A NATIONAL PAPER, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS Av ■, ' ND s ATM. DAYS - ; JOHN FENNO, No. 6g, HIGH-STREET, PHILADELPHIA [No. 44, oi \ 01. IV.] Wednesday, October -1 ' ON THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. Or*"**, id\V:Tfd by M/. Jefepk 'Res J, cj tha ( Uy, at tne Ute annivetfury Comoii/uemat held -at Prince tony Kew-Jerfey. (concluded.) IT is the glory of* Columbus that this great discovery C3ii in no degree be a fen bed to ac cident. In contemplating the origin of the art': and faiences, and those firll dilcoveries which have extended the knowledge, the power, 01 the happine'fs of mankind, we find that most of them were the result of some fortunate acci dent, and, as it were, the unsought gift of hea ven. Few of them were forefeen, and few of them systematically pnrfued. The discovery of Columbus was ail his own. It was the etfeft of rational deduction, the offspring of a profound and penetrating nlind. But geniqs, like his, is a flower rare to be seen, and blows, like the aloe, but once in an hundred years. Jt is not mv intention to detail the future tonduft of this great man : his persevering ex ertions to extend the work he had begun—the wifdorn of his eftabli foments—his dignity under persecution, or the numerous virtues of his private life—in all-, he was himfelf—great, ori ginal and fpbtime ! yet Europe <aw him disho nored and m chains, and meahjv folfc »■);»$ a.F'" v rentine adventurer to bestow his name on the world discovered bv Columbus. The beneficial effe&s of the discovery of America are viable and striking. To trace and illustrate these would be a grateful task; but the day, which hastens to its close, and the li mits assigned me, prohibit a particular detail. Suffice it, therefore, to observe, that this great ■event enlarged the bounds of human knowledge, and opened a wider field to the view of the philosophic mind. Cosmography was impro ved, navigation advanced, distant voyages ren dered familiar, and the whole globe laid open to all the beneficial eife&s of an enterprizhig commerce. The precious metals which flowed into Europe from the mines of Peru and Potofi, gave a new spring to the industry, and melio rated the manners of mankind. The native produ&ions of America, oy augmenting the means of subsistence, have contributed to the cncreafe of mankind, and has given to Europe a capacity of twice as many inha bitants as it could subsist before. To th« sci ence of medicine it has rendered eifential aid, and has enriched the materia niedica with the 'OQ.t povccrfuv icbrtfuge in lKttutc ; and la it, but not least, it has afforded an asylum to the ©pp re fled of all nations. America, hidden for ages, is laid open to view, at the very time, when liberty, u hunted down intheOld World," was panting for the asylum lhe found in the New. Hither, she retired with our ltern fore fathers—here Hie preserved her facrcd fires— here she beheld her patriot sons grow bold in Jier cause, till in the fullnefs of time, she an nounced herfelf to the world, and eflablifhes 3ier empire forever. Oh J If amidst the sublime contemplations of brighter world, the happiness of America can it'll interest the spirit of Columbus. With ■what elevation of mind must he behold the growing greatness of this New World. He iees that virtue and science are the broad foun dation oh which its prosperity must reft ; and he rejoices to behold the numerous seminaries of learning which grace our land, and smiles on the ilJuftrious chara&ers who patronize and support them. [Here followed the vafediflory addrejjef te the Trujlees, Prejident, Faculty and Studentj of the College.] Among these we have {he pleasure of feeing your Excellency*, and you, Rev. and worthy gentlemen.f—To your peculiar patronage are committed, the important interests of yonder seminary ; and we who have just received its firft honors, are bound to acknowledge your attention to its welfare. To extend the em pire of science, and spread its bleflings 44 o'er a fifiiling land,'' are the benevolent objects of your disinterested labours. How fuccefsful you have been, let the merit of our predecelfors declare ! Those who have shone in the Senate and in the field— those whose eloquence blazes at the bar, or beams from the sacred desk—whole talents adorn a public, and whose virtues endear a pri vate life.—Thofe—thofe are your eulogiums, and leave the feeblenefs of language far be hind them. Oh ! may we, while we read the d'ftinguifhed names that adorn the records of Naflau-hall, f; om thpt of her earliest child, the ' eloquent, the illustrious Stockton, whose memo ry is still dear within these walls, down to those of the youngest of her sons. Ma y we, whose names shall be recorded with theirs, like them, do honor to your care. Say, ra> beloved friends, while we recoiled the virtues of those who have £one before us, do not our hearts burn within to emulate their worth ? Yes, Reverend i and worthy (gentlemen, we feel a generous \ ambition to repay your care, by a life of ufe fulnefs ; and deeply imprelTed with a sense of °ur obligation, we bid you refpeftfully Farewell. * The Governor of the State. The Truflees of the College. [The foregoing elegant Address, is re-pub lished, by requeifc, from the American Daily Advertiser"! FOR THE GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STAFF THE REPUBLICAN.—No. VI T HE people nt tins country certainly . bad f,.- great objects in view., which they noped to attain lhe more eafilyby adopting, the new con ftitutum. What weie those objc£U ? EftaUlifhii;,; public credit w s certainly one, and a prmo-.J one. To f»y notbintr about the juil:ce d.,c 10 in dividuals and ibe wife policy i.i the long run, (or a nation to perform us promifea, u is j>laii: that there is nothing to be got nor fined even a* I prt sent by the fouJefttricka governmerucoukl p'ay, Ihort of 4)loilfng out the public debt at once. Foi good crednt has proved already of more value ihar, any saving t idt could have been made By means of it the rate of interest is reduced bo in at home and abroad.—One percent, interest fnvtd is equal to a sixth part of tire pubitc debt forgiven or released tp the people of the Uiijted Staui.— Wc pay leiV than five per cent, now ; formerly wt paid fix or even more. So far then the constitu tion and the revival of credit have answered ;h ---expeditions of the people when they ratified it. It hasldLned their burdens at least a sixth.—l h.., !S ~ot —wc can borrow even at home nr*w at five per cent. The United States Bank has a&:wlly fcnt togovcrliment at that rate and a large Cipn ton ; TX.* is njclui every way* to ru.» :• paying off our debt, and to provide for pref nc and future emergencies. This power to borrow cafily and on good terms is no light matter, and will not be thought so by those who remember the diftrefles of the late war. America had need ol all its faculties to fufiain it; every nervous cor<. was drained and overstrained till it had loft its spring— yet all was want, confufion and difbefs ; the army had neither bread ncr shirts norfhoe-.— What would not such a government and such a state of credit as we now pofltfs have been deemed worth could wethen have enjoyed them ? Would not such a weight rhiown into our scale whileuhe f-alance hung doubtful have been expefled to turn it in our favor.—Much of the expences of the war might have been prevented by an orderly govern ment telying for fuppbes on readv money. A Na lional Bank at such a time operating like that of the United States would have been ineltimable— 1 hat of North-,America, under tvciy aifadvan tage was found very beneficial. Our liberty may be put a second time at rijfk, and a wife nation, ptirfuing the principle of felf prefeivation, ought to prepare every means of se curity. It was the faying of a good Prince that he chose his fubjedh fliould ke*p their iv tbeir own pockets, for he would so govern them according to their affe&ions that he could, com mand it all when uecrffary for the exigencies of the nation. Congrcfs by putfuing houeft meafurt s tor the fuppoit or credit bring every dollar in a condition to be called for when wauled to fecutt the liberty and fafety of the counuy. I his then was the point to be gained : It was the great immediate interest of the p-ople to gain it. Theie is nothing fanciful, no round about dif lant conj« $ure to be made much of in order to prove what has been afTerted. For want of a good government and good ciedit, our debt was going on rvt n in lime of peace, heaping interest on princi pal—till the interest only amounted to no lef» than thirteen millions of dollars. Congrcls has caused the growing interest to be paid legulary, and already the sum of two millions tour hundred thouf<*nd dollars of the debt is funk. As our im ports are increafinp to a tuiprifing degree, there venue w ill become in a few years equal *0 paying off immense sums of the debt. It may fafely be afTerted that no nation in the world is more able to pay off its debt, or has manifefted a stronger disposition to do it ; perhaps considering what is due and how much is actually paid ofF,no natifcn his made greater progress. When it is considered thai the government is new and the revenue of very re cent operation, the people judging from what has been done have no final 1 cause to confide in the power and intentions of Cungrefs to free them from debt. It is strange Co hear men talk of tlie debt as they do—as if Congress had made it, for the conven ience'of having one :as if the fitft duty of Con gress and the principal expeftauon of the people weie a trick of State. Neithe' the debt nor the occasion of it are yet forgotten. Therefore this suggestion again ft the good intention* of Congress in providing for it tnny be difregardcd. When we framed the new government we ex pelled to fee the trade and manufactures of our own countiv protedfed and encouraged. The du ty on imported fabrics has eminently advanced our manufa£ture« ; so far the expectation of the people has been realized ; by this means we are iafer than formerly. In cafe of a war, an army might be cloathed, and fnrntfhed with gun-pow der and militar\ ftorrs chiefly from our own work shops and mills. To those who remember how I wretchedly we began and indeed carried on the J war, tnefc considerations w.ill fcem weighty. Our . trade ana navigation have risen in conlequence of national protection to a pitch that was never bc j fore attained. A small force is kept up to defend the frontiers a gain it the Indians.—To provide for the common defence and pretention is one of the duties which the people have enjoined upon Congress by the constitution ; yet this little 31 my, not halt a mntch, fays experience, tor the Indians, is an overmatch, lays cowardice or folly, for the freemen of the country, tfaofe fretmen who laughed at Britiih and hireling German armies. Theft- were the duties of the government. Ame itca had a light to exa&vftom their rulers a per formance of them. The public expelled, and im patiently too, to fee them performed. They are 173 '•frrnit-d, furcc Ihc -nut.tiy. On'tne coru>«:tv, l growing' in wealth and people Ufter ever v/as known at any former period. Certain perions however write, not very calmly, gain ft all thele measures, and those who fupport td them, and those who exccute them.—They that they are aiuircpubltcan measures and founded in ill designs againlt 1 certy. They arc (old that their arguments conclude aganlk the coiftittHton, as they accuse Congress of the crime of doing What the constitution made their fpecifie duty, ai d what all America cxpefted. They com plain of this anfwe» as severe and not juiT. They Ly they arc friends.to the constitution, butoppo fed to the measures alluded to. It will not be ea sy IroWever, to persuade us that men arc in their he; rts friendly to the constitution, and yet ene mi s to ;he measures conforming to it, aud to the fenie ot America when it was adopted. —Be that as if may, the people have the happiness to lee their hopes realized and their condition every day improving. FROM THE MARYLAND JOURNAL, To the PEOPLE of MARYLAND. A PUBLICATION, in the Maryland Jour /"V «•' -. ' Calrwiioi-e Adrei tifei, ofi'dft Tucf OAy, signed u A Citizen," contains the following paragraph : 4< We all, as men oj gratitude, are, I ioubt not, interested in the re-appointment of :he present worthy Prtfidenti but as men, who iave a sense of equality and a disgust of iuper "ilions superiority, are, I am in hopes, linked as 7 st ron g chain againji the Vice-Prefidcnt. —In fart, caking such for granted, permit me to recom mend Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Esq. as .meriting the appointment of Vice-Preiident." To a recommendation so pointed and unex pe&ed, in Maryland, as that to turn out the Vice- President, it may not be thought unseasonable to pffer a few remarks for consideration. I observe, my fellow-citizens, in the firft place, that those men in the several states, who have jeen oppoled to our constitution, have, ever lince itseflablHhment, incessantly applied them- Pelves to depreciate the chara&er of Mr. Adams; hecaufe his abilities and principles were formi- Jable to their views and ambition ; and because to prevent his re-eleclion would be a point gain ed over the constitution i tie If. Little sagacity is requilite to perceive, that every man ot'abi lity. who can be turned out of the adminiftrs tion, or kept out of Congress, adds strength to their cause and vigour to their hopes; and that against the most eminent of those their heaviest batteries have been raised, and their principal sprung. To piove the justness of thjs I charge, I appeal to your recollection for the j mifcelJaneous publications you have read, and travelling whispers you have heard, calculated to destroy the well-earned fame of Mr. Adams, Some of you are a'fo acquainted with what vi rulence an anti-government faction have treat ed a Hamilton, whose attachment to the con i ftitution is unquestionable, and whose virtue and integrity are equalled only by his great capacity and extraordinary powers. From the mafter workman in this craft, down to the meaneU of his laborers, each in his way, or in his diftriA, has something to obje<st:, to surmise, to insinu ate, that may irritate sensibility, and lead to relignation ; or that, floating on the popular gale, may infect that general esteem and confi dence he poiTefTes, which no patriot has ever ac quired with greater purity of conduct, or held by a more unexceptionable title. From the ; fame quarter also you fee sometimes to descend, Upon the Preiident himfelf, a thjn and subtile mist, which would soon increase to the solidity of absolute censure, was not the radiance of the char after too powerful to be o'ofcured, and the veneration of the people too strong to bear an open attack with impunity. These circum stances are notorious; they are to be found in print; tiiey are in the mouth of ahnoft every antifederal from New-Hampshire to Georgia ; they are the ingredients of their incantations, and the spells by which they would transform our best patriots into our greatell enemies! — Tliefe circuinftance*, taken together, prove, beyond a poflibility of doubt, a systematic and organized plan to drive from the adminijlration oj our affair* all those who have rescued us from anarchy, and restored us to the dignity of men, and the various advantages of an efficient go vernment. It will not be said, that known friends to the constitution and the laws are en gaged in the combination againit Mr. Adams. I deny that any such are engaged, and call upon the opposition to name a (ingle individual of that description, save, perhaps, a few who know Mr. Adams through the medium oply of the milrepre'entations of his enemies j a dejufioa which, in men of candour, must yield to better information. I observe, in the second place, that Mr. Ad\ms has been as firm and uniform a patriot as America can boast to Have reared in her bo som. In the firft years of our revolution, when the colonies flood alone against Great Britain, he a&ed a bold and diltinguilhed part in favor of the liberties of the people. Congress, sensi ble of his merit as a politician and patriot, created him Minister to the United Nether lands. His celebrated memorial to their High Mightinefles, the large loans of money he pro cured Under the eye of a Britiih A'ubaUador, 179 2. 1 Som «> ..--el'" 1 t -'id their tievy vifh 1'" p.nri acknowledgment oi '.»ui "tvhich coH them this cap ture of St. Et» feat ins and a war with England, torm a pyramid offer vice l ? far more interesting to mankind than tliofe built of stone by the Kings of Egypt. View him next as joint Mi nister to the court of France, and you fee him lonfpicuoufly eminent for and talent*:, especially in negociating and bring "ig to a clofv the treaty of peace with England, v/ hich gained from her commiftjoners a greater extent of territory for the United States, than had ever entered into the mind of the most sanguine American to expect. Having finished theft high trusts, he was appointed Minister to the court of London, where, finding that he could not induce them to listen to a commercial trea ty, on terms of equal privileges, like an honest citizen, true to the dignity and interests of his country, he requested of Congress leave to re turn ; previous to which, he fuggefled mea iures, since adopted by our government, that have drawn from England a Minister, to treat formally here of fubrjefts she would not there condescend to discuss. The knowledge he ac quired, in these fevc-ral millions, of the interejls and views aj the courts of Europe, fit him in a pecu liar fill, to the grcateft advantage* the station he now occupies, where these inter ests arid news, as they refpetl the United States, come lb often under deliberation. To these fa&s may be added, that in his letters from England, and on his return to America, he exprefied not an equivocal, but decided, approbation of the constitution of the United States j antl that iij his writings he is liberal in praise of those ftate conftitutions formed as ours with checks and branches, and divisions of power; those real barriers against encroachments upon liberty* haftv projects, and dangerous ebullitions of po pular bodies. Take for example his introduc tion to Abbt de Mably's observations on the go vernment and laws of America. <4 If human wisdom (fays Mr. Adams) can ensure the dura tion ot'th? only forms of government which are con fftent with the dignity oj human nature, the Ameri can constitutions bid fair to be lasting; nor can any thing, except an exceflive partiality to the ancients, prevent our discerning their irfnite Jtiperiority to the boaf.ed republics of Sparta and Rome." Again, u it is poflible that some few additional regulations, arising from local arid other acci dental cirevmftances, might be made with ad vantage ; but of the exact propriety of these, it is impofiible for any to judge, who are not im mediately 011 the spot : And the principles of these confiitutions are so ot>viouf!y excellent, that every one who underjlands the nature, and loves the enjoy ment oj libett•, will acknowledge them to surpass every tiring the world has hithertofcen." Such, my fellow-citizens and are the fenliments of Mr. Adams refpefting. our governments, where reign superiority of rightswith personal equality, and diftin<flion of office without nobility of birth. Where, thtn, would be American gratitude, were the friends of order and good government to be " linked as 4 chain againji him,'* whose principles, or political creed, is no more than the expreflion or picture of our own constitution ? I would further remark, that to bring for ward, at this late hour (unconfulted too) one of the best and wprthieft of our citizens as his com petitor, wears rather a doubtful and invidious afpeft. Is it done, it may be asked, in order to .deprive Mr. Adams of ten votes, and thereby de feat hn eUflion; or from a sincere desire to have Mr. Carroll eledted ? If the latter, u Citizen" ought to be convinced himjcfjy and be poffeiled of .fatts to convirce others, that a fufficient number of ele&ors, in the dijfeient states, will vote to place Mr. Carroll in the Vice-President's chair; sot on no other ground could any rational Ma rylander hazard a vote against Mr. Adams, or venture to risque losing his eleflion without a certainty of carrying Mr. Carroll's. But cah any of you think it likely, or even po/Jible, that tlae antifederalifts of New-York, Virginia, &c. would desert, for example, Go vernor ilimon, their favourite, to give their votes for so ' iitinguifhed, so decided, so un shaken and incorruptible a federalift as Mr. Carroll? To change Mr. Adams for Mr. Car roll, would neither promote their views nor in crease their numbers in the Senate ; who then among you so credulous as to imagine that they would give a fmgle vote to accomplish it?— Whoever can believe so, knows little cf their temper, and still less of their tricks. No, my feljow-citizens, Mr. Carroll or Mr. Adams suit not their purposes, and aie not to their taste; nor will they ever vote for either with a view to their efeflion. It is a very different character they mean to carry, and your esteem for Mr. Carroll is used only as a convenient engine to withdraw you from Mr. Adams. To these oblervations I think I may ven'ure to subjoin* that it is not to disgrace a worthy and patriotic citizen that will draw Mr. Carroll into 'he lifts of competition; and to predict, that if* he ever becomes a candidate for conti nental favour, his merit and high qualifications will raise him to a more dignified fiation. But who can look forward to that moment, when we shall stand in need of all his merits and aH our courage; when the United States will be convulsed to their centre by embrio Caesars, for empire, and ftarceJy fayed by the [Whole No. 566'
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