z -TrrrTT,
1 - - ' ' .
Oart tr the plaai f flrdclif ktfal Peace,
'Uvwarp'd bf party rage, to live Iie Brothers
XI.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 1810.
U. GALLATIN.
f 0M T8X 1ALT1M0KX VTBXO.
M IvwE The rcpuution of a
mister ofstatc is nothing wheu com-
pand to interests o! a oation ; nor
character, when In competition
.jjih truth and justice. 13ut as it is
the great value of the latter, decides
the proposition ; so for their salces,
when a minister 01 uic.xiuuuu is jusu
c,A hv circumstances, truth mast be
tHowed its full weight in the trial, and
our prejudices become 01 asntue im.
Pittance, as his honor in the other
V - 11 r . mm m raiia1r. Vn
Hi has appeared in our public prints
iorp me uisuosurc ui oia&iuc a tur
TrtDondcnce. It the charges against
Jtr uallatin nau noioccn repeaiea so
. .. . i . i i
coauDually,they would probably have
ilcpt whh myself, having little mclina
h,n invent them in a newspaper. But
wearied with the perpetual repetition
cf mistaken principles, I beg leave to
cier some considerations on the sub
ject which may perhaps change a lit
tle the view of the object, and with it
the impressions it has excited.
The intelligent editor of the Auro
rx. in the eagerness of his attack, has
overlooked a circumstance Which
ihoald have sustained one charge, and
casts weakness upon all his efforts.
But perhaps as passion blinds a man ;
former resentment and an elder of
fence, had hurried him into this mis-
tile, aod made him flame forth too
laddenly against the secretary, to con
sider the ground of his charge.
He accuses Mr, Gallatin with hav-
irheld conversations he had no right
or business with plainly declares that
he had nothing to do but with Trea
iury matters In which he is follow
ed by many editors. The absurdity
cf this will be evident to every reader
vho feels that he himself has a right
to speak on matters of state with any
cce; and that Mr. G. could not have
las right than any other individual.
If his official situation makes the dis
tinction, that can only be allowed to
I'M him to double caution, but never
to 'interdict the privilege of co overs
icg on public affairs with any- This
ccwevcr is too narrow a view of the
subject. It is not only the right, but
it will often become the duty of any
Head of Dt partment to discuss pubtic
relations with the ministers or foreign
sates. Though for dispatch of bu
&ess, a division of the objects of go
tcrnment becomes necessary ; yet no
cce is ignorant that the several secre
taries form one body of ministry. The
compose a council for the Pre
sldent, h deliver their opinions, when
required, alike on war, revenue, na
vies, and foreign rclations-f The re
dt will be committed to the head of
tbt department within whose pro
T'rcce it more especially lies, but in
every case of moment it will have re
ceived the determination of others.
As our republican manners x reject a
ughty suspicious reserve ; and the
laall circle within which all move at
Washington, naturally brings each
ttblic man in frequent contact with
Mother, familiarity- will unavoidably
ca;.3 among them. And I believe
Note, surelj, his dented the Secretary's
r jHt to i ecu intercourse and the freedom of
tCYtration on any subject ; . it is the med.
c-cj with public matters in an unauthorised Zl
wr.intm way, that has been found faifttwith
" the Secretary of the Treasury or Navy be
i projr organ for negotiating with Foreign
aiicrs, tte Secretary of State roust be ou:
f fcis trcviace vrben he corresponds with out
1 a s:ers abroad or FoKign Ambassadors at
w'mir.gion. " The steer sin an to his helm
1 ibe gwioer to his liostock.
. t This raajbe the practice, but the Consthu
does net slnction it because its framers
:jnt Hrc had the evils of an English Privy
aacii in full viewr at its formation. We, it
are fast declining into the path of Eng.
Ji Docs the following extract from the
J-ocMkmion allow the existence of. our new
Uad funjus'Cahinet Ccuocil !
H 7 the President may require the opi-
"wa. i turifiV, of the principal QiLctm of
m f the Kxecutive Department bpon a
BT subject relating to lU duties of tbeirrerdec
Tks Uie Constitutioo, in the clearest Ian
v2 Pro idea separate duties for separate of
j TW Jt Let each rauul ha ownbusineas.
u 11 rved that this wise regulation ide
n from by men who hart Strom to s yppcrt
it maybe safely trusted to those who
know our ministers, to pronounce
whether their prudence and sagacity
are not as likely to find advantages in
this, as any foreign minister we have
ever seen. ' Un tne occasion to whicn
we refer, there plainly appears a gene
ral assent of the Executive Officers to
meet Mr. Erskine in conversation on
the topics so interesting to both na
tions. A general consent upon the
demands and abatements, seems from
all' we vet know, to have Drevailed.
A variety in the manner & difference
of range, would inevitably take place
lliut I ask whether candor and impar
II r 1 'J 1 intr.atimrmn viral!
II ditto ilr. Oallaun's statement on this
11 wuiui . 11 is cviucui iur. crsKiur
was very desi'ous to represent the A
11 lucricaa govcmmeniAs wvnraoic 10
'. r ii. -
the English at that period- Whether
he had ever communicated an opinion
of Mr. Jefferson being parti.il to their
enemies, or not ; it is certain the
charge had been incessantly made by
the faction in their interest. & indeed
r
with the charge against his religion,
constituted their whole accusation.
I'his being no secret with any'ooe.
might, without apprehension, have
been touched on at that time; and an
observation that there was no such
charge agiinst the present President,
been combined by Mr. E. with his
own belief of the fact so often charg
ed by the federalists aud English par-
tizans as to be thought true at last by
themselves. I cannot but think this
a natural and probable account of the
manner in which Mr. Erskine was
led to report the substance of his con
versation with the Secretary of the
freasury. Though Mr. Jefferson
was not regarded among the republi
cans with ttut unmanly & guilty ido
latrv which the federalists avow to
Washington and even to Hamilton ;
yet, that excellent man possessed the
good opinion of all the members ot
the administration in a degree that
perhaps few will do again. Mr. Gal
latin 'might have thought him erro
neous in some inferior matters : but
1 question whether any one will say,
he ever thought him failing injustice
and impartiality.
His construction of the non-inter
course law, is capable of fuller iilus
tration. Nothing seems so little uti
derstood as this measure on his part,
it is universally known that from the
commencement of the government,
an explanation of the sense of the la'.
wherever room for doubt appears, has
accompanied their transmission to th
several officers entrusted with their
execution ; but notwithstanding all
the care to explain, a continual recur,
rence to the Heads of Departmmt
lakes place,' even on some of the old
est acts. He therefore only per
formed an usual and ordinarv duty.
Being on the spot where the laws art
framed, and in frequent intercourse
(which is not forbidden I belie vej with
the members of the Legislature, it
i i n i
mut be presumed ne 19 acquaintta
wiih the intentions of the framers ot
laws, and certainly must be allowed
as capable to construe the m as an col
lector or printer in the Union. In a
ny case of moment, such as that of
discriminating the countriesto which
the national commerce might go, it is
I believe the judgment ot the Presi
dent directs the construction ot ihc
Secretary , or perhaps the concurrent
opinion of the cabinet under him.
And notwithstanding the opinion ) ou
and others have delivered, I fancy
most persons acquainted with the usa
ges of nations will concede that con
struction to be just which assumes a
real, where there is a nominal sove
reignty. and independence. Nothing
would br more indecent and impro
per than to decide in this way the in
dependence of nations. Nor can it
be allowed that the words of the law
are' opposed by this construction; As
to construing ahem at all, nothing is
more ridiculous than tlem ing the au
thority for this ; : it is co-existent with
their execution. Nor is there a part
of our civil law, the sense of which
has not been settled at different timc-s
by the Judges, if settled at all. .It is J
incidental then to all law, to receive
a construction from those who are to
execute, or decide judicially "upon
them. I o give uniformity and stea
diness to our revenue laws, the con
struction must come from the depart
ment specially charged with their ex
ecution. It has 50 come, and no blame
can be justly attributed to the act pro
cecding through the proper organ of
government. REGULUS
From tlie Boston Patriot.
OP. GOVERNOR GERRY'S OPINION
OF BONAPARTE. "
There appeared in the Centincl of
the 8th inst. a piece, bearing the sig-
nature of the Spanish General Pala-
iox, extracted iromthc mltimore re-
deral Gazette, and captioned by a
quotation from Gov. Kerry's speech,
with a commentary thereon, which
appeared to have for its object & end,
to wound our worthy Chief Magis
trate
ate oecause nc tnougnt proper to
i .i i . ii
ex
tpress s opinion co tne ivcprescn-
tati ves of the People", in General Court
assembled, of the great and dreadful
talents of Napoleon, at the same time
that he held up to them the mighty
naval power of Britain
I care very little what is said of the
French, or of their renowned Chief,
provided we do not injure our nation
al character, by a lack of urbanity or
decorum towards a great and power
ul nation that nation whom Wash
i ngton called A wonderful People.'"
but i can by no means teel indifferent
at what is here sneeringly insinuated
as if our worthy Chief Magistrate
clt an affection for either ot the two
tyrannic powers, that have been long
depredating on our property and en
croaching on our independence. I
am confident that he has no affiliation
with the tyger of the land, nor with
the shark of the ocean. His every
pulsation is, as it ought to be, Ame
rican ; and on that, as well as on se
veral other accounts, he deserves as
well.of his country as any Governor
that ever filled the chair of the State.
The Spaniard's production is in
dc ?d so weak and puerile, that I won
der it was thought adequate to the
end proposed. It is a general la of
nature, that where an animal wants
strength it is made up in venom We
see this exemplified in the viper tribe
so umong men. wnen tne parn
z.n Pal at x feels that he has neither
ft T 1
strength nor size to reach the object
of his fear, he instinctively ejects the
venom of abusive epithets, and calls
Bonaparte a Jacobin and the spirit
that has guided his greatest actions
Jacobinism ; when, the fact really is,
that there is not ageatmanin France,
England, or America, freer from Ro
esperian Jacobinism than this 'su
per-eminent statesman and warrior "
On the contrary, he has beaten down
J acobinism under his feet. It is e-
'jually false that he raised a rebellious
arm against his Sovereign and bene
factor, if it is meant to rctpr to Louis
XVI.
fo say that Napoleon's extraordi
nary triumph in war have been the
effect of chance or good fortune, is to
say that all the victories of Nelson,
and of the British Navy, are the con-
s. quences of good luck merely;
ft '
1 hey must be placed together, ana
referred to fortune or good luck, or
allowed to be the result of superior
skill or happier adaptation" of means
to the end in view. He who, widci
awake, would maintain the contrary,
exposes himself to the derision of
men, women .and children. No 1
Signior Palafox ! It is a truth, a
dreadful truth, that there is no power
under Heaven that can arrest the all-
conquering arm of Napoleon, if , he
causes to stretch it over the Conti
nent of Europe br Asia. If you doubt
this, consider for. a moment that im
mense machinery of which Napoleon
is the head, and a private, soldier, a
police at d a custom house officer the
loot Thsn teir mc'whether? you do
not think that it constitutes a fence br
momentum, which neither your coun-
j trymen, nor Britain to help them
could arrest, any more than theycovdd
stop the course, of a comet, by laying
hold of its tail.. -'
-A bountiful Prdvidenc6, by inter
posing the wide and rough Atlantici
has placed, I trust, an insurmountable;
wall of defence between this mighty
pawer and the United States. Were
we Heatheos Greeks or RomanswV
ought straightway to erect temples to
our Guardian God the jOcean- But,
being Christians, we ought to repose
in confidence, that ihe" GOD ofAr-
4 . v m - ' a ; I
miett" tnat rower by whose nod tne
scale of Empires rise or alternate fall,
has pointed to the verge of the old
continent, and said to its mighty war
rior, tfc thus far thou shalt goy-aiid no
farther?1
r lvnnu
would ask the Clergy and the Bi
ble Society y and every other serious!
person among us Who made Napole-1
on Bonaparte what he is now ? He
assuredly did not make himself j nor
can we believe that he was generated,
like the Heathen Venus, from the :i
froth of 'the tempestuous sea qflibertu'
, - - i
If wjU aUow me that Bona.
you
parte has been raised up and sustain
ed by a Power superior to any thing
we know of upon earth, my mind rests
satisfied with the solution of this a
mazing phenomenon, at the same time
it gains strength from almost every
page of Sacred History. But take this
doctrine away from me, and you may
take your Bible with it ; for then I
shall consider the history of the He
roes of Scripture nothing more than a
" cunningly devistd fable. Beware,
ye haters of France and Bonaparte,
and ye contemners of the power of
your own country, how you ridicule
this belief for it was the creed of
your most admired political writer,
whose keen eye saw things as they
really were but whose weak nerves
ana moroia sensibility, too oiten tne ;!
troublesome concomitants of genius, !;
hindered him from looking at the pic-1
ture steadiTy, or examining it delibe-i
ratelv. It is ever to be lamented that ;
surviving friends, with firmer nerves '-jj
and steadier judgments, did not sup
press all such writings, as had a ten
dency to infuse a trembling fear of
the French nation, and of a Jacobin
ism that no Innrrrr exists in thnt r.nitn-
try in place of thai steady Mura
and manly confidence, which is the
result of a firm belief that GOD still
governs the world. 1
One of the greatest statesmen this
country ever produced ( a greater
statesman than Fisher tAmesr and one
who has no great affection for Napo
leon) was asked, whom we could se
lect of the great men of the world as
parallel to Bonaparte? He answered'
TiiEUE is not one e wastiien ask
ed if we micht not nlace him on the
side of Julius Cesar.- The vene-.
rable man replied, No S Julius Ce
sar, at the fieight of his power & glo
ry, was but a boy to this wonderful
Corsican ; and he spoke of him, ,not
only as a soldier, but.as $ politician.
The late Gen. Knox spoke of Bo
naparte in terms of the highest ad
miration. u He appears (said ht) to
have the mind of a million ;" and it is
hardly probable that Washington
would have said much less of him.
The Archduke Charles, the second
military character now in the wprhi,
speaks of him in the highest tyle of
admiration. When Charles Fox re
turned from Paris, while Bonaparte
Was First Consul, he spoke in such
exalted terms of his genius, that it
created uneasiness in some of the lit
tle minds at St. James's. As to the
JEmperor Alexande,hc, like an hum
We plant, faded away under. the wide
spreading arms of this mighty oak ;
and the King of Prussia has sunk in
to nothing before him. Spain' and
Portugal, with all their dead weight
of a supers tioaseUgionreassing
away at his command ; while' th
head of their religiousiystem; of rIn?
quisitorial intolerance is placed by Na
poleon just where he should be ?AsJ
to Austri a and Germany4r would
liayc erased them from' the map of
tue world, hud .not Tmtts stepped m
ud:or
deal more to the same efteclL;neecr wcg&5$&
wonder that- so wise apd -befwolc-nt v
mon od 1-t.mT'r- flam.- alitv let1- ennrilrl '
J feel disposed to ; give,' cr'unieroua
body Qf Representati jiisJtjpintba
Britain ?, The Cr
followed thermayeniSti&thi
narch with an anxious eve and facts
and events have ambly lusufied hioi . v
in saying f His equal -is!; not to bei
44 found in theannauV?,?,'
. Monarchs, have been styledrraitV
w butas a Sttesman & a Warri fie:
isj super 'emincnt--llz is a pr)6clrgy
' of humatr nature? " r '"-Mff- '
The Administration oflEngland
apd indeed all the mot sensi(le men
in that renowned Kingdom have the
same ppihion of a6ieonJa yrs
uerry nas. : I hey dare not rrveet nis
: troops irr the; field ; add . what, speaks,
home to the question, THEt X)AitR
nor MAkte peace miiimii XrXn no
place has Governor Gt-rry ever.Utter. ,
; ec
ed a word of approbation ofthe mea-
i surest policy or conduct ofs this abif
trary Monarch. v e merely gives '
the fact, as regards his matchless ta
lents, and of course; at the head 6F
such an Empire, hi? matchless)wer,
well knowing that the surest vvay to
resist a danger is to know it iribrbugh
ly; and he who blames tt mfican
Governor for 4oing sof is chhera'
wise man nor a sound politician., :
As you are Signior PalaTfokSpai-T
ntard as welfas myself, you'r)ossiufy
may net be acquainted with all the"
peculiarities of this singular Peopled
we are a niong I nj France S paio-.J -j.
Germany and "Russiai -which ;:ever
way we turn our eyes, we the gd-
vernment,or the torfce bt the Supreme
jcxecuuve, eitner in trie Jorm cf mi
wy worxs ana camps ; or else at
every corner of the street, and jtftftei
theatfts, in the shape of centinels-!
Whereas in Massachusetts we see no
thing like it ; which feadY stranertt
to conclude that there is' tio compui-'
satory power or protectintr force
wnen in ract tne )Lovernor iias an td
visible body guarded Legion of Ho
nor of miofe than forty thousand men?'
Theyshew themselves but once; a year :
They are not distinguished by ea
gles or crosses, but most ge'beriliy by -implements
vpf husbandry as they
chiefly inhabit the interior. . Taken '
collectively, they": poetess. byfjati "ife
greatest portioi i oj property Ovet ( thg ; ?Kv ?
rest ofthe State. C- '. ''' : ,
This government and these-people a 'X
are defended an6theguardrrun-;
known to us in Spain, I mein the Li , : t&V
BERTY Of THE PRESS 1 thandrsmk Si
td assertor of interdicted) truth
1 of - interdicted: ttuthSiiSSfe
Where the laws hall : with dreaSMt ' 4'
mightyengme advances; I t devetSpcv
conclaves and cauciusesiJi
trates v fortified recesses;afnesi
the tearful sentence on the wall of the -palace,
turning their jSra2w pale,K
when detected in their , attempts to
organize Jaecbin conyentioins'to A&J
stroy ihe tecdefrdted qnipnrthesetAv
! haPPy States, pne party 'have iserl
this engine so incessantly and with ;
such imprudent vioteqeth
have nearly worn it OUtandder?
cu u ox no cnect ;-wniie ttieotherlias,
recourse tQ it-WTruetiiJ AJ$
when they -have, it operates' Vuf theif y:
irrestible force of human tiatiir tinVr 1
CPMJION twfa i
things imt&mMiMM4
saiauKiner; wnue our conn-
try never produced Vman more a'evb- " Z
ted to the peace, liberty, haomnV &
and well being of the.natiyes; tyfa is V ;v :
THOVfA GALES
Havxkg tbttioetl a hceniefrom the Jpd4 ,f ) . r.;
, 6i the Supreme Ccla.cof thii Siai, wnl
ijoininXoumfcrlhepurpofprattisin ,
LLw. H POccUl bt i DpenW At tU wad-
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