The Rhode Island American, And General Advertiser

Political.
To the Freemen of Rhode-Island.
FELLOW-CITIZENS,
WE are, at this time, involved in a
bloody, and, to us, disgraceful war, with
one of the greatest military nations on
earth; with a nation possessed of more
maritime strength than all the rest of the
world united. Yes, it is with this nation,
it is with the united kingdom of Great-
Britain, Ireland and their dependencies that
the administrators of our government de-
clared—offensive war.—And it is now
going on three years since the declaration
of this war by President Madison, and
nearly as long since he caused Upper Can-
ada, a neighbouring, peaceable, innocent
and unoffending province, to be invaded by
a force, which was then declared to be
amply sufficient to bear down all opposi-
tion. I repeat it, he caused the peace-
able province of Upper Canada to be in-
vaded with views of—conquest and plunder:
a province inhabited only by husbandmen,
who had never once done us evil, or wished
us harm; and intent on cultivating the soil,
did not suspect the perfidy of our rulers,
who, in the true style of Napoleon in-
trigue, proffered one hand in friendship,
while with the other they grasped the in-
struments of death. As a palliation for
these enormities, We have been repeatedly
assured by President Madison and others,
that even the finger of heaven pointed
to war. But, fellow-citizens, these hypo-
crites have not deceived us. We then knew
and we now know, that it was not the
finger of heaven, but Napoleon's finger
only, which pointed to this war—a war,
which was forbidden by justice, prudence
and humanity.
We further know that the finger of
heaven has not wrought with us, nor the
hand of God has constantly been against
us. And our administration, though well
versed in cunning, chicanery and intrigue,
though well acquainted with the principles
of French philosophy, have, nevertheless,
failed in every plan formed either for con-
quest or plunder. So, likewise, with our
brave generals: they have all acted in
perfect concert with the President and
heads of departments, and have, in the
full tide of successful attainment, been
either captured with all their forces, or
entirely defeated, discomfited and dis-
graced. While such is the wicked con-
duct of our rulers, and such the disgraceful
situation of our generals and armies, it be-
comes the duty of all good citizens to in-
quire, what was the first cause of this war.
in—what manner it has been conducted,
and what are we like to obtain by contin-
uing it longer?
With regard to what was the cause of
the war, many are, even at this time,
at a loss. It is true, the administration,
when they declared this war, assigned as
its Causes, the British Orders in Council;
but, at the same time, carefully forgetting
to remember, that the French Decrees,
which were equally injurious to our com-
merce, were prior to these Orders, and
that the Orders were declared to be in
non-existence, the moment the French De-
crees were repealed. I say, carefully for-
getting to remember all this, and not wish-
ing to commence hostilities against the
French nation, when it ought; and could
have been done, with justice and propriety;
they openly and publickly declared offen-
sive war against Great-Britain. Well
what followed? Why, immediately after
this declaration of war, by the administra-
tion of government, it was publickly and
officially announced, that the Orders in
Council were repealed. Thus the assign-
ed cause of the war ceased to exist.
In what manner did our rulers next to take
conduct themselves? Did they retract, like
honest men? Or did they choose to invent
some new cause? To their eternal dis-
grace, we find the latter was their choice.
Ever willing to exhibit their excessive
partiality in favour of the French, and
their inveterate hatred to the English na-
tion, they immediately set about invent-
ing this new cause; and after exercising
all their French cunning, they at last hit
upon the story of impressment; publickly
declaring to the world (by a report from
the Department of State) that the British
held, in their service, 6000 impressed
American seamen. Here was a story:
which, if well stuck to, would be worth
two of the former. The great point now
was, if possible, to steer clear of detection
accordingly every step was taken to pre-
vent any one of the minority in Congress
from examining the documents: But the
indefatigable endeavour of the Reverend
Mr. Taggart, (a member from Massa-
chusetts) enabled him, at length, to sur-
mount every obstacle; and, when exa-
mining the documents, he was astonished at
the apparently intentional blunders in the.
calculations, and duplicity and falsehoods
in the report. On examining the calcu-
lations, it appeared that there were sever-
al gross blunders, carefully made, to in-
crease this swollen and aggravated num-
ber.—That while taking a cursory view of
the account of impressments, it was not
unfrequently the case, to find the name of
one and the same person, inserted over and
over again, from one to five times:
which abominable species of fraud, alone.
amounted to 548 instances; and Mr. Tag-
gart thinks it highly probable that the
number is much greater. Of the 6000
seamen, said to be impressed, the greater
part proved to be Englishmen, Irishmen
and Scotchmen, not even naturalized, and
who had deserted from the British service,
and whom we had no right to detain, and
much less to claim as Americans. Few
real Americans were to be found in the
account; and these were generally taken
without protections, and—strongly suspected
of being English subjects. But, on proof
of citizenship, have been willingly given
up, and even paid for their services.
Thus, fellow-citizens, have these buck-
ram sailors, whom our administration de-
clared, and our hot-headed democrats
fancied in dozens, at once vanished into
air, leaving every candid American fully
satisfied that though few lies were so
bold, yet none more completely detected.
Since this second reason assigned by
our rulers for this war has been proved
groundless, they appear to have given up
the business of inventing others, to our de-
mocratick editors and their scribblers
who, though they have been uncommonly
diligent, have, nevertheless, been equally
unsuccessful.
Having thoroughly canvassed the Causes
mentioned, and the reasons assigned for
this war, it becomes my duty, as well as
the duty of every well-wisher of his coun-
try, to pronounce this war, in its origin
both unnecessary and unjust.
UNION
FOR THE RHODE-ISLAND AMERICAN:
Since the commencement of the war
the friends of peace have been busily vilified as tories and traitors: They
have been proscribed by administration;
and their menial supporters have used ev-
ery effort within their power, to awe them
into submission to Madison's wild and
republican notions of foreign conquest.—
A scene of bloody persecution commenced
in Baltimore, to wrest from us the liberty
of the—press; but, fortunately for our suf-
fering country, a few choice spirits of the
Washington School, (to whom we owe
an eternal debt of gratitude) made so for-
midable a resistance that the great plan
of proscription was given up. Consequently
their impotent threats of hell; have
had no other effect upon the friends of
peace, but to convince them of the princi-
ples by which administration were governed.
From the manner in which that scene
of licentiousness and murder in Baltimore
was noticed, although committed under
the very noses of the Cabinet, we may
reasonably infer, that other scenes of the same kind would meet their approbation, if other plans of the same kind had not been organized under their immediate direction and patronage. We have a right to infer this, as, especially when war was declared, the people were told through the cabinet organs, that the "voice of disaffection must be hushed." What "voice of disaffection," fellow-citizens? The united voice of more than three millions of American citizens, who opposed the war, because they believed it to be rash & unnecessary: because they believed it to be ruinous to the interest and happiness of their country. Their opposition to the war was the crime for which they were proscribed; and the epithets of tories and traitors, which had before abounded in the country, and had been applied to the heroes of the revolution--the disciples of Washington--were issued in a new edition, speedily spread by cabinet editors, and sung by brawling patriots some of which were imported others of natural growth--of whom, some were fashioned like clay in the hands of the potter, in the wilderness. And is this the essence of liberty and the rights of man, which Jefferson, Madison, and their satellites promised us, when they succeeded in gaining the administration? Ask, if it were possible, the murdered Lincoln, who showed his revolutionary scars to his assassins! What! because we question the infallibility of government, and constitutionally oppose what we sacredly believe to be inimical to our country--shall we be called tories and traitors? Shall mobs be judge and jury of our thoughts and actions? Shall mobs, the sweepings of jails, the scum and filth of all countries, execute vengeance on all those whom they please to proscribe? They have attempted it, not only in Baltimore, but in Charleston, Savannah, and elsewhere. What has been their punishment? In some places, they have not been even called to a sham trial--in others they have been acquitted of murder, when the blood was not yet washed from their hands. These things teach us that our country has forsaken the good old paths of Washington--that modern philosophy has entangled us in her mazes, and that we have far progressed toward the ruin she has prepared for us. Let these considerations animate us to our duty. Whenever an election comes round, and we have an opportunity to give our suffrages, let us bestow them on the patriotick and enlightened of our country, who will oppose this hydra of democracy and jacobanism, and like Lee and Hanson and Lincoln will stand as sentinels on the ramparts of liberty, and defend it with their blood. Freemen of Rhode-Island. An important election comes round with us, on the last Tuesday of this month.-- The friends of peace, of order and good government have nominated, to represent us in the fourteenth Congress, JAMES B. MASON, and JOHN L. BOSS, jun. Esquires. The war party--those who exulted at the death of Lincoln, who fell a martyr to the freedom of the press, have nominated NEHEMIAH R. KNIGHT, and JOHN D'WOLF, jun. We shall then have an opportunity to declare, whether we prefer peace to war. Peace which will stop the effusion of human blood; and demoralization--restore to us the blessings of commerce, and give a new song to the sons of agriculture--invigorate the sinewy limbs of industry, and spread over our country universal joy--or war, which will continue to feast us with carnage, and heap upon us and our posterity an immense national debt of some hundreds of millions. If our voice is for peace, we shall be cautious to attend the polls and elect Mason and Boss, who are abundantly endowed with every qualification requisite to enable them to discharge their duties with honour to their constituents. But if war and blood delight us, we shall vote for Knight and D'Wolf--these are war-candidates, burning, like true and faithful sons of democracy, with the war fever.--

Fellow-citizens, we cannot be mistaken in our duty. We do not wish to encourage proscription, mobs and murder which we shall do if we prostitute our suffrages to war--for, say our patriotick rulers, the "voice of disaffection must be hushed:" in other words, that those who lisp a word against the justice and holiness of this war are traitors and tories and must be silenced. If administration had dared, long before this; every friend of peace, who stuck to his country's cause, would have been gibbeted. Even here, democracy, when she offered us her candidates, threatened the peace-makers with them. Is this republicanism--is it principle? Look democracy fairly in the face, and you will shrink from her touch.

She "is a monster of such frightful mein, That to be hated needs but to be seen."

Let us then, freemen, turn from her with horror. Let us pursue the paths of peace: Let us, by our vote for the peace candidates, prove to these Jack Ketches of democracy, that their threats are impotent; that we know our duty, and will perform it--that peace is our desire, and that we will continue to send the trumpet for her return. We shall then receive the smiles of Heaven, enjoy a good conscience and the applause of the world.