Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1829-12-31
From tie Oh BaeJ,eJo,.

Ia'c .hetn 10 generous competition witt
uieiI iorelatiaers IN those great qualities which
eaait the soul and ennobie the mind: but M
cnece OF tiiis sort Can be hoped for on the.
part unless they shall themselves be hrough
70 make the comparison frankly and 10 fee
and acknowledge their iniericrity. For a,
long as we remain perfectly satisfied with our
selves, 1T is very clear that we shall make nc
efforts at improvement. The man, therefore.
VINO exposes our false pretensions, forces up-
on us an useful, although NOT pleasing con.
victon; and IN showing US thai we are moth
ing' compared with the standard of revolu-
uonary excellence, he disspates the indolent
ana perncious dream of vanity, which had
iuheu us, and puts us on aspiring to an equal
lty with that illustrious model Neither the
probe, nor the caustick are very pleasant O.
perations: we submit to them, however. for
the good that is TO follow, and, painful as they
are, we submit to them even with gratitude
to the operator. Without further apology
then. proceed to apply the probe and caus-
tick to the mind.
The comparison which / propose to institute,
is between the characters who bore part in
our revolution, and those who have succeed
ed it. And this comparison may be made Ell
Their by individuals or by bodies. OF the re-
evolutionary individuals who are yet alive,
oiidi ody hOlDUS. tHt1 dIC Sfdc uf oiuC WIFI
the moderns, and the reader nav easily make
the comparison himself OF those characters
of the revolution who are no more, will Sc
lect only few, and giving to the reader the
whole post-revolutionary, American world,
viii ask him for their equals. ask him, then,
who there is amongst, us, that wields the a
cute, profound, all searching pen of Farmer
Dckenson9 Who is there that displays the
force and power of thinking which distinguish
ed Alexander Hamilton?--Who is there that
equals Franklin In the vast stores of useful
knowledge, and the boundless reach of com
prehension Of minde-Who is there that pours
the bold, majestic tide of Tienry's eloquence?
Who is there alas,- to compare with HIM
scd0 scas IN ,car the mountain storm--ia pace.
the gale Of spring?-Were not these men gi-
ants in mind and heroism? Compared with
them, what is the present generation, but a
puny race If dwsrfs and pigmies?
Ii the comparison by individuals shall be
thought not a far one, look at themin bodies.
Compare, in the FIRST place, your state legis-
lature new, with what it was during the revo-
luton: the last was the 9ra OF Pendleton,
Wythe, Henry, Bland, r. II Lee, SIC. &c.
What were the measures Of those days? In
stead of being the offspring of puerile versati-
hsy, of rash experiment., OF MISREPRESENTATION
of maniack prejudice, Or whim without mo
tive, instead of being
80 feather toF epery seind that blo,cs,'
they were The measures of NEE; deliberate,
deep, jsldicious, solid and stuble.
The reader, however, may be OF the opin-
ION suggested some years ago by an Essayist
in the Enquirer, that our state legislature is
not fair specimen of the talents of the state,
because those talents have been taken away
from us by the stronger attraction Of the fed
eral legislature. hst us go then, TO the fed
eral legislature itself, and look there for the
/ talents thus removed from us;--and let US
compare that body with the old continental
or revolutionary Congress. Comparing them
as bodies, there is no other way to decide be-
tween them than by their acts. Talk, if you
please, of the difficulties in which the present
Congress is placed; make every allowance for
| these difficulties, but, then, remember those
greater difficulties which the old Congress
| had to encounter. Compare the resources OF
the country at those two periods, in men.
msney, arms, and ammunition. These words
| roll easily from our lips: but remember what
| they mean; and make the comparison fairly.
am not censuring the pacific course OF our
| Congress. | have nothing to do with politics
| | say only, that the difficulties with which
they are surrounded ought to weigh nothing
| IN their favor, when a COMPARISON Is made
| between their taleats for government and
| those OF the fathers of the revolution; because
! the old Congress were environed by difficult
! ties still greater. The moment of difficulty is,
| indeed, the proper moment for the trial OF ia
! Tents. Remember, then, the epoch Of our Re
! volution. The colonial habitudes Of tilia at
tachment to Great Britain, scarcely half van
! pushed; the total desttntion OF all the means
! Of war, and the acknowledged power of their
veteran adversary, might well have excused
them in declining the contest VAST not, in
| truth, as unequal as that between the naked
shepherd boy Of Israel and the Philistlne giant
armed from head TO foot. This was the com
| plicatioa Of trying difficulties of which lord
Chatham spoke; and what was the conduct Of
the old Congress under them?-Ask Lord
Chatham again. He had known, by history
| Athens, Sparta and Rome; he had seen them
encompasscd by difficulties which threatened
| their extinction, and had seen the heroic ex
ertions by which they had been saved: Ye
with all this historical knowledge before him
| he declared-'that in the master states of thu
world, he knew not the people nor the Senate
| who in such a complication of difficult clrcum
stances, could stand in preference to the de
legates Of America assembled in general Con
gress in Philadelphia you conside
The dignity, The firpHaess and the ,cisdom witt
which the Americans have acted said he
you cannot but respect their cause.-Brin:
this portrait to the present time, and see hop
| well it fits. 'DIGNTTY, FIRMsEss and wIsDoM!l
bava NO di.r1osifiou AZ. xxraps tba ao,,,,~a ~ an