Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

FOR THE PUBLICK LEDGER.
No. IV.
To the Freeholders of the Accomack Congressional
District.
Enough has been said to you, fellow-citizens,
I think through the preceding numbers of this address.
on the subject of the two parties which divide
our country. The statement contains much to
excite both surprise and regret. I fear it affords
proof but too unquestionable, that republican
governments, however well balanced and guarded
are peculiarly liable to dangerous internal
dissections. Surely, if there ever was a constitu-
tion calculated at the same time to preserve
the liberties of the citizen and withstand the
shock of time, it is ours. Yet even this admi-
rable instrument, founded, as it is in the lasting
principles of rational liberty, is not secure a-
gainst the abuses of ignorant and passionate par-
tizans. Pure and efficient, if correctly admi-
nistered, it becomes a truly formidable instru-
ment in the hands of unction. Its founders,
through extreme caution to secure to the citizen
every liberty consistent with a state of society,
have left it deficient in that strength by which
alone turbulence can be curbed and faction de-
pressed. We may therefore justly rank those
amongst the worst foes to their country, who
forget the true spirit of the constitution, and
seek with views unconnected with public ad-
vantage, to destroy its admirable guards. Who
these foes are, you now have the full means of
determining. In conformity with my original
desire, I shall call your attention in this number
to your present representative.
In canvassing the conduct and character of
Mr. Bassett, I shall not visit him in his domes-
tic relations. In these, it is the universal senti-
ment that he is blameless and amiable. I shall
confine myself entirely to his public conduct and
political principles, for these are a fair subject of
animadversion. This ground, it is true, is nar-
row and restricted, if his biographer would o-
verlook his political aberrations, as well as his
private virtues. The rest would amount only to
the simple record that he was born, that he liv-
ed and died. There are certain qualifications
which it would appear to the view of reason are
indispensable in a legislator of a free people.
Among these an unbiased integrity, extensive
political knowledge, and a clear, discriminating
and active mind, are undoubtedly the most im-
portant. It would give a fatal stab to Mr. Bas-
sett's popularity, to test him fairly by this stan-
dard. In the last of these qualifications he has
certainly never shown himself particularly emi-
nent. His labors in the literary world have ne-
ver yet been heard of, and his exertions as our
representative have extended only to out-of-door
machinations or monosyllabic votes. His annu-
al communications to his constituents, of which
countless numbers now crowd our post-offices, ap-
pear to be the most labored efforts of his brain.
Yet it must be allowed, entitle him in an e-
minent degree to the political name he bears;
for in them he not only proves himself an advo-
cate of equal political rights, but he also evin-
ces his innate contempt for those common
rules of grammar and rhetoric, by an observance of which the style of a gentleman is dis-
tinguished. We need not, however, expect to
find in these precious effusions a great deal of
useful political information. You all remember
that in a long and elaborate communication
which he made to you, during that session of
Congress which laid the fatal and ill judged em-
bargo he claimed much credit for his influence
among that class of people from whom it is notoriously true he has no influence. Yet it is true he is a warm advocate of the non-importation of dollars. We tear large of a tariff his igdtairo pecimeno!
Mr Bassett's
eloquent orations show in
his rhetoric which he has proven nY:al
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efforts to flatter his constituents and in this
art it must be allowed he proves himself a mas-
ter and displays an admirable ingenuity in the
management of our foibles. Not to allow him
this, however would be at once to strike him off
from the lists of his partymen, and those who
wish well to the cause of a true and honest polr-
cy will never desire the co-operation of Mr.
Bassett. For his present station among his par-
ty he is extremely well fitted. It is true, his
part is subordinate, but he acts it well, and
as there all the honor lies."
My fellow citizens, we may view the weak-
ness and ignorance of Mr. Bassett with a smile
of pity and forgiveness, but his want of politi-
cal integrity must excite our disgust and indigna-
tion. Remember his prevaricating duplicity on
the subject of the vote which he gave in the Se-
nate of Virginia, by which our district has been
so unnecessarily enlarged. Whilst he was a
member of that body, he also voted for the pre-
sent general ticket system, in direct opposition
to his avowed opinion of its policy, and the rei-
terated declaration of his intention on the sub-
ject. It was chiefly by this double-faced ma-
nagement that that destructive measure succeed-
ed. But a ruling principle with Mr. Bassett
has ever been, that the end sanctifies the means:
an end which seems most only to fallible human
reason will in his opinion justify any means of
iniquity and corruption. I would beg you to
look back upon the black catalogue of political
evils which has lately been laid before you;
contemplate the miserable ruin of our prosperity
which has issued from the visionary schemes of
a weak and mistaken party. Whose voice is
first on the list of advocates of these ruinous
measures? Who stands first on the catalogue of
political vampires? In no instance has Mr.
Bassett dared to recede from the banners of his
party. Silent and cautious until he is instruct-
ed how to act, he then steps forward a clamor-
ous friend to every blind and desperate scheme
which he had neither cunning to devise nor cou-
rage to propose. Every plan of commercial
embarrassment, every system of destructive
policy with which the country has recently been
afflicted, has found a warm advocate in him.
From the non-importation act, through the non-
intercourse and embargo, up to the present war,
he has gone on in a regular climax of political
madness and subserviency. Each of these des-
tructive measures obtained his unqualified vote
and his warmest approbation. One would
think, from the ardor and enthusiasm with
which he marches right onward to the goal
of party promotion, trampling on decorum, and
overstepping the bounds of political wisdom
and integrity, that assuredly, some one of these
measures must have originated in his own brain:
But Mr. Bassett would not risk even his fri-
gile reputation on so hazardous a measure. He
is not one of those who boldly step forward as
the leaders of party; from this unenviable sta-
tion his weakness will forever preclude him. It
is enough for him that he can join in the cry
after the leaders of the pack have raised it; for
he has ever proven himself one of those prudent
patriots, who, in the language of Lord Veru-
lam, are regardless of the ship of state, seek to
save themselves in the cork-boat of their own
fortune. This, it is not difficult to perceive, is
the drift of his every exertion, the polar star
by which his political acts are, without excepti-
on, directed. Nor has he stooped to consider
the character of the means by which this is to
be effected. In his progress towards it, he for-
gts that he represents the truth and majesty of
the people, and seems, in the language of Rum-
bold, to imagine the Almighty intended that
certain part of mankind should come into the
world with saddles on their backs and bridles in
their mouths, and a few ready booted and spur-
red, to ride the rest to death.
It is undoubted, my fellow-citizens, that,
whatever may be the private virtues of Mr.
Bassett, he is but little worthy of the trust we
have reposed in him. We look to him in vain
for that high-minded independence, that peue-
trating sagacity, and that fearless uprightness,
which are the chief requisites of his station.
If we are looking out for an impetuous and un-
thinking partizan, for a man who cares not by
what unrighteous means the views of his party
are accomplished, we need not seek any further.
Yet there is not an important law in the statute-
books of our country, of which Mr. Bassett can
boast himself the author; during the whole
course of his congressional life, he has never
directed one important committee; there are no
marks of the lasting good which he has done his
country. It is surely time to dismiss a servant,
who, from the fairest view we can take of him,
appears to be entirely deficient in political wis-
dom, political integrity, independence of spirit,
and sagacity to discern the true interests of his
constituents. Not a doubt can be entertained
that a change in our congressional representation
is necessary to our political respectability; it is
submitted to your own wisdom and discretion to
make such change such one as will secure your
interests at home and your character abroad.
PUBLIUS