Alexandria Gazette

In reference to the long, tedious and useless debates going on in both Houses of Congress, on Abolition, &c., &c., &c.: the National Gazette has these judicious remarks:—

Can the slightest benefit of any kind result from the waste of time and of money—every instant and every cent of which are of the utmost importance under existing circumstances—which this congressional warfare will occasion? Will it keep off a French fleet from our coasts, and snatch the tomahawk from the hand of the Indian? And when the people of the United States experience, as they even now do to a certain extent, the disastrous effects of not being provided with the means of defending themselves against attack, will they give the meed of their gratitude to their guardians for the great trouble which these Arguses have taken to discover on whom the weight of their indignation and revenge for the evils they may suffer, should fall! It might almost, indeed, be affirmed that they will, judging from the infinitely greater eagerness every where manifest, in reference to what is said in Congress than to what is done. Far more interest appears to be felt in regard to the speeches made and to be made—speeches which may truly in this case be pronounced full of sound and fury and signifying nothing, as far as utility is concerned—than with respect to the measures to be adopted for protection against impending peril. The tongue might almost be called the great curse of our country; and should any catastrophe occur its pernicious influence will be found to have been materially exercised in bringing the misfortune on the land.