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iirstrfl the fttiiw if frff !Uf ttful peace,
Uawwp'd by pWj rf e to live like brother
NDAV, SERtMBEU J7, 1804.
No. 25
t
IG
AND ' " ' " - ttJt - ,
;' " : i .;y Hdrth-Caf
Carolina Stafe Gazette.
v. : ' 1 . s ..
. 1 . . . . . i
1SIANA REMONSTRANCE.
LOU
To the
CMGRZSS of the UMtSD STATES.
in SENATE and ,
HOUSE c REPRESENT ATVES,
Convened.
;. Concluded from wur last.
i
:f arn'itv is to be thfc crite-
riao.and ioformation the preliminary
requisite of our adroissioii, us
respectfully enquire what 1 the na
ture of this capacity, and mforma
L W where it will rnost proba
bly be found. By the distribution pf
powers between urcgeuww
governments, the; Former have the
uperintendance of aU external ;re
Utions, and of those internal arrange
1 jnents, which regard the several
states in their national opacity ; the
residuary powers, retained by the
states, are more limited in their oper
ations, and require in their excercise
a species of information to be derived
only from local sources. The pu
rest principles will be misapplied,
the best intentions will be ill directed,
the most splended efforts of genius
will prove ineffectual without an in
timate know!trtse of the manners
customs, pursuits, and interests of
the people, to whon they are appli
ed, or in whose favor they are exer
ted. Should this reasoning be just,
it would appear to follow, that local
information should be pi-eferredin a
tstate legislature, to splended acquire
ment, when they. -cannot be united ;
and should wc give the representa
tives of the United States all the su
ueriority they claim and undoubtedly
merit, vet we cannot be accused of
presumption, in supposing that we
know somewhat more of our ewti
country, and its local interests, than
men who arc acquainted with It only
from report, it will not, we trust, be
answered that the members of the
council must be selected from the ln-
' habitants ; we have already shewn
6 What share this council will proba
! bry have in legislation : and the re
sidence of one year is certainly too
. short to attain information, or secure
any thing like a permanence of at
tachment. If this local knowledge is necessary
to legislate wisely, how much more
so is it in order to select discreetly,
those on whom this must devolve.
The President ,must necessarily de
pend on the information of his agents
here ; without any persohal know
ledge of the men he mustchuse; how
can he detect imposition, or counters
act prejudice ? How defeat intrigue
or secure himself from the reproach
of having confided our interests to
men, in whom we have no confidence ?
We might contrast these inconveni
ences with the evident advantages of
a choice made by the people them
selves, and the conviction would be
irresistable, lhat the latter possess,
exclusively .that species of informa
tion with respect to character, con
duct, circumstances and abilities,
which is necessaryto a prudent choice
of their representatives ; but we pre
sume enough has been said to shew
that among a people not absolutely
j sunk in ignorance, the khkl of know-
ledge indispensible to good govern
ment, or a selection of rulers, can
only be found at home that the best
abilities and the purest intentions wm
tv not replace it abrpad, snd that with
out it all legislation is tyrannical and
oppressive
Convinced 6f this truth we find the
advocates for our subjection, driven
to au argument, at which we have
before hiritedi-Tp deprive us olf our
right of election, we have been re
presented as too ignorant to excer
cise it with wisdom, and too turbu
lent to enjoy it with safety. Sunk
in ignorance, effeminated by lux
ury, debased by oppiession, wre
were, it was said incapable of appre
ciating a free .constitution, if it were'
denied. The sentiments which
were excited by this humiliating pic
ture, may be imagined, but cannot
be expressed consistent with the
respect we owe your honorable body;
We were willing, however to ascribe
it to the want of correct information
but wc could not .avoid' wondering
v that it should be so very defective,
to have drawu from the names of
me districts iri 6iir rttry, an ar
Sument as to the language spokcu
in them, which proved fatal to an
important amendment to the bill.
We tould not imagine what had ex
cited the idea of our effeminacy and
profusion ; arnd the laborious planter
at his frugal meal heard, with a
smile of bitterness and contempt, the
descriptions published at Washing
ton, of his opuleuce and luxury.
As to the degree of information di f
fussd through the country, we hum
bly request that sorn? tnore correct
evidence may be produced than the
superficial remarks that have been
made by travellers or residents,
who neither associate with nor speak
ourlanguage ; many of us are native
citizens of the United States, who
have participated in that kind of
knowledge which is there spread a
mong the people, the others are
generally men who will not suffer, by
a comparison with the population
of any other colony. SomrH8ad
vantages as to education in the
higher branches of literature, have
lately attended us, but the original
settlement of the province was mar
ked by settlements peculiarly favora
ble in this respect, it was made at no
distant date; at a period when science
had attained a great-degree of per
fection, and from a country in which
it flourished ; many individuals pos
sessing a property and rank, which
suppose a liberal education were a
mong the first settlers, and perhaps
there would be no vanity in asserting
that the first establishment of Louisi
ana, might vie with that of any o
ther in America, for the respectability
and information of those who com
posed it ; their descendents now re-,
spectfully call for the evidence which
proves that they have degeneratsd so
as become totally incompetent to the
task of legislation ; for our love of
order arid submission to the laws we
can confidently appeal to the whole
history of our settlemeh't, and partU
cularly to what has lately passed.
In those dangerous moments when
it was uncertain at What point bur
political vibrations would stop ; when
national prejudice, personal interests
factious views, and ambitious de
signs, might be supposed to com
bine for the interruption of our re
pose, when irt the fre'quent changes
to which we have been subject, the
authority of one nation was awakened
before the other had established its
power : In those moments of crisis
and danger, no insurrection disturbed
no riot disgraced us, the voice of se
dition was silent ; and before a ma
gistrate was appointed, good morals
served instead of laws, and love of
order instead of civil power ; it is
then as unjust tb tax us v.ith turbu
lence as it is degrading to reproach
us with ignprance and vice.
But let us admit that by some
train bf reasoning to which we are
strangers, by some incomprehensi
ble fatility we are cut off from our
national rights, and form an unfor
tunate exception to those general
principles on which your revolution
and government are founded ; that
there is nO clause for us in the great
character of natiire, and that we
must look for our freedom to ano
ther source ; yet We are not without
a claim one arising from solemn
stipulation, and according to our ideas
full, obligatory, and unequivocal.
The third article of the treatv,
lately concluded at Paris, declares
that " the inhabitants of ' the ceded
territory shall be incorporated into
the Union of the United States, and
admitted as soon as possible, accor
ding to the principles of the federal
constitution, to the enjoyment of all
the rights, advantages and immuni
ties of citizens bfthe United States,
and in the mean time they shall be
protected in the enjoy merit of their
liberty, property, and the exercise
of the religion they p.ofess."
Your honorable body seems to have
adoptbd a construction qf this article
which would suspend its performance
until some period fixed by the princi
ples of the constitution, and to have
read the article thus : "The inhabi
tants shall be incorporated inovthe
Union, and admitted to theJqty
mclikof all the rights, &c. so oort
as the principles of the ; federal con
stitutioitvill permit." We, pn the
contrary, contend, that the words
" according to the, principles of the
federal constitution," as they are
placed in the sentence, form np
Jlimitatidn, that they were intended
1 as a description of the kind of rights
j .... j
we are to enjoy, or at most relate to
the mode in which they were to be
L conferred, and that the article con
templates no other delay to our recep
tion, than wil be required to pass
the necessary laMj arid ascertain the
representation to "hich we are enti
tled. .
The inhabitants of the ceded ter
ritory, are tax be incorporated intp
the Union tf tfcte 'Uunited States."
These words can in no sense be satis
fied by the act m question. A 'terri
tory, governed m the manner the act
directs, may be a province of the U.
States, but can, by no construction,
be said to be incorporated into the
Union. To be inorporated into the
tlnion, must mean to form a part of
it : but to everv competent part of
j m
the U. States, the constitution has
guaranteed a republican form of go
vernment ; ancl this, as we have al
ready shewn, has no one principle
of republicanism in , its composition.
It is, therefore, not a compliance
with the letter of the treaty, and Js
totally inconsistent with its spirit,
which certainly intends some stipu
lations in our favour. But if Con
gress may govern us as they please,
what necessity was there for this
clause ? or how are we benefited by
its introduction ? If any doubt how
ever could possibly arise on the first
member of the sentence, it must
vanish by a consideration of the se
cond, which provides for their ad
mission, to the rights, priveleges,
and immunities of citizens of the U.
States. But this government, as we
have shewn, is totally incompatible
with those rights. Without any vote
in the election of our legislature ;
without any check upon our execu
tive ; without any one incident of
self government, what valuable ipri
velege" of citizenship is allowed us ?
what " right" do we enjoy ? what
u immunity" can ve boast, except
indeed the degrading exemption
from the cares of legislation and the
burthen of public affairs ?
Will it be said, that though our
right be admitted, yet Congress are
to determine the period when it shall
be conferred ? This, we apprehend
would not only be contrary to the
words of the treaty, but wuld be a
solecism in itself. The words, " ac
cording to the principles of the feder
al constitution, to enjoyment of the I
rights," &c. certainly meari, to such
rights, as are secured by the princi
ples of the constitution ; or that we
are admitted to their enjoyment in
such manner as the same principles
direct ; and at any rate the words
" as soon as possible," can never be
construed, so as to give a right ef
deferring it indefiuitly. If it may be
procrastinated for two years, we see
no reason, why it may not be delet
ed for twenty or an hundred, or to
tally omitted. That our verbal con
struction is a true one, will be evi
dent from pursuing the other expo
sition to itsconseqliences. If treaty
means to say that we shall be admit
ted as soon as the principles of the
constitution will permit, we must
look into that instrument to discover
what restrictions oppose its immedi
ate performance. We should na
turally expect if this reasoning be
true, to find some period limited be
fore which we could notbjecome
mernbers of the Union ; some requi
sites of population, 01' other circum
stance,' to be previously attained or
performed ; but on the contrary, the
powers of adfnitting new states is
vested in Congress, without any re
striction whatever, that can be appli
cable to the present case ; there is
therefore, nothing that curt satisfy
these words, if ihey are construed
as a limitation; nothing but the
will of Congress is referred to in the
constitution. This construction then
would prove that the United States
had stipulated, to admit us into the
Unicfrt as soon as they should, think
proper ; but a treaty implies a com
pact, and what compact, can arise
from astipulation to perform, or not
perform, as the party shall deem ex
pedient ? this wouldibe such a sole
cism in argument, such a confusion
of terms as "must make 113 doubt the
propriety of any construction that
leads to them, and we feel ourselves
justified in a persuasion, that the
treaty intended to incorporate its into
the Union so jsoon as the laws ine
cessary for that purpose could ;be
passed. W knoV hot -with what
view the territory North of the 33d
degrfee, has. been severed from us
and carried wth it the distinguishing
name which belonged tb us, and to
which we arc ajttached ; the Conveni
ence of the inhabitants we humbly
apprehend would have been better
consulted by preserving the connec
tion 6f the whole ' province, until a
greater degree df population, made
a division; riecessafy. IF this" division
should bperAte'sjo as to prolong ou?
state of political tutelege ; on account
of any supposed deficiency of num
bers, we cannot but consider it as
injurious to our rights, and there
fore enumerate it among those'poihts
of which we have reason tb complain..
If there is force in our reclamations,
on the great question of fundamental
rights if we are entitled to legislate
for ourselves as a member of the
Union, and to establish the forms
on which that legislation shall be
conducted, by framing a constitution
suited to our own exigencies ; then
no further observations need be
made on other parts of the law for
the right of local legislation implies
that of making the alterations, we
might deem expedient i the execu
tive power would be properly circum
scribed, and the legislative guarded
against encroachment. There is
one subject however extremely in
eresting to us, in which great care
has been taken to prevent ssjiv interfe
rence even of the governor and Coun
cil, selected by the President fcim
self. The African trade is absolutely
prohibited and penalties imposed on
a traffic free to all the Atlantic states
who chuse to engage in it, and as
far as relates to procuring the sub
jects ot it irom other states, permit-
J ted even in the territory of the Mis
sissippi.
It is not odr intention to "enter into
arguments that have become familiar
to every reasoher on this question,
ve only ask the right of . deciding it
for ourselves, artd bf being placed ?h
this respect, on an equal footing with
other states. To the necessity of em
ploying African labourers, which a
rises from climate, and the species
of cultivation, pursued in warm lati
tudes, is added a reason in this coun
try, peculiar to itself. The banks
raised to' restrain the waters of the
Mississippi, can Only be kept in re
pair by those whose natural constitu
tion and habits-of labour enable them
to resist the combined effects of a
deleterious, moisture, and a degree
of heat intolerable to whites ; this la
bour is great, it requires many hands,
is all-important to the very existence
of our country. If therefore this traf
fic is justifiable any where, it is sure
ly in this province, where unless it
is permitted cultivation must cease,
the improvements of a country be
destroyed, and the great river resume
its empire over our ruinous fields,
and demolished habitations.
Another subject not indeed grow
ing out of this law, but of great rrio
ment to us, is ihe sudden change, of
language iri al the public offices and
administ ration of justice the great
mass of the inhabksnts speak nothing
but the French, the late government
was always careful in the selection of
their officers, to find men who pos
sessed our language and with whom'
we could personally communicate
their judicial proceedings were indeed
in the Spanish language ; but being
carried on altogether by writing trans
lations were easily made at present
for the slightest communication,!
interpreter must be procured ' in
more important concerns our interest
suffers from not being" fully explain
ed ; a phrase, a circumstance seem
ingly of little moment, and which a
person uninterested in the affair will
not take the trouble to translate, Is
frequently decisive, and produces
the most important effects - That
free communication " so necessary to
give the Magistrate a knowledge of
the people, and inspire them with
confidence in his administration, is by
this meanS totally cut off ; and the
introductK&of viva vocepleading in
the courts oif1 justice," subjects the
party, who can neither, understand
his Council, his Judge, or the .advo
cate of his opponent, to an embarrass
ment the most perplexing, and pften,
to injuries the most sribi&
s stated the!
sources Ofisepnteftt, which, have
risen froni the measures - ypiu? hbno .
rable bpdy has pleaseii . to pursue'
did we suppose them the "effect
Of asettled desigu vfe bpptess,
of a determination- to" disregard
our natural ands tipuiatbd l rights
we are ;perUaded we should; do aV
much injustice to your tuws, a '
the strbngestr exprc-ssiSfiS would do
to our feelings of indignation) add
grief-r but, tiye will notiosultbu lrjr
a suspiciph sp injurious to your Iirio
tiyes : the want of truemforipja
with respect tp us, pinife:fbtmdd4
bn a Superficial . acuamtanbewitV
pur cpuntry, and-jrejudd;reiiw
of bur habits' and'manhiexs'pn, rjp.6!' ;
the most unfounded YeriaS tchbur
language, these alOneJjlave yglyeri
rise tothe measures f hich ; W6
complain, and' when these imprest
sions shall h a ve been effaced, w
have the fullest corifidehce that tKeir
effects will cease, aud the language
of remonstrance will be changed 16
that of, congratulations and thanks
Deeply impressed, therefore With
a persuasion that our rights need 1
only be stated, to be recognised aiidl
allowed; that the highest glory 0 -a
free Nation is a communication of
the blessings : and that its best re
putation is derived from a sacred re
gard 'o treaties. We pray you, re-r
presentative of the people, to con- :
suit your own fame and our happi
ness, by a prompt attention to our
prayer we invoke the PRINCIPLES
OF YOUR REVOLUTION, the
SACRED SELF-EVIDENT, arid
ETERNAL TRUTHS on which
your governments" are founded, we
invoke lhe SOLEMN STIPULA
TIONS OF TREATY, we invoke
your own PROFESSIONS, OF
YOUR FATHERS, and we adjure
you not to disavow the one nor dis
honor the other, by persevering in a
plan so contradictory to every thing;
you have said, and they have taught '
so fatal to our happiness, and the
reputation of your country, to a gei
nerous arid free people. We ought
not to urge any motive of interest
when those bf honor and duty are so
apparent ; but be assured that the
true interest of the United State
consists in cultivating a spirit of con
ciiiation with the inhabitants ' of the
territory they have acquired. An
nexed to your country by the course
bf political, events, it depends upon
you to determine whether we shall
pay thj cold homage of relAtan
subjects, or rendjbr t .e free allegi
ance of citizens, ' attached tb your"
fortunes by chpice, bound tb ybu, by
gratitude for the best blessings, con
tributing cheerfully to your advance
ment, to those highdestinies,j t
which HONOR, LIBERTY, JUS
TICE iH conduct you, and dcfeii
diag as we solemnly pledge durselves
to do, at the risque bf fortune and
life, our COMMON CONSTITU-
TION, COUNTRY, AND LAWS.
WE, THEREFORE, respect-,
fully pray, that so much of the
law above mentioned, as provide
for the temporary government
this country, as divides it into two
territories, prohtbitsthe importa
tion of slaves, be repealed;
. . And that prompt and efftcaciou
measures may be taken tb incorpo-1
rate the inhabitants of LqUisianaJ
into the Union of : the XJnited
States, arid dmit them tbidl the
rights, privileges arid immunidei
ot citizens thereof;
And ybu Pedtibhers,' Set;
Music and Dancing Achdemy.
FRANCIS MAURICE,
Prfesfor qf c French Languat Munt and
R ESPECTFULLY informs the
LX dies luid Centlerfie o the city f Ra
leigh and Vicinity, thiit ' he h ojtenftd'a
School in Haieigh to teach vthe a6v
agreeable andeieant . AccomplUhVnlfrnur
Mti Maurice flatten hrniseU tttit the hib
deratcterml oh which he engages; Pupili;
and the 4rkrattntion he pays to their B .
baviouf as well as Instruction, will increaks
I the'ndmber of thera, which is already yixf
Dancing." . ' .
A-T few PapiU will be tahen tolea
Ereach. Aug.
Wc have
. it
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