Jenks's Portland Gazette

To the Editor of the Portland Gazette.

Aug. 24th July, 1802.

SIR,

THE conduct and writings of the republican sect are becoming a subject of very curious speculation; and those who wish to dive into the human heart and see how different appearances are reducible to the same principle, or cause, never could derive a better opportunity than is constantly presented them by those chameleon politicians. Did they rail at, and curse Washington and Adams? It was because they were out of power, and wished, by such means, to deceive the people and get themselves in. Do they now attack and abuse every one who dares to examine the conduct of Mr. Jefferson and his great officers?-(for all the appointments, under the government of the United States, are, in the republican style of the day, the President's-The government was made for him, and all the officers are at his nod and arbitrary disposal)-It is because they are in power; and are determined, if they can continue the delusion over the minds of the people, to keep it. At this moment their conduct resembles that of cheats and peculators over their plundered booty: when these have got possession of the property of their unsuspecting neighbors, nothing but the republican cant against leading into the deeds of the party, can equal their clamor and railings against those who begin to suspect the legality and fairness of the means whereby they gained their wealth. This allusion was somehow or other suggested to my mind while I was reading a piece signed Chauncy, in the Chronicle; a paper that always delights me, because I am sure of there finding the old one in a greater variety of shapes and characters than any where else; and it is well known to all, acquainted in the science of Demonology, that Satan, the better to deceive people, often assumes the name of some venerable clergyman.

Who has forgot, or who that is not under the delusion of that arch republican, can ever forget, with what devotion, innovation and permanent insurrection were adopted by the republicans of this country about eight or ten years ago, and hugged to their bosoms and very hearts as the most precious of all principles, till Bonaparte got into power in France, and Thomas Jefferson, by means but little less unjustifiable tho under the forms of the Constitution, assumed the chair of the United States? Till this period innovation was the order of the day with the republicans, in this as well as that country; they considered it as the great desideratum of government; their admiration and attachment to it resembled the momentum of falling bodies-they increased by action and exercise. They would have it roll like a spinning wheel thread after thread! Thus things have been hurried on by them, till order, religion and morality seem to be overlooked, if not altogether banished from their rules of action: and the individuals under this new state of things, could they be collected together, would resemble Cataline's army as described by Sallust, scarcely one without a blemish, more than the elected wisdom, purity and integrity of the nation!-

Mark now the real consistency of these bamboozlers of the people,amidst the apparent oppugnations of their sentiments respecting the gestation of public affairs, Just now innovation was the order of the day with them : it could not run too swift, nor be pushed too far-but now, all at once, Chauncy tells us it is criminal to mention it-no means are to be adopted. much less such as were made use of to get Jefferson into power, to place him again among the people. But in France, where government, order and religion begin to shew themselves under the wise and mild administration of Bonaparte,all things, say the republican sect, are going wrong-Here there must be no innovation, because by adopting the good old rules of order, religion, morality, knowledge and integrity, the republican sect will be displaced ; but in France, for no other reason than because these old fashioned principles are beginning to operate, they would have innovation again reign, there being a natural enmity between the republican sect and these principles. The republicans having thus bamboozled the people, and plundered themselves into authority, can no longer bear any oppugnancy to their criminal designs; but the better to conceal them, they call out for respect to the constituted authorities But what, sir, was their language and behaviour during the former administrations? Did a single Republican ever say, respect the constituted authorities? Did they ever do an action, in public estimation, that was respectful ?. No- Jealousy and suspicion of Rulers, were the sentiments, and the only sentiments, the republicans taught and inculcated-here were the basis of their education. These were their themes in town meetings, in mobs, and in common conversation. "Respect was cavil -obedience to authority was dubbed slavery. And their conduct, if possible, was still more exceptionable because it was personal-they hung and burnt in effigy, the constituted authorities. In proof of this, read the Aurora--read the Chronicle. And what would be paramount to almost every thing else, could you prove it, read the Prospect before Us. This may be considered at the head of the climax of infamy, and was read more universally, and with more devotion by the republicans of Virginia. Maryland and Northcarolina, than the bible itself. With what face then can Thomas Jefferson, or his sycophant supporters ask for that respect which he and they so grossly violated in be persons of Washington and Adams? You will recollect that Mr Jefferson read the proof sheets of the Prospect before Us, and was so pleased with it, that he could hardly restrain his impatience till the editor forwarded them to him. This I had no doubt of soon after the publication of the pamphlet, but I did not know till lately. that he advanced Callender money to excite and reward him for thus calumniating the Hero of Mount-Vernon, and the virtuous Sage of Quincy. Notwithstanding he is, now clothed with public authority, few persons will be able, after having read this infamous calumny, to suppress the feelings of contempt and indignation that will naturally rise in virtuous minds, toward the man who can act so base and so infamous a part to these great and good men.

One of the republican papers, since Callender has deserted them, considers him as a scoundrel that would destroy tbe reputation of a man for money, and says, that be understands the art of stabbing tbe characters of worthy citizens. and wants no tutoring. After being convicted in England and expelled his native country, for calumny and sedition, and after having served the republican sect here and Mr Jefferson in particular, six or seven years, they need not have taken the trouble to tell us thathe is a scoundrel, a stabber of characters. &c.-all this we must have known from the old proverb, that a man is known by the company be has kept.

I hope, sir, that Duane, and some other outlandish scoundrels and stabbers of the characters of worthy citizens, with whom Mr. Jefferson has had a pretty close connexion, will yet, like their brother Callender, repent of their ways and turn public accusers ; then our fellow citizens of Maine, will see the true genuine character of the man who has been imposed upon us for President--of whom. as I said in my first letter, the people are altogether ignorant Upon the temper and disposition of the sect, I will only add, that from the mouths of several who are now among their leaders as well as from others, I have heard it contended that suspicion and jealousy towards all constituted authorities were duties, and the practice in conformity thereto, rose in the scale of virtue in proportion to the purity, integrity and uprightness their public trusts were discharged; or in other words, as there was no evidence of misconduct, there would be, in the mind,of good republicans, the stronger ground for suspicion and jealousy! To this pitch of wickedness had the Sect arrived before the election of Jefferson- at what would they have stuck, to carry their point? I know not the orator alluded to by Chauncy ; but the strictures made on his performance in the Chronicle leave no doubt in my mind, but be is a man of talents and worth. To be censured, in that paper, for the cause and in the manner he has been, I cannot but look upon as a very high encomium, and evidential of the orator's being a faithful preacher, and true friend to his country. By the strictures. it seems, that something was said against atheism-a delicate subject indeed, in presence of modern republicans. The vulgar proverb is not more frequently verified in the ordinary and trifling affairs of common life, than in the more serious transactions of men-" The bird that flutters is certainly wounded." Nothing seems to nettle and disturb the sect more effectually than for a word to be dropped, in their company, against atheism or irreligion ; every one present looks wild and swears he is pointed at; except where their devotion to their leader causes a momentary forgetfulness of themselves. and creates a better grounded suspicion, from the notoriety of his character, that the coat better suits the President of the United States. But whatever may be the cause, it is a singular fact, and pregnant with strong suspicions, that there is considerable affinity between the principles of the sect and atheism, when we so often find that the Clergy, by preaching against that sin and general irreligion, never fail of becoming the subjects of their keenest resentment. It is hard this first set the Attorney General of the United States against them, and was the cause of his venting his resentment at them in his tenth letter under the character of a Farmer.

That many of the leaders, in tbe ruling party, at this time, are infidels, more or less, I think cannot be doubted by those who are acquainted with them, and for the last twenty years have noted the course of their studies, their turn of thinking, their conversations on religious subjects, their opinions touching the founder and first preachers of Christianity, its ordinances and modes of worship. The newspapers too which they have patronized, will not be omitted in this estimate : these afford some evidence against them. There are several in the United States, and I believe all of them have been taken into government service since the commencement of Jefferson's administration, in which it was before, and has continued to be a principal object, so far as we can judgefrom the manner of treating a subject. to ridicule and bring into contempt the Clergy of the country; but more particularly those of NewEngland--while those of France and Great Britain have also shared pretty largely in their calumny. In these papers all national recommendations of religious acts have been treated with sneer and contempt ; and considered as calculated to gull and deceive the people into improper obedience and subserviency to government. In some, Paine's Age of Reason has been defended and the decade of France put in competition with the Christian sabbath, principally, on account of its adoption by a nation of atheists- that nation which the individuals of the present dominant party. in this country, have so often joyfully hailed their sister republic. And I think it must have been observed by every one who pays the least attention to the republican papers. that as soon as the Christian religion and her teachers were recalled and provided forin France by Bonaparte, the sect, with one voice, has reprobated the measure, and made him, who, while he was in Egypt and called himself a Mahometan, had all their praise, the subject of their bitterest reproaches.

The supporters of Jefferson seem less anxious to prove him a christian, than to defend deism. Hence the Chronicle writer calls upon the orator not to confound deism with atheism and by his interrogatory remarks, we are naturally led to conclude, that he thinks if he can place the President on the ground of deism, he shall be able to defend him to the satisfaction of all rational philosophers. But what is the practical difference upon the heart, between the system of modern deism and the atheism of republican France, which the President is suspected of favoring? Do they not both pretend to revere ALMIGHTY NATURE, and nothing else? And how much does this fall shortof downright atheism, in its most odious form. when duly examined and put into plain English ? In the course of my peregrinations, I have attended at the deistical temples of reason to hear, what, in the language of the sect is boastingly called pure deism. The preacher addressed himself to almighty nature, pure nature, adorable nature, and sometimes to plastic nature; ard in what I took to be the prayer, for most, tho not all the audience, stood up. he often spoke of nature as beautiful, wise and good ; yet it was impossible to say certainly, by the whole performance of prayer and sermon, whetherhe meant tbis world. or the whole Solar System, or that, and all other Systems in the immensity of space: but he took care to let us know he meant nothing different from material objects of some kind and extent or other : and that the Christian and Jewish revelations were no better than the fables and chimera of ancient Grece or Rome. Afterwards. in conversation with one of these preachers, as soon as he discovered that some of the arguments and grounds of their pretended system led unavoidably to the admission of miracle , which are considered the support of the Christian revelation, he appeared not a little confounded. and endeavouring to wave the subject, frankly acknowledged such was the consequence of that mode of reasoning on the principles which deists had adopted : but those who call themselves deists did not perceive it, and, for his part, he only fell in with their notions for the present- the only true ground for philosophers and independent minds to stand upon was that of atheism, which must some time or other become general.

I will only add, for my letter I fear will weary you, I have never yet met with a consistent deist : if they are serious, and reason logically on their assumed principles, they will be obliged to admit the existence of miracles, and consequently the christian religion -but too proud or too ignorant to do this, they generally abandon fair reasoning and take refuge under the gloomy shadow of atheism, as was the case with the preacher I have mentioned.

I am yours &c.

ONE OF THE PEOPLE.