Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-09-07
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

| Your cOuntrymen at Paris venture to address
you in behalf of the ancient republic of Poland.
Their position, comparatively near the scene OF
disastrous war, their means Of intelligence,
and desire to be useful, form their chief title to
your attention;-as they come however, the adj
vocates of humanity, they forget the smaness OF
their number aud urge their requests with the con.
fidence of men familiar with your philanthropy.
The necessity of order and Of defence has Civ
en- birth to nations. In the course of ages, fami.
lies swell into communities, and from the intimate
relations Of origin, language and usages, are de-
rived the feelings and interests which bind peo-
pie together. Next to the tie Of blood, that which
uuites man to his country is the strongest. The
sentiment Of patriotism is among the purest that
adorns human nature, and experience has shown
that it cannot be destroyed without bringing with
its loss moral debasement that disqualifies its
subjects for all aspiring and noble enterprises. -
In every case in which distinctive character and
habits have been formed by social organization,
national existence seems nearly necessary to ma
tional virtue. Conquest falls upon a people like
blight, checking the currents of its generous
ambition. and whitening its hopes for ages. We
cannot find an extensive territory which has been
brought, by violence, from the high condition of
State, to The dependent lot u Province, which
stration. The restraints that are necessary to
secure an ill-gained ascendency, and the imposi-
tons which the weak sustain from the strong, are
among the more obvious evils of the calamity
To these must be added, the downward tenden.
cies Of defeat, personal humiliation, and person.
al corruption, with their train OF depressing con.
sequences. Such fate, Detailing the smallest
community. would be entitled to-and we are GER
tain would awaken-your pity; when Poland was
overcome, the fifth power in Christendom was trod-
den upon. There are circumstances of unmiti-
gated wrong, of peculiar aegravatlon, that must
be added to the picture. The crime of Poland
was too much liberty: her independent existence,
in the vicinity of those who had reared their thrones
on arbitrary will, was not to be endured. Eel
w-citizens neither the ancient institutions nor
the ancient practices of Poland have been under.
stood. The former had, in common with all Eu-
rope, the inherited defects of feudai practices,
but still were they among the freest of this hemis.
phere. The latter. as ever has been, and as ever
will be the case, until man shall generally enter
into the possession Of those rights of which he has
so long been deprived by political combinations
and lettered monopolies, were illuminated and
distorted to serve the ends of the few who desire
to live on the toll of the many. Poland was ac-
cused of faction and anarchy. The free transmit
their errors and their virtues to posterity, as the
companions Of their greatness, while the sluggish
vices of the slave sleep in the eternity of the OBJ
scure. We hear of the factions of the Greek re.
publics while we search in vain for even the names
of most of their contemporary despotisms. But
we need not examine the annals Of antiquity in
order to estimate the value of these calumnies. or
to investigate their motive. People of America !
You too are accused of living in the midst of an !
archy & Iawiess confusion-;you are said to be tir-
you are quoted as pining for monarchy! What
you know to be false, as respects yourselves, was
with the exceptions incidental to the differences
in the ages and the governments, also false IN re-
,pect to Poland. With the liberty of Poland fell
he sovereignty of the State itself Nor was this
Ill; allegiance was not only transferred, but it
vas divided. Pole can be summoned, at the word