Republican Herald

FREEMEN OF RHODE-ISLAND-

The hateful aristocracy of the State, the federal and Bank party of the United States, have again made it necessary for you to repair to the polls. Having thrice failed to seduce you from your allegiance to democratic principles, their unblushing effrontery has left you the only alternative of surrendering, or defending your liberties.

Which will you choose? Will you quietly yield your supremacy, and permit your implacable foes to longer misrule you, or will you nobly resist their aggressions and defeat their conspiracies against your rights and privileges? The 28th of August is an important crisis. On your example of that day, depends your future prosperity. The political character of your Legislature; your own quietude, and tranquillity; exemption from the turmoil and expense of successive elections; the harmony between State and General Government; the future respectability of your Senators in Congress; the restoration of your legislative councils to their former dignity and purity; the reassertion of your constitutional principles; the preservation of your judicial tribunals; relief from the exactions of an administration, that has involved your finances in embarrassment and debt; and above all, the prostration of those who have arbitrarily assumed the right to govern you, in defiance of your will; without responsibility or the obligation of an oath, all, all depend upon the stand you shall make at the polls on that day.

Against their insidious machinations, to effect their election the last month, when you, Farmers, were most busy in your Agricultural pursuits, you nobly sustained yourselves. You repaired to the polls with a laudable zeal, and again defeated the faction of Providence and Newport, in their unholy attempts to surprise you on your posts.—

Let the 28th instant, be marked with a similar patriotic expression of your determination, to deprive Arnold and his vile associates from even the pretext of right to govern you, and you will again deserve well of your country. You owe this sacrifice of time to yourselves, to your posterity and to the Republic. To the polls, then, and with Athenian ardor and Spartan courage, meet and conquer your enemies.

SHORT METRE.

TO THE FREEMEN OF RHODE-ISLAND

It was the opinion of the celebrated Cato the younger, that "a good citizen ought to be as solicitous about the public as a bee about her hive," and acting according to this opinion, that great man never ceased his labors for the public weal

One of the laws of Solon made the man infamous who did not espouse one side or the other. in times of public commotion; and at the present time, a man who is utterly regardless of the affairs or state of his country, occupies no very high place in. the opinion of his neighbors. It is the duty of every man, no matter what his age, rank or condition to interest himself in public affairs, to watch the conduct of his rulers, see if they are worthy his support, and act accordingly.

It cannot, therefore,be considered an intrusion, if a citizen takes the liberty of addressing the public through the columns of a newspaper, especially when that citizen is perfectly willing to hear and to read the opinions of all others.

In an Address to you, previous to last election day, I noticed one or two of the most conspicuous acts of the late Administration, and should have done more, if I could have persuaded myself it would not have been trespassing upon your time, and depriving far more valuable writers an opportunity of laying their sentiments before you. I now intend to redeem the pledge made in the first paragraph of that Address.

Among the various charges made against Gov. Fenner, by his opponents, was, that he was opposed to all manner of public improvements; that he was half a century behind the age; that his "antiquated notions"rendered him unfit to be at the head of an enlightened people; and that as long as he remained in power, we should remain stationary, and see our sister States far in advance of us. We were told at the same time, that if Mr. Arnold should be elected, improvements of every kind would be the order of the day, and that our State would, its size considered, be equal to any in the Union,in the encouragement it would give to internal improvements.

How has this promise been redeemed? Can any one point out a solitary act of the Arnold Administration which tends in the least to encourage improvements? When has it happened, that when a number of respectable individuals have petitioned our Legislature for an act of. incorporation, that they have not been abused in the most shameful manner, if they did not do every thing required of them by the triumvirate, either by the Newport clique spirit, or the Johnston intriguer? Is it not plain that an eye has been left to self interest alone, in all the acts of the triumvirate? There is not an individual throughout the whole State, who can present a petition to our Legislature without having the most abusive epithets heaped upon him. Our Assembly is more to be feared than the den of a wild beast, for in that there is some small chance of escape, but if a man falls into the hands of the Lord Protector and Prime Minister of our realm, his case is hopeless. He had better sacrifice his entire substance, than to cross the paths of these men, for it matters not whether his character is "good, bad, or indifferent," they will treat him as though he were as vile and degraded as themselves.

It was the boast of Pericles when, on his death bed, that during his long administration he had never caused one citizen to put on mourning

Can Mr. Arnold make the same boast with equal truth? 'That he cannot every one knows. As little as possible should be said concerning the unfortunate events of late autumn; but every person acquainted with them, must know, that they could have been ended without the loss of human life, that by judicious measures their end would have been much less tragical.

The most contemptible of Gov. Arnold's acts is the deception he practiced towards the working-men. The shuffling conduct, both of himself and partisans, shows, that he will go any and all lengths to obtain office; that no action, however base or mean, but will be resorted to in order to retain his ill-gotten power. And such conduct is worthy both him and his party :-power obtained by treachery and deception, can only be maintained by its possessors resorting to the meanest and most shuffling conduct; through deception Mr. Arnold came into office, and by conduct equally laudable, he seems determined to retain that office.

There is not a person in the state who is not acquainted with the "virtuous indignation"expressed by the National Republican party when Gen. Jackson removed a number of individuals from office, some of whom were defaulters. others that had held offices for a quarter century and amassed fortunes, and the remainder had rendered themselves obnoxious by their haughty, overbearing conduct; I repeat, every one knows how the sympathies of the Nationals were excited in favor of the "proscribed,"& that their presses throughout the country abounded with the most violent tirades against the President, and none more so than those of this state. What has been the conduct of this party since they came into power in this State? They have adopted the maxim, that "Governments are maintained by rewards and punishments," and have removed every man from office who differed from them in opinion. Every country Justice who believed Fenner was a better man than Arnold has been turned out," and in his office some partisan, profound as the learned"Augustus Pease' himself. has been placed. Several of the higher offices have been filled with men far inferior to those who were displaced to make way for them.

The infamous attack made upon the liberty of the press by the Arnold Administration, is certainly deserving the displeasure of all true Rhode Islanders. No other party ever dreamed of such a thing.It remained for this one, whose course has been marked with the most wanton and outrageous usurpations, to do it. They acknowledged the illegality of their proceedings when they abandoned the prosecution which they had commenced against the proprietor of the Daily Advertiser.

All those acts are disgraceful to the Arnold administration, but they are not to be compared to the perpetuation law, which strikes directly at our dearest rights and privileges, and which bodes no good to our descendants. People may talk of the necessity of this law, but all must acknowledge, that it is aristocratic; that it recognises the right of the minority to govern the majority; and that if it is allowed to pass unrebuked, it is only the commencement of a series of innovations, which will end only in the total destruction of our liberties. The light that history affords should not be allowed to shine in vain. We should take warning from the fate of other countries, that have lost their liberties, merely because they allowed innovations on their rights to pass unnoticed. Many are dazzled by the great prosperity which our country now enjoys. They believe, that nothing can be done to prejudice their rights and privileges.

This blindness in prosperity has been the ruin of many nations. Many of the usurpations which paved the way for the destruction of Roman freedom, took place when that nation was in the enjoyment of its greatest prosperity. Spain lost those liberties which it possessed when divided into many kingdoms, by the people allowing themselves to be dazzled by the glory of Charles V. on whose immense empire the sun never set.

Their possessions in the new world promised them inexhaustible wealth, and they neglected things far more valuable than the gold of Mexico and Peru. even if they had been united to the mines of Golconda.

The Italian Republics, tho cradles of modern liberty, fell in the same manner. They " hold the gorgeous East in fee," but were neglectful of far greater blessings, and at last became the prey of soldiers of fortune, or, what is still worse, aristocracies. Venice, Genoa and Florence, once seats of liberty, are now those of despotism.

The people of England have been deceived for a long time, by tho great advantages which they have possessed over other nations. Their immense possessions, both in the eastern and western world, the great success that has crowned their enterprises both in peace and war, have blinded them to the fact, that their liberties have existed only in name; that they were falling a prey to a corrupt, though powerful, aristocracy.

They have now awakened from their dreams. and are valiantly striving to gain their rights.

Why should we be neglectful of the blessings of which we are in possession? Why should we be careless of our liberties, when all other nations are striving to gain their just rights? If we allow ambitious individuals to encroach upon them, is it not condemning the course pursued by our ancestors? They manfully resisted every attempt made by a despot and his tools to acquire greater power over them. They knew that if one usurpation was allowed, another would follow, and so on, until they were rendered helpless. No American believes, that it was on account of the trifling tax imposed upon the country, that set the minds of our ancestors in a flame. It was because they believed the principles on which that tax was to be raised were unjust and tyrannical; they knew that the ministry would not stop their proceedings at once, but, on the contrary, they would persevere. They said to themselves,

"Twill be recorded for a precedent;

And many an error, by the same example,

Will rush into the State."

Acting upon this opinion they resisted, and they laid the foundation of the only true commonwealth that ever existed. They bequeathed to us, their descendants, inestimable treasures, with strict charge to preserve them in their original purity. Let us endeavor so to do. Let it never be said, that the blood spilt at Bunker Hill, at Trenton, at Monmouth, and at Yorktown, was spilt in vain.

By the present illegitimate rulers and their friends, all who oppose them are called agitators. When did usurpers call those who opposed them by any other name? Upon the same grounds were the Gracchi agitators. So were Hampden and Sydney; so were Washington, Jefferson, and all our revolutionary worthies.

We are no more agitators than are Grey, Brougham and Lafayette, who are now striving to secure the welfare of their respective countries.

But wo must not wonder, that the Nationals use hard words in speaking of us. The power which they have long abused is fast falling from them. " They have been weighed in the balance and found wanting." One or two more trials and they will no longer exist.