Virginia Argus

FROM The Political Observer.

Our good patriots of the Washington school, some openly and some more covertly, are racking their inventions to induce the people to believe, that every principle in government of a democratical nature, is dangerous and absurd, that our present form of government cannot stand, & that monarchical and hereditary system is the only one that can be depended on for its permanency and strength. Their object is plainly to erect on the ruins of our dear bought liberties and constitution a monarchical government. To effect this purpose they have much to say upon the revolutions incident to the democratical states of antiquity, and from these, affected, to draw inferences applicable to our own country,—that the same fate will inevitably attend all democratical constitutions without having any reference to the genius of the people or other circumstances where such constitutions are enjoyed.

In answer to this sophistical way of reasoning it may justly be observed, that those ancient forms of government differed from ours in many important respects; there was no effectual medium for the diffusion of knowledge to all classes of people; the art of printing was not discovered. To use the words of an eminent writer, their "democracy was nothing but an aristocracy of orators, interrupted sometimes by the temporary monarchy of a single orator." In those dark ages of the world, when the arts and sciences were confined to a few individuals, the passions of the multitude were the ladder on which a few ambitious and aspiring demagogues ascended to the seat of power. That spirit of ambitious rivalry, which exists in all ages, often hurled them from their elevated situations to make room for others, whose oratory had outvied theirs in working up the passions of the people.

It is observed by a celebrated author, that if we attack the oppressors before we have taught the oppressed, we shall risk the loss of liberty, and rouse them to oppose the progress of reason. The people of the United States have been well taught on this subject by long experience. It may also be observed on the other hand, that wherever an attempt is made to erect a monarchy on the ruins of a republic, as has lately been the case in this country, it is necessary to prepare the minds of the people beforehand peaceably to receive it. To this end every possible stratagem must be made use of to delude and deceive them: a national ecclesiastical system must be established that may bear sway in the administration of government: peculiar privileges must be given to the rich: the progress of knowledge among the lower classes and ranks of people must be discouraged: the freedom of the press must be curtailed: the dark intrigues of a corrupt administration must not be enquired into: there must be an alien law for the banishment of those foreigners who have fled hither to find an asylum of safety, having tasted the wormwood and the gall of monarchy till they have justly become its most inveterate and dangerous enemies.

If there be a public debt due, it must be increased by all possible means: standing armies must be raised, which will not only greatly help to increase the debt but will also be very convenient, if the people should peradventure rise and assert their liberties, to repel them by shedding some innocent blood and making a few widows and orphans. To promote the grand object, millions of money must be hired at exorbitant interest, and squandered for idle and useless purposes, on favorites, patronites, &c &c. There must be excises, stamp duties and a perpetual land tax, with hosts of assessors and collectors, grateful for their offices, and sufficient to eat up what they collect. Useless offices also must be created to an eternal existence, with rewards established: foreign ministers must be sent to Constantinople, New Holland and Kamtschatka, to negotiate with the pagans. Drains must be provided every way to take off the people's spare money, so that they may in time relinquish those idle curiosities of reading and obtaining information.

If all this tremendous apparatus should prove ineffectual, the next thing is to have recourse to a system of universal calumny and misrepresentation. If you still lose ground, let the vehicles of slander be enlarged, and cause them to be replete with the foulest and blackest falsehoods. Double your diligence in proportion to your desperation—let extra pamphlets be circulated calculated to deceive the ignorant, and be careful that the gilded bait cover well the hook.

If the people of the United States can ever be deceived and duped by the above stratagems, the point may be carried; but not till then will they tamely submit to the yoke of tyranny.

A TRUE DEMOCRAT.