The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

COMMUNICATION.

Extracts from an address delivered at a public meeting of the citizens of Washington county, at the court house, on the waters of the Mobile, on the Fourth of July last.

The speaker having taken a view of the causes, principles and consequences of the American Revolution, concluded in the following manner:

"The consequence of this revolution has been the establishment of a form of government, better calculated to operate upon an extensive territory, and at the same time to preserve the liberties of the people, than any form of government, perhaps, that ever before fell to the lot of any nation. Fellow citizens, it becomes you to prize and to support it. You have been happy under it; and now, at a moment when you peculiarly need its aid, there can be no reason to doubt but that its wisdom and its energy will be exerted in your favor. Our situation needs it, and no one who is acquainted with the character of the government, will indulge any apprehensions that we shall not receive it. The situation of this part of the American territory, bears, indeed, too near a resemblance to that state of things in which the colonies were stimulated to resistance against the mother country, not to call into action some of the spirit of seventy six. Did G. Britain impose a tax on tea and other articles of convenience and comfort? Spain, as to us, has done the same,--has done more. She has imposed a duty of 12 per centum on all our exports and on all our imports. Did G. Britain pass a Boston port bill? Spain has done the same, & has absolutely interdicted the approach of all vessels to a port which has been formally established as a port of entry and delivery, by the government of the U. S.! Did G. Britain make an arbitrary seizure of your property? Spain has done the same. She has seized & confiscated the goods of one man, because the goods of another man were conveyed from Fort Stoddert to New-Orleans, without being carried ten miles out of their course to pay duties to her--and you may now see rotting on the banks of this river at Mobile, a vessel licensed under the authority of the U. S. to carry on the coasting trade between those two ports,--because she passed without stopping at Mobile, though she was really and bona fide the property of a man, who at the time had no control over her nor any knowledge of the transaction. Did G. Britain pass an act for trying in England offences committed within the colonies? Spain has done as much. She has imprisoned in a dungeon one of our citizens, not for any offence committed against her, but on account of a civil transaction between our own people, and within what was even then our own territory, and after putting him in irons, confined him on board one of her own vessels, destined to transport him for trial to the Havana.

And do you believe that the nation which when in a state of infancy, resented with such manly perseverance the encroachment of G. Britain thirty years ago, will now be inattentive to our situation, or careless to afford you ample redress? It is impossible. Let no such apprehensions drive you into the arms of a despotism which has thus harassed you. Many of you have already lived under that government. You know that it did not protect either your persons or your property. They were both at the mercy of the savages: and if an avaricious viceroy took a fancy to your house or your mill, you knew that he could compel you to give it up to him--nor if a petty commandant wished to extort a present or to gratify the resentment of a favorite, though one of your own domestics; he felt no scruple to consign you to the dungeon. Is it possible that you can wish to become a second time the slaves of such despotism? Do not say that your government will not extend its protecting arm to you,--that you are shut out from all the world, and dare not carry your produce to market, without being robbed by the agents of a foreign monarchy. You suffered long before your grievances were known to your fellow citizens of the U. S.--But your case has now become an affair of notoriety--it has excited attention, and I can say with confidence that your petitions, your resolutions and appeals have called forth the serious concern of the government.--Measures have been taken which there is every reason to believe will terminate in opening your prison doors. We may have been impatient--we may have looked for more prompt and vigorous measures than were compatible with the general interests of a widely extended population. But we certainly, of all the people of America, should have suffered most by a war: and notwithstanding your indignation against the officers of Spain, notwithstanding your thirst for revenge, notwithstanding your prospect of finally benefiting by the struggle--yet such would have been your personal hardships, such the destruction of your property, such the afflictions, the desolation of your families, that long ere its termination you would have been ready to exclaim-- "Oh War! thou art brilliant in history, but frightful when viewed with all thy attending horrors, naked and undisguised!"

Other means more favorable to the general interests, and certainly infinitely more compatible with our security and welfare, have been tried by the general government, and with very flattering prospects of success. Wait the issue of these, before you abandon our country, and throw yourselves into the arms of a government infinitely more stern and oppressive than that from which your fathers and brethren fought to deliver you.

When our government does re-instate us in the possession of our rights, let it not have the mortification to find that the country which they have rendered valuable, has, whilst they have exerted themselves in its favor, become depopulated, and that the people whose gratitude they have been bespeaking, have in the mean time expatriated themselves. But another source of discouragement, it seems, presents itself, and gives rise to that disposition which has become so prevalent, of seeking landed property and freedom of trade within the Spanish territories. There is a report, it seems, that the treaty with the Choctaws has not been confirmed, and every one knows that this settlement never can become flourishing and respectable within its present circumscribed limits, and that the addition of Florida would be an affair of no moment, as it would add to our settlement but a small portion of land worth the labor of cultivation. But let it be remembered, on the other hand, that we have never heard that this most interesting and important Indian treaty has been rejected--that it probably lies over for consideration at another session, and that when the government is aware how much valuable land it includes, and fully considers how essential the encouragement of settlements on the waters of the Mobile, is to the prosperity of the western states, and to the security of the most detached & vulnerable part of the whole American territory; it will most assuredly ratify a treaty so important to the general interests.

At all events it should be with the utmost deliberation, that we should venture on an act which gives the lie to all our demonstrations of joy on the present day. Let us remember, fellow citizens, that the principles of Liberty and Republicanism are realities--and that if some temporary privations of the rights of nature should drive us into the toils of monarchy, we ill deserve an alliance with those patriots who struggled thro' a seven years' war to establish our Independence.

The United States are using pacific means to ensure redress. The same was done with G. Britain before arms were taken up. Should these fail, be assured that steps will instantly be taken to enforce justice. Be ready, therefore, to obey the summons of your government, whenever it may be issued, and let your motto, like that of the men of seventy-six be, "LIBERTY or DEATH."