Newspapers / The Star, and North-Carolina … / May 3, 1816, edition 1 / Page 1
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4 i 4 .4 . . THE STil, ' And North-Carolirta State Gazette. 4 HALKICH, (N. C,) FRIDAY, MAY 3, 18 i 6. rUBLlSBFTI TTEF.KLT, BY THOMAS HENDERSON, JUN. Jubfrriftin, taree tkAUr prr unum bu no pper ill pcsefit without tt lesst half a yew is pid m adnc, sAdna paper diftcontiaued but tt the option of the Edi tor, gnle all rrer&i ir psid. iittrtitmtnu, not exceeding 14 lines inserted three timerfur gl, cents for esch continuance. STATE TOLICY. FOR THE STAR. T . & . i . i should they, I trast that the patriotism or tome ne observed, mat trt people uwmaeives appear one may prompt him to inform me. 1 would like 1 be altogether ignorant of the benefit of plans ready, aye, and vastly (tsLauncelot Longstaff'of internal improvement. They afe wheedled says just to ret at such intelligence ; it woild ; atod csjoled oat of tfieir suffrages, upon the faith, My Tin Cart, Peb. 3, 1 816. ,Vr. Editor I observed in one of your late pa pers,. extract, or some extract from the Jour nal of a Yankee Pedler Lawyer. As I consider jirself the author of those remarks tiad observa tions, delivered in the orm (. Memoranda, I think I have some reason" for complaint against that tattling sort of spirit that must out witfaeve ry thine it either sees or hears ; but as the folly and indiscretion of some one has prompted him to make my crude and undigested reflections nnhlic. I trust 1 need no other apology for rc-ap- pcaring at this time, not so much in the character of a Journalist, as a defender of what I conceive will be thought heretical opinions, in this country for such, no doubt, will be the prevailing senu ment respecting my menrs. Perhans one of the most flagrant accusations Ixould have made, in the eyes of a southern pa triot, against his corn-patriots, was, to allege in them a want of public spirit, as members ot the Commonwealth; and' to institute the invidious comparison I did, in this respect, between the aortnern and southern people. I confess it myself, to be a bold declaration, and one which should not be hazarded against a loyal and intelligent people, without the best grounds. What, therefore, I may have now to say, shall be confined to the establishment of this point; and perhaps, if I get over it, without any great difficulty, I may proceed to defend some more of my rank positions. I am not induced, Mr. Editor, to commence this vindication from any apprehensions about self; but because I wish to put the fact, as well as the assertion, home to you. The only w ay by which the public spirit of a people is manifested, is, upon occasions of public interest or concern. What I understand, howe ver, by public spirit, is not merely being alive, and awake, to what is passing in the community, and concurring in the advantages and improve ment likely to happen or arise ; but it is the dis position to aid and facilitate those designs, which have public utility, and public improvement, for i their object, from the pure and disinterested mb- j live of public welfare. I think it is right to set out with definitions, particularly on propositions susceptible of vari ous solutions. We then always know the point for which we steer, and any aberration from the mark indicates either a disposition to bolster a falling cause, or an inability to establish just con clusions. "Now that I have defined my proposition, and f given my readers to understand what I mean by public spirit in a people, we will to the enquiry about the fact of its application. Upon this point I do not know that I shall be able to produce any direct, positive proof ; such as I shall offer being rather of an indiict or passive kind ; but still of a nature sufficient, fully, a9 we Lawyers say, to make out he case. North -Carolina, I assert, as one of those facts Iflhich I wish tobe taken in evidence of my charge, presents to the eye of the stranger fewer tokens -of public munificence, and fewer objects of public improvement, than any other State in the Union of half her natural wealth and resources. I ask for one single index of national feeling, for na tional improvement, except the late appropriation if it can he called an excention hv the Legisla ture for a Statue of Washineton,6 be placed in Tin tuiVlingy itself as proud a monument of taste, for Style in architecture, as the appropriation at this remote period from the time of the existena f the great and illustrious worthy horn It is to commemorate, 19 a sin wt national pride and grateful ackjisvriedgement. Shall I mention the . -corporation of two or three companies for open ing some of the rivers of your state upon the great and efficient means of stock procured by -individual subscription? The charters, Sccgrant d which, for the probability of any beneficial result either to the State or said subscribers, will i operate as a blank letter, and which nothing but v the most narrow minded, niggardly and contract " d policy, would have prevented a deliberative Assembly from foreseeing. It is this crooked sort of oolicv in the legisla tive department of a state, which forever keeps v the great body of he people ignorant of their ter- ritorial resources, inclines them to submit . to tread the dull round of precedent and imitation, and never to indulge an aspiration after political greatness. What other designs, or what other fjjttempts at domestic improvements, has your . State to present to the view of the sojourner, who "travels, perhaps, that his spirits may be exhilira " ' td by those spectacles of human art and industry ."hich most essentially and materially subserve " the 'fends of human comfort and convenience ? .', jyhat other to reward,. to aid and to facilitate in- dividual enterprize and exertion ? What other ;,i i tb confer political weight and character in an es- .ate of. national importance ? I say, if such there be, of them neither hath my ears heard, nor yt Wcn.Pibly such may exist, and have so fine an effect in setting ndrilt a whole rait of my prejudices, which I have had the ill luck to imbibe wnie way or other, to beg for re ception elsewhere: Until, however, this welcome messenger hall sound his trump, 1 mutt continue to hug them, and offer for apology the opinion of Edmund Burke, that they sometime come in aid of our reason. Perhaps the migratory nature of my calling may conduct roe yet to some stupen dous work of public utility. If such, however) are to be found, it must be somewhere among hope and belief, that they shall pay nb mert to wards defrayina: the expense of government this rear than they aid last The successful csndidate knows that the performance of this promise, and the gratification of this wish, is a condition upon which he is to be maintained at his post. There are a vast majority of those who represent the people of the State, whwc polar star, while acting in a representative capacity, is are-election: and, in order to effect this grand desideratum, ill be f rr . . e i t. a. guuty si a son oi moral treason against me pros . . . ; ... ; ' worthies, the fruit of whose labors is forever bitter , and the sweat of whose trowsorever poison, f, had as live be a dor, He businr'ss it should be to " bay the moon, or M commodioasly sitaate4 as Slukeipear's toad n the dangeot, as ta b compelled to serve a community of freemen w itb. such characters, I confess, Mr. Edi tar" that 09 this subject I feci all tltat indignation at such conduct, which I hope every honest and enlight ened citizen of your State indulges. It la, Sir, an eternal disgrace to the legislature of Nbrh-Ca rolina, convened for the year 1815, that Ibe admi rable report of tbc committee on the f object of Inland Navigation, should have been Buffered U . engross so small a gliare of consideration, ; , A . , more able paper, written indeed, with all theabU- , lity of the Uteflmri And all ih eJoganceitf the w. v ctoUrf Bere;l tenwr ta assort, waa submitted T to a. deliberative body. 1 trast, however, it will salubrious qualities, originates a superior energy, that' and activity of intellect, is a question I will not by wl t what one of my fellow-traveller termt the frog : perity lhewelfare and the happiness of the peo pond Counties of the State, whence proceadt that- fit pftUte, by being alwaya foremost in op respectable portion of legislative capacity sad :j4ft tethoa plans of publiowiUity from which i:v..t;t n i-nn.nimnn In your last it may be apprehended tbat popuianty mar re- r .mMv. 'IT, Mmt ramnanlon. of ceive some rude shock, or some airoeco blast. 1 be found to possess this redeeming virtue . with whose appellative I had occasion to speak above, But this is not all ; theye said cnaracters mustj future legislaturesy that while it will hold op to and who is a little addicted tb speculate when justify themselves to fheir constituents? and in contempt tliat body with whom it originated, it , there are no inducements at hand to rummage order to stand acquitted in their eyes, they are ; may point to the land of discovery for those that among his tin, observed to me that he thought it a forced to flatter some of the most low, vulgar and j may succeed. . , little ridiculous that the western section of the contemptible passions and prejudices of those they V hat other State is therein the Union, that has State, while it contained both a vast majority of represent And here it is that they cease to be j not done more for its citizens than yourt Not population and a much more considerable extent passive instruments and become the positive and . one, I venture to assert. While some have tX of territory than the eastern, should always have efficient agents, not only in perpetuating those j tended the work of Inland Navigation; others the jack turned upon them in the legislative illiberal opinions and contracted notions, pi eva- have been erecting Penitentiaries and turnpiking. game. I asked him to account for it. He began lent amoag the common order of men. but lend their roads. 01" not one of these kinds of im . thisway. " Whether, (sayshe.) the climate by its the sanction of their names and approbation to j provemeuts can sir State boast; and" I fear you fV, mac wreicneu system 01 political waywarunesM wunru w nui m uic pouiicai DacK.grouna, ,. uni-i a political regeneration takes place- until the people sec how their confiderice has been vio latedhow their trusts have been abused Hind until a spirit of reformation begins to animate the whole mass of your population. In other States you might look for the seeds of Improvement in the representatives of the people 5 but this order does not seem to obtain with you. One thing ;I take to be morally certain, that if your, state never starts in the career of improvement, until ita re presentatives become the agents and organs of f imparting liberal and enlightened notions of pV. nujf aim economy, you are to remain, like Uen. Hull when near Maiden, some time In statu nub. Good people of the State of North-Carolina let 1 ' me advise you, as a disinterested stranger who knows something of the wayward policy of your representatives, to turn over the hot beds of poli- V.: tical treachery. Sow a lew crop of public cha- ' racters, thatyoU may reap a new harvest of public measures, lteflert upon their qualifications to ' " serve you, and to confer that respectability and v importance to your State which it does not at present possess Barter not your suffrage , the noblest prerogative of a freeman, for a Iheart shake ofthe hand, or a good drink of grog. Se lect those who have opinions of their own, arid who- have intrepidity of iiactej;enoif) maintain them ; but not td closely wedded td Dre judices as to lose sight of a liberal policy. By pursuing this course, you may gain the elevated grounu to wnicn the natural wealth and resource) 01 the state seem to entitle you. Let me again exhort you to cast off the coil' t of your political " incumbrances" to soar in the political regions to a purer sky, and to be lttfini enced by an " holier ambition" than local feel' . ings and local partialities. When this shall btf :t the case,jrtajs the Yankee Pedler Lawyer shall cease to hawk his tin among you, and aspire t4 the privileges of a native citizen. . - r QUID PRO QUO. V hich it may be said, that almost every avenue take on myself to decide ; but on a comparison to correct information and intelligence, is closed between the inhabitants of the eastern and wes-. against the people. What shall he said of such tern divisions of the SUte. in relation to superior men, who thus act so diametrically opposite to the intellectual vigor, the fact is certainly in favor of purposes of their election ; who, instead of fur the latter and a jood proof of it is", that I can nishing every aid in their power towards amelio alwavs make five roml bargains in the lower parts rating the condition of those they represent ; who. of the State to one in the upper. This superior ' instead of endeavoring to accelerate the march of Towth oftalents and information, produces what: the human mind, and to establish the dominion onrlor himilnr circumstances. I take to be a na-: of intelligence and refinement over ignorance and tural consequence, a secret envy and jealousy superstition, seem to do all they can to prevent of such superior, mental importance, and a con- the accomplishment of these great ends ? tinued dread and apprehension of being over-1 "That popularity which dares ik expose itself reached in plans and schemes of policy and fi- to the shock gf political discussion and party agi nam. Hence it turns out that the members in tation,is of a sickly and degenerate species, aiid j the legislative body, are always kept at a sort of ,at once denotes its origin. That genuine popu-sparrm"-. The western section of the State can-1 larity of " its own conscious virtue bold,1' is, my hot have one of her great counties divided, but friend, in these latter days, a sort of rare commo- thatthe eastern must also be gratified in the ere-1 dity, tit only lor an order ot men, altogether dit- ation of a now one. To such conduct they are ; no doubt actuated from motives ol keeping up the balance." Then turning about to me, archly & sarcastically enough, " do you begin, says, he, to perceive that the principle of political Balan cinj, obtains as well in republics, as in monar chies and aristocracies ? This principle of balan cing in the political system, added he, is a natural one and it obtained here in the State of North- Carolina, long before the discordant elements ot revolution hurled to atoms and destruction the political ramparts of Europe ; and, says he, in this little, narrow and circumscribed territory it has been productive of nearly the same bad con sequences, as on the great theatre ot Luropean politics. You must remember, my friend, that having peddled longer in the State than you have, and having, besides, traversed it in almost every direction, I have bad many and better opportuni ties ot observing the workings and enects ot this balancing principle. The fact is, that the true interests and welfare o,the State are cither lost or ovcriooKea in the lear 01 ascendancy, toe ri valry for power, and in the struggle for partial advantages. Upon scarcely any subject, affecting the interests of the people of the State generally, is this regard tor sectior.al feelings and local pre judices lost sight ot. Even that zeal of political controversy, by which the two parties of the U. States are divided, and with which they are ani- mated,does not, in their legislative assembly, pro duce an indinerence to local ieelings and par tialities. This, if all other considerations failed. ferent in kind from the great majority of the le gislative assembly ol ISorth-uaroIina. ' I am afraid, indeed, that this genuine species, having grown sick and disgusted at the fine scenes exhibited at Old Fiejd Musters, over the heads of whisky and brandy barrels, has soared to a purer region, and to a more genial clime. In her stead she has left a sort of counterfeit species, which starts at the whispers of a caucus, much, like the younglawn of Horace at the rustling ot the leaves. " It, now, my mend, what I have stated be correct, you may discover a great reason why this State is so far behind others in the rreat ca reer of political and domestic improvement. No man thinks himself elected to serve the interests of the people of the State collectively, but only that section whence he derives a little " brief au thority and as the great mass of the population are not sufficiently aware of the importance of national character, nor intelligent enough to dis cern the breach ol legislative confidence, things go Oil at this, day as they did twenty years ago." Here my friend stopped his remarks. As his opportunities for forming opinions upon the sub ject of your political humility, hail been better than mine, 1 did not think proper to object to a single position he advanced, in the general out line our opinions ch'.med exactly ; and as it re garded the shadovlng out part of the picture by tne am 01 parTfCUiar observation, as this seenjed to com:, it so very appropriately, to corroborate gener; principles, 1 could allow no latitude, even hjii-o. for my scepticism. The opinions of my MORALITY. we should consider enough to operate a fiii;,n of friend, the pedler, which, for the sake of better, I must auopi, not vouciung,nowever, in every parti cular, for their correctness, I wish to be taken in part vindication of iny opinions as expressed in my Journal. My charge of a want of public spi rit among the people of the State, I wish to tie confined, more particularly, to the eastern divi sion of it. To this ignorant, stupid race of mor tals, I do not know whether to concede them pub lic spirit as a virtue, or impute it as a crime. From their systematic opposition to every thing that bears "the complexion of public utility or im provement, one would be led to suppose that they regarded tlieir interests as a people altogether distinct and incompatible with that of the rest of hcState ; whereas, nothing can be further from the fact of disunion and incompatibility of inte rest, as they might learn from the most common and obvious principles of political economy- and if I did not know how repugnant were the preju dices of education; and the feelings of old habits to the introduction of new doctrines, I might put myself to the trouble of shewing them that the in terests of the two divisions ofthe State were one and .thqsame,' and that any plan of internal im provement, which would promote the one, would likewise the other ; but, as Bonaparte said ofthe Tiussian Boors, on the subject of emancipation from vassalage, I can, as vet, hardly believe them sufficiently enlightened either to comprehend the design, or receive the lights of such intelligence. In justice, however, to the common people, I should, discriminate between them and their re presentativesnor should their heads be, visited for' the political sins of their delegates : It is to this latter hurly, obstinate, intractable and incor rigible set of animals, to Whom, Mr. Editor, I parties on local subjects : but I ha ever, as vet, observed the contrary to b.te case. W hen lo-; cal partialities. tLretbre, are so much permitted , to sv,'i the conduct of the legislative bodv ofthe State, it is in vain to look for that unanimity and cordial co-oneration which moves to and ensures the execution of designs of internal improvement. The fact is, (so tar as my opportunities have fur nished mc with the means of judging), that the western people are much more national than the eastern. They are not so clanish. Tbey boast a more liberal, as well as a more enlarged principle of action ; but as strenuous as they may be in their aims at pubUc improvement, and as patient and as persevering as they may exhibit themselves under disappointment and defeat, yet will all this prove abortive while the eastern sec tion of the State is permitted to exert such an undue and such an unnatural influence at ail times powerful enough to give my uncle Toby's favorite lullaby to any motion or project. " It is melancholy enough to behold the sway of ignorance and prejudice in a legislative body, which might challenge competition, for several of its members, in point of genius, learning and in telligence, with any other in the Union ; but the misfortune is, the western section of the State offers these few exceptions to this legislative mass of innert matter. "Hence, my friend, you. behold no streamsJ down which glide vessels laden with, the tat ana plenty of the land no roads, turnpiked for the accommodation of either their own citizens, or those from other States-apr any .other plan of internal improvement, from which any great be nefit would. result to the community. But, my friend, there is yet another thing to TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. 3 SIR Please to give the following Constita tion and notice a place in your public paper 'ajl ; soon us may be convenient. , s PREAMBLE w nereas u is mamiest, that many vices are prevalent among us, which tend, not only to de- moralize our citizens, ano corrupt the rising ge neration, but also to draw down the Judgments of God on our beloved and highly favored ccranT try; and whereas the experience of many ages has testified that, under the influence 01 a be nign Providence, in the use of proper meansf a stop may be put to prevailing immoralities, there fore, in order to accomplish that important end, by exerting our influence, aided by our example, & to assist the civil magistrate in the discharge of his of ficial duty, in carrying into effect those" salutary, laws enacted by our Legislature for the suppres- sion of such vices, or immoralities, we, whose . names are underwritten, do voluntarily enter in-: r to an Association, and adopt the following CONSTITUTlbN. Article I. The name of this Association v shall be The Society of Statesville, for the sup- preesion of immoralities, and reformation ' of manners. ' " II. The object of this Society shall be to dis countenance and suppress, so far as our influence may extend, the too free and intemperate use of ardent spirits, together with its kindred and cou; comitant vices, such as profane swearing, -gam-"t ing, and the breach of the Sabbath. , , n ith a view to this object the society will re-, r commend the institution of similar auxiliary so cieties in different parts of the state, upon such a .... plan as maybe deemed best adapted to givesys. tem and efficacy to the whole design. ' It w ilfal- so hold correspondence, as' occasion my '-re- quire, with other societies which may be instittit- ed for uie same general object. ' at? i ' 111. No person shall re cliinble. as a member?1 '. . !. ... '"A 1 . . .-4 would be-understood to. allude to this group of ofthe society, who is no of moral character t I 1 m m SI: ' ) 5V i m . i ii - H )'.. 4 f t a I U t r1 . u Hi i 1 IF: 5. at h 1 X.' ; fr1 i I .r .1 ;. . ; I .
May 3, 1816, edition 1
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