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v ' , 'V' . ' V T l Ml T v r i I.W A -Nrf-n TTI TTTXTTLT' IT I , A Hn . A .ft U VOLUME II. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER J S, 1819. NUMBER 6. TERMS. . f c c vroLina centinel is published v wekis-Lix ux JOHN I. PASTEUR, At Tkrr Dollars per annum, one- hence they have learned all those low )ird payable in advance. . practices of vulgar chicanefv, which are No paper vill be discontinued until all easily imbibed in a profession that reach rrearages ar? paid up, except at the op- es acuteness, but is not sufficiently ele ven of the publisher. - vated to inspire integrity ." By the bye Advertisemens inserted at 50 cents the most-eminent statesmen of Einrland' or souare tne nrst weeK, and 25 cents a . . jare for each succeeding insertion. N - . .W 6" vinvaiit-ijr -ana no otiier merit is from the Philadelphia union. allowed them. I again appeal; in refu- VVif Quarterly Revieio Vs. 17. Mfes. tation of thiscalumny, to facts! and doc Inthe 41st number of the QuarterJy Z6?tSPHr ? notoriet 5 Jojthe testi-':evie-5 published in May last, we have y 1 'fAwe !" comPison with ices 'o BristedVRLurces of the ' tJ? 1: ted States" and . t'earon's Sketches 5 America." The Reviewers . have 1 ;izcd upon these occasions to vent their oleen and malignity against this court v'y; andj although there is little more Vian a repetition of old calumnies, sea- oiied with new and encreasing spite, i iore h perhaps a greater display of pre . i?riion and ignorance than even these j iolest gentlemen have before ventured exhibit. They began with some sto 'lies, 'picked up, I suppose, if tliey ever Jipeiied, in the western country, of ioxiftsf matches, and duels, and frauds at Hections. Now, one would imagine that jjjfise are topics, of all others, an Eng i;hmari would avoid, as t he-first is the favorite amusement of the greatest men i the kingdom ; the second of daily, oc currence, with both Lords and Commons; Mid the third carried to the most' scanda lous excess, as is proved by the records of the courts of justice, and not. by the ;ossip;)iug tales of book-making travel ers. &di Reviewers'then become learn ed and profound; they talk of "judges rljosen by the populace" a thing un known in this countrv of their beins: appointed for a short period, removea Ue at the will of the, popiilar and local j.-sserably" which is untrue of all the indges under the federal government, and if by far a greater part of those appoint-" d by the state authorities. -There it is iiroadly stated that in " America a nian , annot fill the office of a judge after he na attameu tne age oi sixty 'ana these j Jic difference between the state of New- ork, where such a'provision does exist, .nd the United States of America, where it does not, neither in relation to the ge neral or state governments, with the ex- - t; i t.j. j.1 . a i' horant, not only of the institutions and laws of this country, but of their' own also; mark the following: "that crimes committed in one part of the IT. States should not be punishable in another, we cnnld mt have believed, without the au tWity before us.",. And it is then stated, that if a marvkills another in New-York, and crosses a ferrv into Kew-Jersev, " he n:iy escape punishment altogether." AruLj perhaps these-h;arned jurists will not be lieve the authoritj- cfs Sir V. Blackstone, t iat crimes committed in one county ofi T'.l I - i I I t .1 i-nj:icniu cannot ue punisnea m anotner, and may therefore, most wisely conclude, that a murderer,; by passing an imagina ry line, may escape punishment altoge ther.; Now, atrial by jurors of the neigh borhood, that is? of the county where ."the, .fact, is committed, has always been thought an excellence of the English cri minal hiv; and these Reviewers are the jjirst io discern that the consequence of it an escape from punishment. The fa cility of transferring an offender from one state to another, for trial, is, both in fneory and practice, quite as great in this yountry, as to take them from one county another in England. Oar ferries are as easily crossed as the dividing linesmfLi, English counties. From these nremises. a s, peeping condemnation-is pronounced Against our judges and lawyers ; the first ; i"e without " weight or' dignity ;" and ?'e last have nothing to exercise but wit virulence, towards those of their profession, whom the populace have de- araaea to the bench:7 s - V e. have the testimony of Lord Mans ield to die learning and ability of the " Qurts of Pennsvlvania:.and the renorts f f adjudged cases in the federal and state ' ourts, smce that period, are amply su f lent to place our bar and bench on a ting with those of Great Britain. But -us is a sort of , reading Reviewers have ;- Jt time to engage in or ability to com-r-ehena. A book of travels is more upon a level with their wit and acquire ments, and the highest authority to which 'key appeal. e come now to a charge of a more ;",r-s import, & more prominent impu ; than an v other in this article. Af '.ating that tlie law isthe repository American ttdents, which; however dhS"d-a t0!the bdnA but is airectetp intrigues for offices of State," , iuus uruiounajv I 1 . . . i" iicuuc uie oar is the srhnnl ; 4,: their statesmen hnv hJon ,a.,a i nave been educated in ti,a 'e sion. But, to our own case. Our " iati men have learned all the low practices of 1" 1 . " iun uacK to the " Mdie PaPrs published at the com- "iv-iivciucm, ctiiu uuring trie period of our Revolutionary war, drawn by states men who were American lawyers have they ever been exceeded in force ofar gument, in perspicuity of diction and ar rangement, or in dignity of expression ? If these critics can lay down the catch penny'traveh, and popular poems of the day, to take up papers of this description, let them look into the volumes of the An nual Register for the proof this repre sentation of American state papers. But, if this task should be - thought too labo rious for these gentlemen authors. I will refer them to the speeches of Chatham, Burke, Fox, &c. &c. for eulogies equally splendid, liberal and jti'st ; or those com positions which are declared not to be surpassed, in dignity, as well " as argu ment by any similar productions, an crent 'or modern, England, not excepted. And yet the authors of "stich papers have learned nothing but " low practices of vulgar chicanery." Ve will proceed to a later period. During the administra tion of President Washington, the revolu tion of France, with the (wars in Europe consequent to it, introduced a system of outrage upon neutral rights, which brought our government into a very sharp collision with both England and France. The correspondence-between our; cabinet ana the ministers of these powers embraced a consideration of the most extensive and intricate questions of national law. To that correspondence I confidently appeal for the ability, learning, and integrity of American statesmen: and let the most prejudiced say, whether they exhibit no thing but the " practices of vulgar, chi canery." There is no inferiority of learn-, ingj talent, or integrity, to their adversa ries in the contest; and there b much su periority in the argument. - ' We will now advert to a third occasion, on which our American statesmen came' in conflict with those of England. I re fer to. the late negotiations at Ghent. Ap pealing again to the published documents, as the best evidence of the abilities of the respective .negotiators, I will add the opinion of the jMarquis of Wellesley, 4he idol of the Quarterly Reviewers, and unquestionably a man of most compre hensive erenius and acquirements. He declared, in hisplace, in the House of Lords, that he was at a loss to account for the astonishing superiority of the Ameri can Commissioners in the negotiations and correspondence at Ghent. We must not forget, now, that the British Commis sioners were so near at home Es to be able to obtain, and actually to receive, the I vice and assistance of the British minis- ! try, on: allt difficult points. We may now dismiss thecharge of 'vulgar chi canery,' upon our statesmen ; having most abundantly shown it to be nothing better than vulgar abuse, founded on extreme ignorance or wilful misrepresentation. The assertion that no lawyers go to Con gress, but those whose practice is so little, K - .nnt ;r.ri.,0m0nt far them in ahan- Ljon their homes, and live at a cheap boarding house in Washington, is equally silly and untrue. The journals of Con gress will show the names of the most eminent lawyers of this, or any country, enrolled as its members. Madison, Ames Bayard, Dexter, Stockton, Ross, are but mentioned out of a hundred that might be enumerated Mr. Bayard being j one of the commissioners who exhibited such an astonishing superiority over the whole talents'and learning of the British cabi net, backing their redoubtable commis sioneis. j The observations of the Reviewers up on the state of religion and education, in this country would require more space and time than I can give to them now ; besides, they are more matters of 6)in- ' leprosv of wickedness and crime" tliat has stained our people, u is saia, iu, i New-York, tjjere are th-ee- thousand . . " . i - j S. : - iDn than facts susceptiDie oi airect evi- mis respect, ana ur vms j dence; and, therefore, I leave them, iind half what is England herself, who, ex nmrwA tn othor.tonics' In Droof of the elusive of Scotland, which adds not great- houses licensed to sell spirituous'liquors,'' whilst fin London, with more than ten , limes lis popuiauon, ine numoer scarceijr exceeds four thousand.' A word of ex planation exposes the pitiful fallacy and equivocation of this statment. Thus, the three thousand houses in New-York, in : elude all the grocers an rj retailers of li quors, as well as the tavern keepers ; whereas, the latter only are reckoned in he four thousand in London. Nobody is stupid enough 'to believe either that there are three thousand licensed tavern keepers in the city of New-Yorlc or that there are but four thousand persons Vhb sell spirituous liquors in London. . The prophesy, that, in a few genera tions, the negro race will exceed the white, in all except the eastern states,', has a bout as much probability in it,, as there is truth in the assertion, that the number of slaves in the United States is nbw more than two millions ; and that the black po pulation constitutes more than one fourth part of the. whole.' Does the author of such assertions imagine there are no au-" thentic documents to refer to, to test his truth ? or does be presume that the peo ple of Great Britain will believe them without examination or proof? At the census taken in 1810, j the whole slave population was 1,191,364 not greatly exceeding the paupers of England actual T; . tL : i f .. I ly chargeable upon the public; and, how ever, our. negroes may be, 'weakness and not strength,' their labor must still count for something in the national wealth, while the million of paupers who feed on the labor and industry of others in Eng land, are exhausting itsnational strength, and havej become a source of more imme diate and menacing danger than all jour negroes, j When the slaves amounted to 1,191,364, the whole population was 7,239,903, and no fair estimate of the free black population-can make the whole equal to lone fourth of the white. In 1810, the white population was nearly GjOOOjQOO, and the whole black popula tion but i about 1,200.000. Bv what arithmetic is this more than one fourth of 6,000,000 ? The assei tkm, that,4 the increase of the slaves and people of color appear to have - been much greater, in proportion, than that of the white popula tion,' is equally, destitute of the truth. 'What a comparison does our situations, in thistespect, make with the West India do minions of Great Britain ? who has, as tljese Reviewers have said, given univer sal liberty to the world. We will present the picture for the information of these gentlemen, who seem to Jiave too much imagination to regard truth, and too little leisure to examine facts, Jamaica has 3.19,912 slaves, being at least nine tenths of its population. . Bermuda a population of affeout 10,000, whom nearly one half are negroes. Dominico -slaves, 2.1,727- whites, 1,325 free persons of color, 2,988. Demarara slaves, 71,1 80 whites, 2,871. ' " : "'""' St. Tincent vhites, 827- slaves, 22,020. ?:V - : v ' The slave population of Barbadoes ex ceeds 69,000 of Antigua, 30,568. An attempt is made to depreciate the strength of our population for the purpo ses of war. It is, however, admitted to i be tolerably powerful for defensive war.' but totally incompetent for offensive ope larions and long ntay it remain so. We desire but to defend ourselves and our rights and Great Britain has received such lessons as have satisfied her of our ability to do this ;"tvhile she has given us a lessbn of the folly of sending armies abroad for conquest or . glory. We are told, with a sort of contemptuous compa rison, that ' Prussia, whdse population does not exceed that of the United States, brought into the field an army ten times more numerous and better disciplined than all the regular troops which America could muster ;'--and 4 Portugal, with less than half the population of North Ameri ca1 (meaning the United States,) marched a greater force into France than the Uni ted States have ever been able to bring into t(ie field.'i And how stands Prussia now ? with her revenues and credit both exhausted living on loans, and sinking under a depreciated currency and heavy taxation while the United States have repealed their war taxes, paid off a great part of their debt, aod are in full credit at home and abroad. While, to suit the object of this part of the review, our pop ulation is swelled into so much impor tance, in another place, when for another object it is convenient to degrade it, it is 1 less than that" of the seeond rate states of Europe.' What then is Prussia and Portugal ; the one is but equal to us in ly to her strength, and Ireland, which, to i 1 t-r ... ',: I n strpniTt h.' lin; uer, w eatress u not apopulaUon much exceeding-that of - 4 . X. jl Ma a kT n V TT1 WIIIV I r ! r the United States ? We may now be fair- ly estimated at ten millions, and England j i i t , t does not exceed twelve. Here follows an attempt, evidently made with pain and mortification, to ac count for- our naval victories ovecjhe 6 mistress of the ocean, by the old stories df big ships and British seamen who fought so much' better on board of our vessels than their own,, because they had i the halter round their necks ;' by which we are given to understand, that an Eng lishman can be made to fight as he ought to do, only by the fear of a gallows. As tq the remarks upon the depressed and embarassed state of the finances of the general government, at the close of the late war it is sufficient to say, that it is true. they were exceedingly so; the prices of the public stock show the extent of the difficulty ; but it must also be re membered that the resources of the peo ple of the United States were full and ample, and would have been offered to the support & contest, as long as Great Britian could have found it convenient to con tinue it. Indeed, thepeace was quite as opportune for her as for us. In proof of this we have seen that, immediately on the restoration of peace, the public credit, was at a moment, restored ; the general coffers were filled-from the ordinary sour ces of revenue ; the internal taxes wholly repealed, and the prosperity of the coun try flourished, as before. Is there this elasticity in any of the governments of Eu rope, even this boastful England ? Eve ry war there has furnisfifcd an apology for some new burdens upon the people ; but no peace has ever yet been made which removed them. I omit to notice many jietaUs of igno rance and calumny, scattered through this review of "Bristed's Resources" they are either so stale as to require no refutation, or so silly as to deserve none : I hasten to the concluding paragraph, in which, after affecting to be exceedinly amused with our ( American vanity,' and our. expectations of future greatness and power, the Reviewer proceeds : The inhabitants of New South Wales might with equal reason, indulge the same lofty expectations. They ar1 indeed a centu-. ry behind their transatlantic brethren ; much more nearly related to the review ers than to us, but their pQifcrifen has increased faster, by the increase of the rogues and convicts of England their country is more extensive, their soil more fertile, and their climate far more salubri- oils.' i es, gentlemen tieviewers, tien Our brethren of Botany Bay shall have niamtained a seven years7 war against tliir haughty Mnotiu r, when they shall have exhausted and defeated her utmost strength, and) compelled her with the deepest humiliation and most painful re luctance, to acknowledge their indepen dence, and receive those as equals she had for seven years denounced as traitors and rebels; then let the inhabitants of New South Wales, that hopeful shoot from the parent tree in England, ' indulge the sameofty expectations' as the peo ple of these United Siates., When these embryo statemen, philosophers, and war riors, having thus vanquished the power of G. Britain and thrown off her galling fetters, shall freely & deliberately frame for themselves a government which the wisest and best men of all nations, not excepting England, have eulogized, as combining most happily the securities of liberty with the energies of government ; and when, under the protection and in fluence of such a Povecnment, they shall, in a few vears. reach an elevation of power of the first rank ; extend and es tablish a commerce, second butto prre on earth ; then let them 4 indulge, Spur lofty expectations.' When again engaged in a sanguinary contest with the sarnie haugh ty anxl unrelenting enemy, they shall cut down armies of ' her invincible troops, sink aud capture her vessels of war, in fair, and equal combat, singly and in fleet : vanquish her on that element on which the World has long consented she should be supreme, & proudly called her home ; and make the drapery of their Navy Of fice of British flairs ; then let the! convicts of Botany Bay, the offspring of the pov erty and cringes of England, the brethren in blood and principle of the English re viewers, be compared to the people of the United States, and ' indulge the same lofty expectations.' It is undeniable, that no power has ever broken down the pridei pretensions and' character of Great Britain, as the' United States have done It began with the revolution, in which we captured two entire armies, scattered her commerce, woi e out hej strength, and drewlher to an ignominious peace. It has continued since in the cabinet, on the ocean, in the field ; wherever we have met her as an adversary, she has, parted from us humbled Whe sight of the world, morlltiefl ana Uiswiiuiuru. I ' 0f ASn.-m' and liberal neonl a( Of the tbinJung and liberal people at Endand, I would ask, of what avail are these miserable assaults upon . this coun try ? They but excite resentments in those who are unwilling o indulge them : . and imbitter those who have before- felt them. Assuredly, the petty mercenary scribbler of a quarterly jpamphlet cannot be so infatuated witl lolly and impor-v tance as to believe the estimation we-shall be held iff by the world or oureelvesTcan be in the least affected by this periodical j exhibition of malevolence and ignorance The people of Great Britain, themselves the readers and feeders, the patrons 1 and paymasters of these pamphleteers are not so grossly stupid as to be deceived -byuch representitions. They will re men.ber that the same sort of contempt x of the character, spirit, & strength of this country was-poured forth by their little politicians at the beginning of the revolu tionary war; and they .well- remember , what humiliation and ' disgrace their ad ministration brought on' itself by encour aging and listening to such tales. But if -every man, woman, and child, in Great Britain, shall choose to adopt the opinions and feelings of the Quarterly Review, or whatimportanceis.it to us? We are desirou'sof cultivating friendly and re spectful sentiments with the people of that country ; but if they imagine: they can play off a game of superiorly and contempt upon us, they will find we shall j regard it as little as we did the noise of their menaces, and the force of their arms. Standing above the reach of their power, we cannot be touched by their derision ; whenever it shall be -necessary, we know how to make them respect us. . . In the review oVFearon's Works, these critics observe, that 1 a spirit of hostility towards England s but too prevalent in ' the United States ; a spirit which is in dustriously kept up by the Cobbers, the Em'metts, the McNevins, the Shamrock Society, and, above allj by the editors t)f newspapers ; who are generally Scotch or Irish rebels, or felons who have defraud ed the gallows of its due.' If this cata logue of causes be correct, there is ano ther, yet equally potent with any of them, which has been omitted; that is, such -publications as the Quarterly Review Coming directly from the metropolis of -England, under the eye of theourt, it i supposed to have high authority for its conduct; and to indicate tsettled design with greater men than reviewers, to insult and degrade this country in the eyes- of the people of England, and the Vest of Europe. If the friendship of the United States bethought of any importance by the governing politicians of Great Britain, it behoves them to change the Jone of the Quarterly Reviewerswhich doubtlessV'a frown err smile would do In truth, those pure and patriotic critics are but the coad jutors and allies of the j Scotch and Irish rebels, the felons who have defrauded the gallows of its due.' They labor in the same cause, acting different parts, but to the same end. - One abuses America, the other Great Britain ; but both ketp up that spirit of hostility the Reviewers affect to lament. 4 If there be any employment which de- grades the intellect and corrupts the heart, it must be that of a man who writes, not -on the impulses of genius, or ihe spon taneous efforoi his oun mind, but by r contract as to timf, subject, and secti mentt; who binds himself to furnish, at stated periods, a dish of a giver. uze, suited to the taste of his paymasters, seasoned-to their palates, ant! adapted to their digestion. How soon must such a man lose all perception of moral beauty," ; all regard for truth, all sense of decorum, and become the ihoughiless and heartless instrument of interest not his own ; the slave of other men's passions and preju dices, the habitual labriciHor o calum ny and fraud ! The genius and learning .of such a man, like the beauty and ac complishments ofa prostitute, may en hance the price of services, but cannot elevate or purify his calling. How un like the. independent and honorable mart in tiers", who employs his talents to vin- dicate truth, to embellish virtue, and im prove mankind : r Of the review of F&aron?s Sketches 9 it is enough to say, that it is more low and vulgar, more false and slanderous than the preceding. News-papers are gleaned for advertisements of abscond ing husds, probably not Americans -and electioneering conversations picked up from the mouths of butchers and por ters, to obtain an Insight into the charac-, ter ad miryi, of this people.' Are the people of England willing to .be judged in this way ? Shall we resort to the bat tings between blackguards at an election? to 'decide how they 4 act in their political capacity ;' and L pronounce,' ther' on that it is ,all bruiseand wonnrf, and .pn- t trifying sore ?' The unconcealed fr?ud, the dangerous, and sometimes'tatal, vio lenceL of aa English election, cn be sur- .1 V r - 1
Newbern Sentinel (New Bern, N.C.)
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Nov. 13, 1819, edition 1
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