South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1836-09-24
General Harrison.

W Inc loilowing 10 the concluding part
ola letter addressed by General HARRr.
SON. when Minister TO Columbia, (south
America,) to Gen. BoLlvAR, whose par.
tisans were. at the time. trying to inves.
him with despotic powers. They are
sentiments which will elicit the admira.
ton Of every ones:
| "DepeRd on it, sir, tina. the momen,
which shall announce the continuance
of arbitrary power in your hands, will
be the commencement of connections
which will require all yonr talents aud
energies TO suppress. You. nav sue
ceed.s The disciplined army, at your
disposal, may be too powerful for an
unarmsd, undisciplined, and scattered
population; but one unsuccessful efer,
will not content them, and your feel
ings will be eternally racked by being
obliged to make war upon those who
have been accustomed to. call you their
father, and to invoke blessings on your
head, and for no CAUSE bat their ,adhe.
renee to principles which you yourself
had taught them to regard more than
their lives.
| lfby the strong governments which
the advocates for the proposed change
so s,renuously recommended, one with.
out responsibility Is Intended, which
may put men TO death, and immune
them ia dungeons without trial, and
! one, where the army is every thing and
the people nothing, must say, that II
tha tranquility of Columbis is to be
preserved in this way, the widas, an
archy would be preferable. Out of
that anarchy, a better government
might arise but the chains of military
desp1tlsm once fastened upon q nation,
ages might pass away before they could
De shaken of.
But Contend that the strongest OF
governments is that which 10 the mos.
free. We consider that Of the United
States as the strongest, precisely be-
cause ii is the most free. 1t possesses
the faculties, equally, to pro,ec, itself
from foreign force or internal convul.
sion. 10 both it has been sufficiently
tried. Ia no country upon earth would
an armed opposition to the laws be
sooner or more etfectually put down.
Not so much by the terrors Of the gull
lotiae and the gibbet, as from the a
reused determination Of the nation, ex-
hbi,ing their strength, and convincing
the factions that their Cause was hope.
less.
Ia relation to the effect which this
investment Of power is to have upon
your happiness and your fame will the
pomp and glitter of court, and The
da.tery of yenal courtiers, reward you
for the troubles s. anxieties attendant
upon the exercise Of sovereignty every
where, and those which will flow from
your peculiar situation 2 Or power
supported by the bayones, for that will
Ing homage which you were. want to re-
ceive from your fellow-ctizens. The
groans OF an oppressed and dissatisfied
people will penetrate the Utmost recess
es Of your paIace, s. 700 will be sortuy.
ed by the reflection, that you no longer
possess that place 10 their affections,
which was once your pride and boast,
and which would have been your So
lace under every reverse Of fortune.-
Unsupported by the people, your au-
thori,y can be maintained, only by the
terrors of the sword and the scaffold.--
And have these ever been successful
under similar circumstances Blood
may smother, for period, but can
never exlinguish, the fire Of liberty,
which YOU have contributed so much
70 kindle in the bosom Of every Co
lumbar.
will not urge, as an argument, the
personal dangers to which you will be
exposed. Bl,I will ask if you could
enjoy life, which would be preserved
by the constant execution Of so many
beings-your countrymen,your former
friends, and almost your worshippers.
The pangs OF such a situation will be
more acute, by rejecting upon the hal
lowed motive Of masy Of those who
would aim their daggess al yonr bosom
That like the last cf the Romans,
they would strike. not. from hatred to
the man, but love to the. country.
From knowledge Of your own dis
position, and present feelings, your
Excellency will not be willing to be-
lieve ,,hat you could ever be brou Oh! to
commit an act Of tyranny, or even to
execute justice with unnecessary rigor.
But trust me, sir, that there il nothing
more destructive of the finest feelings
of our nature, than the exercise of un"