Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

To the Freeholders of the Congressional District, composed of the counties of York, Gloucester, Mathews, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, Warwick, James City, and Middlesex.

Fellow-Citizens,

OUR present representative in the national councils, having positively declined a re-election, I am urged by my personal and political friends, and numerous solicitations from various counties, to declare myself a candidate for your suffrages, at the congressional election to be holden in April next, for this district. In making this annunciation, I have conformed to the practice of the country; and take leave to say, that I am induced to this step by no private or personal considerations--offices I seek not. The alarming and dangerous situations of our country, imperiously calls for the exertions of all her sons to rescue her from the ruinous abyss, on the verge of which she now stands tottering. This may yet be effected, by the united exertions of all real patriots. The annals of nations do not furnish a parallel, of so rapid a declension from national honor, wealth and fame, in so short a period, as the history of our country, for the last few years, present. Reflect, fellow-citizens, and contrast our former prosperous and enviable state, under the administration of the great, and virtuous and wise Washington, (when principles really republican, strictly American, and untainted by foreign intrigue, foreign prejudices, or foreign attachments, governed in the cabinet,) with our present humbled and degraded condition. Then, we were in peace--National and individual wealth flowed in upon us; an extensive and extended commerce, rivalling that of the oldest nations of Europe, supplied us with the rare, choice, and useful products, of every clime--furnished a revenue, more than adequate to all the demands of government, which aided in a gradual reduction of the national debt. Our hardy and intrepid tars, unfurled the American Sag (proud of a rich and honorable commerce, which floated in safety under it,) in every quarter of the globe, in every navigable sea.--At home and abroad.

public credit was unimpeached and unsuspected. The wisdom of our political institutions, justly elevated our national fame; the firm, impartial, and enlightened policy of administration, secured admiration, and enforced respect; and the name and character of "American," stood high and admired.

Look now, at our fallen state! Engaged in an expensive and hitherto dishonorable war--a paper army, and an unpaid militia, to prosecute it. Public credit bankrupt--the national treasury empty--the circulation of specie nearly stopped--the representative of national wealth dishonored--the national character disgraced--confidence between man and man destroyed--the stream of justice, which ought ever to flow, clear and unobstructed, dammed up and polluted--commerce prostrated--the products of a fertile soil, shut up from the marts of the world, wasting and decaying in the graneries of the farmer--our dauntless seamen driven from their accustomed pursuits, and secluded from the exercise of their native industry and enterprize--our valuable frigates, exposed to capture, and their yet more valuable crews to death or imprisonment, in contests with overwhelming superiorities, that render skill useless, and courage silent--multifarious, oppressive and ruinous taxes imposed; in the short space of two and an half years, the national debt nearly doubled the amount of that, which accrued during the eight years war of the revolution--the enormous sum of seventy millions of dollars demanded for the present year; new and additional taxes recommended, and our once happy, and peaceful soil defiled, by the incursions and ravages, of a rapacious, and ruthless foe. These, all these, nay, more than these, are evils we now deplore--the rewards of a too easy, and too long confidence, in infatuated, contumacious and obdurate rulers.

'Tis true, that though the lurid clouds which envelope, and obscure our political atmosphere, a lucid speck is seen on which the eye of patriotism delights to dwell; arising from the plains of Chippeway, Plattsburg and Orleans, and lightened by the bold and daring deeds of our heroic and immortal sons of the Lakes and ocean; yet, while we contemplate, with pride and exultation, the never fading laurels of those heroes, can we forget the disasters and disgrace of Bladensburg, and the conflagration of the capitol of the nation? 'Tis time my countrymen, you awake from your lethargy. You can save your country; to you she points for aid. Let us no longer be "ravished with the whistling of a name." Just and wise men (and of such, our country can furnish many,) must be called to the administration of the government; such alone, can save our beloved country from the yet "lower deep" of irretrievable ruin, dishonor and abasement. Believe me, the men who have waged this unnatural, unprecedented, savage, expensive and merciless war, will never make peace; their interests, passions, prejudices, resentments and disappointments, all conspire to prevent it.

Should I be honored with the suffrages of a majority of the freeholders of the district, the feeble talents with which the God of nature has gifted me, shall be undeviatingly exerted, to revive commerce, and retrieve public credit;--to lighten the heavy, numerous, and increasing taxes, the people groan under--to relieve my country from the cruel, fatal, and nefarious war, in which she is unnecessarily plunged--and to restore to her (once more) the blessings of an honorable and a durable peace.

Your's fellow citizens,

THOMAS GRIFFIN.

York Town, Va.

Feb. 1st, 1815.