Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1825-03-10

administration Of this Government; and |;
that both have required a liberal indul-
lgence for a portion of human in6rfnaty
and error. The Revolutionary wars of
Europe, commencing precisely at the
moment when the Government of the
United States first went into operation
under the Constitution, excited a COLI
sion of sentiments and of sympathies,
which kindled all the passions, & embit
tered the conflict of parties, till the ma
lion was involved in war, and the Union
was shaken to its centre. This time of
trial embraced aperiod of FIVE and twen-
~ years, during which, the policy of the
Union, in its relations with Europe,
constituted the principal basis of our po-
Iitical divisions, and the most arduous
part of the action of our Federal Go
vernment. With the catastrophe in
which the wars Of the French Reyolu-
ton terminated. and our own subse-
Guent peace withG BFitain, this Dane-
full weed of party strife was uprooted'
From that time, DO difference of prin-
ciple, connected either with the theory
OF government, or with our intercourse
with foreign nations, has existed, or
been called fourth, in force sufficient to
sustain a continued combination ofpar-
ties, or to give more than wholesome
animation to public sentiment, or legis-
~lstiye debate. Our political creed is
without q dissenting voice that can be
heard. That the will ofthe people is the
sources the happiness ofthe people the
end, ofaN legitimate Government upon
earth-4aat the best security for the
benefcence, and the best guaranty "a
gainst the abuse, Of power, consists in
the freedom, the purity, and the ire
quency Of popular elections-That the
General Government OF the Union, and
the separate governments of the States,
are all sovereignties of limited powers;
fellow servants of the same masters;
uncontrolled within their respective
spheres:uncontrolled by encroaehments
upon each other-Ihat the frmest sccu-
rity Of peace is the preparation, during
peace, of the defence of war-That a
rigorous economy, and accountability
of public expenditures, should guard a
sainst tine aggragation, and alleviate
when possible, the burden, Of taxation
THAT the military should be kept in
strict subordination to the civil power
That the freedom of the press and Of re-
iiglous opinion should be jnv!o!ate-
That the policy Of our country is peace,
and the ark of our salvation union, are
articles opon which we are all now a
greed. Ii there have been those who
doubted whether a confederated repre-
sentative democracy were government
competent to the wise and orderly man
agement of the common concerns of a
mighty natlun, those doubts have been
dIspelied. Ii there have been projects
of partial confederacies to be erected
upon the ruins of the Uaion. they have
been scattered IN the winds-If there
have been dangerous a~ttachmentsto one
%toreig On nation and antiquities against
another, they have been extinguished.
Aen years of peace, AT home and abroad,
have assuaged the animosities of pcliti-
cal contention, and blendid into harno-
ny the most discordant elements ofpub-
lie opinion. There still remains one eff
tort OF magnanimity, n sacrafce OF
prejudice and passion, to be made by
the individuals throughout the nation,
who have heretofore followed the stan
dards of political %party.-it is that of
dlscharging every remnant of ancou
against each other; of embracing, as
c%ountrymen and friends, and of yielding
to talents and virtue alone, that conf.
dence which, in times of contention Tor
principle, was bestowed only upon those
who bore the badge ofparty communion.
The collisions of party spirit, which
originate in speculative opinions, or in
different views of administrative policy, +,
are, in their nature, transitory. Those
which are founded on geographical d.
visions, adverse interests of soil, climate, !
and modes of domestic life. are more
therefore perhapes more |
dangerous, 1t is this which gives ines |
value to the character Of our !
Government, at once federal and ma ,
I%tional. 1t holds out to us a perpetual
%admonition TO preserve alike, and with
equal anxiety, the rights of each indi-
yidual State in lis w government, and
the rights of the whole nation in that of
the onion. Whatsoever is of domes-
tic conccrnment, unconnected with tie
other members OF the Union, or with
foreign lands, belongs exclusively TO the
administration Of theState Governments.
Whatsoever directly involve the rights
and interests of the federatiye fraterni-