Alexandria Gazette, Commercial And Political

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 14.

Extract of a letter, dated Natchitoches, July 22.

What execrable and fatal scenes have been opened to our view by a profligate band of Mexican rabble, and foreign adventurers, on the neighboring territory of Texas! We may boast of our wonderful improvement of jacobinical doctrines: they have been carried into execution by our rulers with unrelenting ardor, marvellous skill and undaunted ferociousness, from the beginning of the insurrection, rearing up its hideous head in the province of Tlascala. But that of Texas has been considered from thence as the theatre perfectly well calculated for the most important exertions of our sublime policy.

Thus the army of Bernardo, as well as that of Toledo, grew, composed of American citizens and of a baneful crowd of Irish & French mobs, or knights-errant, who ran from every quarter of our union to the field of the insurgents, and assembled under the infamous rag of those two infatuated and turbulent Creoles, esteemed already as the instrumental performers of our great designs. Allured by the most sanguine hopes of meeting every where with gold and wealth through the celebrated regions of Mexico, these blind and rash adventurers joined the rebels and banditti at Texas in warlike array; and their conduct appeared instantly to be marked with unquenchable avarice, and the most savage and unfeeling barbarity. We have heard with horror of the assassinations--and cruelties perpetrated at Saint Antonio, under the fierce monster Bernardo; and we know that Toledo advanced from that mournful epoch, with an army recruited & raised in our country, to throw down such a detestable fellow, who was mistrustful to him, and by whom he was forbidden to enter the Mexican territory. New reinforcements of American citizens flock to the army of Toledo; and liberty, independence and happiness are granted to the inhabitants of Texas. A majestic and powerful republic should arise on their opulent and delightful soil to rival the glory of the ancient Rome, of Athens, and Lacedæmon: that was the language of this heterogeneous crowd of mutineers. Consequently, Toledo and his colleagues were to be considered either as Fabius and Scipio's, or Themistocles and Leonidas. We can only laugh at their pompous and distempered fancies, as well as pity the ill-fated destiny of our honest and pacific neighbors.

Were these frantic adventurers however, left to themselves, it is evident that they would not be enabled to push long on their enraged follies: sooner or later they will be exterminated by the Spanish troops and inhabitants of that extensive country. Good order will yet be restored; and hopes to revolt and subvert the public welfare, will be entombed together with their hated names:

How many champions strong; think you to be the whole army of the Insurgents and their allies at Texas? Scarcely seventeen hundred; and every honest man there is an irreconcilable foe to them. We must be disabused: the Mexican people will by no means submit themselves to a foreign power; they are attached to Spain by the most affecting relations, by religion, manners, customs, and even by pride & self-love. Among the idle and profligate mob we may find some wretched men, as every where, prone to insurrection; but what is to be expected from their attempts against the general opinion of the whole nation, as against the powerful mass of such an extensive empire? Nothing else but to entertain the disorder for some space of time. This calamity is already carried on to the highest degree in the province of Texas and we hear now of orders having been communicated by our executive to invade, with a body of our troops stationed at Fort Stoddert and Mobile, not only the province of Texas, but that of New Santander, and to take possession of all the Spanish territory to Rio Bravo.

Were it true, as it appears to be, we must extol the wisdom and glory of our rulers with enthusiasm. How beautiful and generous an achievement of their sublime policy! Ah! ah! cheer up! America did rouse from her lethargy; and she cannot fail to reach little by little the celebrated mines of Mexico, and perhaps those of Peru. It is to be confessed, that our rulers are the greatest men in the world: their skill and intrepidity entitle them to the praise, admiration, and reverence of all mankind. Our fathers said once, that our liberty could not be preserved, since we would be so blind and corrupt as to deviate from justice, moderation and good faith. "To disturb a nation (added they) with war and pillage, under the pretext of emancipation and happiness, is declared anarchy and jacobinical tyranny,"

But as I have the best opinion of the talents and prudence of our administrators, I believe such maxims, though pointed out by the sages of every nation and every age, and esteemed to be lessons of eternal wisdom for the preservation and the welfare of the human societies, have grown, perhaps, rancid and inconsistent with the brilliant lights of modern philosophy, by which our indefatigable rulers are enlightened, and must be crowned with immortal grandeur and fame.

I believe, too, after their wonderful discoveries and strenuous exertions, that virtue, uprightness, public faith morality and honor, are but miserable quibbles of the ancients: these we ought to put aside as Scholastic entities, or senseless things, and follow constantly injustice, fraud, perfidiousness, treachery, rapine, confusion and impudence. I beg our good fellow citizens will assist me with their learning, talents and criticism to solve this important question, for I am too much prepossessed in favor of the ancient maxims to adopt now the reverse of them, while I am not convinced with good reasons, as with the most general opinion of my honest and wise brethren.

I know, there are some obscure scribblers at Philadelphia, & some foreign rioters, who cherish the jacobinical frenzy, and the complete subversion of good order, and of every principle of public justice, morality, and honor —such I consider to be a Frenchman, who wrote once under the name of Don Diego de Oviedo, and who applies himself now to bring forth whimsical fictions, gross falsehoods, and pompous silliness in the newspapers, concerning the revolution of Texas. He according to public rumor, is a teacher of foreign languages, though he knows not any else and but very badly his own; and he appears to be seconded by a few others of the same temper, who boast, as he does, of belonging to the heinous flock of Bonaparte's slaves, and wish to see the whole hemisphere of Columbus under the infamous yoke of their master, the enraged monster of Corsica. From such a set of men I want neither instructions, nor the least intercourse: I address myself to the good citizens of America, who love their country, & have at heart its happiness and glory. Let them reflect upon the facts I have mentioned above, and consider the consequences which naturally flow from them. Be so kind, sir, as to publish this letter, or some extracts from it, in the newspapers, being fully persuaded, that there is not a firmer friend to our country, than I have the honor to be.