie down together: the cry of anal
gamdtion has gone abroad through the land: those,
who were once ready 10 lay down their lives in de-
| fence OF the constitutions, and those who would
have tramped 1t under foot, ii it stood in the way
OF their aggrandisement have met and shaken hands
An opposition in principle has become but dis
tincton in names, and The patriots who sought TO
make their country Independent and happy and the
| parricides who would lave reduced her second
| time under the Domination of Britain, in the FASH
| ionable language of the present day sought only
the same ends, wee inpeled by tie same motives
and were influenced by feelings equally patriotic
and pure; Jam redit ct virgo; redrunt Saturnia
regina" But, through the veil thus dextrouslv
thrown over the schemes and ciinations OF pro
fligae and aspiring men do you nql mark their pro-
gress Do you not feel ;heir effects? Have Won
not seen, within the present year, demagoeles. who
fattered the people, and bowed in mockery Ore
tn hcir arly, LODI,
te,nPtuously dlsregarding the solemn expression Of
the peoples WILL and harerng without remorse and
without secrecy, the peoples honor? Have YOU
not seen them with coarse and confident audacity
disgusting every delicate mind and sickening every
honest heart with their attempts to Justify the
crimes, the fruits OF which they were even then
! enjoying? Have you not seen that people thus in
suited aud betrayed, like the ancient Idoaters of r.
gyPt Teasing and worshipping with proloundest
reverence the .Ndtric, whose destinations were
most dangerous, and whose bite most mortal?
Have you not seen the proting by the expert
ence OF the father opening his sails TO every breeze
! OF popular sentiment by turns a FederaiiSt and a
Republican,, Radical and an .amGlgamist, as
scntng to every creed and worshippin at every al
tar, al length reaping the rich harvest Of life of
dissimuation, and in the very hour olfruiiion con-
trolling his eXstacy to insult our UNDERSTANDINGS
by processing TO accept, with diffidence an office
which he had won by artifice and intrigue? Tibe-
RUS on his accession to the Empire modestly begged
the Roman SeHate 10 consider his unworthiness
and refused The title of Father OF his Country, lest
he may be afterwards found unworthy of so great
an honor; ye few years saw al that was good and
virtuous, and great, III Rome, swept away by the
fury OF that relentless Tyrant a modern dissem-
ler Processes TO sFregret that the Constitution left
nun nor me power OF thro Niag the election again
on the peoples" yet before !e is warm in his chair
| ne boldly Yields up that constitution srpedienc,,
ana boasts himself the advocate of a consoIs,ed'
splendid, ana omnipotent government, that ,.ould
| cover the land with wonders and its inbati,a,,.
WIN rags; that would substitute he pride oe no,i-
ty Tor the dignity OF virtue; that instead of rest
| ing on the moral energies Of people unresrained
In 'helr industry, and protected in their rights
would split US into classes discordaot in FEELING
divided IN interest and decorated in the badges OF
| the oPPresS0rs and The oppressed Do YOU NOT
! behold government created with limited DO &, ers
Tor limited and specified objects, stretching The
arms OF lis usurpaon be- ond every assienable boun
Diary, and in despite oil every natural tie threaten
ing to annhilale even the parents TO whom If owes
us existence! The trainers of the constitution like
Canute, have set their chairs on the shore and com
manded The waves to advance "thus far and mo
larther; but alas! impotent as the command of
mat monarch TO the irresistible waters have proved
all me restraints, which the wisdom of our fathers
sought 10 impose on the tumultuous movements of
the ederal Government Is there rule of con-
tiAa NOulu IT'S jurisdiction. which
h'snot set aside: Is there a power necessary for
the execution of the most unjust and pernicious
measures that may tend to its own Acknowledgement |
which II hasnot unblushingly asslimedS We have |
seen the profits OF the abour and the industry of
millions, diverted into the pockets of some dozen
capitalists, the future mobiles of our land and we are
commanded to console ourselves with the assurance
that ibis Is a necessary part of grand national
policy. We have seen the map of our country
looked into, and in every corner mountains pronos
ed TO be leyelled and seas made 10 flow that the
prde oil executive patronage may be still farther
inflated and the authority of an Unsuitable govern
ment seated in the heart ofevery state in the Union
and Tor this profga:e waste Of our money. and
this unprincpled lnfraction Of state rights we are
cOhsoied oy The suggestion that when our institu-
IONS shall have passed away, and the soil which
Freemen had defended shall again be waste or be
rodden but by slaves, the sentimental traveller
standing on the ruins of some splendid aoueduct
snail say, alas, thus moulder the proud monuments
oil people once the happiest on the earth We
have among us class of labourers coneenial To
our climate, accommodated to the productions of
our soil, and necessary to the habits of our people
Tor the most part subordinate, cheerful and happy
without sigh for the past or an anxious care for
he future, with an elasticity OF feeling peculiarly
their own, turning each hour of leisure into an hour
OF innocent iesviy, and yet the intermedding ia
naiicism OF dominant party would convert their
eheeriuness into discomfort, their order into spi-
r ofinsuTection, and the torch that lights up their
harmless joys into the consuming brand of the mid
night incendiary. II such be a Iust picture of the
present condition of our country, if the evils which
are here exhibited owe nothing Of their magnitude
to the labourings Of fancy, fold our arms in
apathy and contemplate them unmoved? Shall Viy ,
giid that has been foremost in guarding the con-
stituion, at crisis like this, desert her standard or
be content to play subordinate part in the work
of reformation; have we already so far fallen.
hat reform is hopeess' We thank our God, it is b
tho f,resanf criqia tho fulI rs =. -