Berkeley And Jefferson Intelligencer

There is hardly an object which nature offers to our view, an incident occurs, or a circumstance attendant upon our condition here below which will not afford to a well thinking mind abundant evidence, not only of the sagacity and vanity of this life, but of the utter incapacity of man in his present state of existence for perfect enjoyment. Whichever way we turn our eyes. in whatever direction we attempt to act or to enjoy. we find ourselves limited by some near and insuperable barrier erected by our allwise Creator to stop our progress, and to admonish us if we regard that little portion of happiness of which we are capable, to keep back and not suffer our efforts, our hopes, or even our wishes on this earth to ramble beyond the limits he has prescribed. In the exercise of our very virtues we are circumscribed by the laws and conditions of our nature by which it is ordained that the highest virtues themselves when carried to excess. degenerate into vices; and the share of earthly blessings which it has pleased God to allow us here are found to be dangerous when misused exactly in proportion as they are beneficial and conducive to happiness when managed with discretion, and enjoyed with humility, thankfulness and moderation.

Of all the blessings which man is permitted by Providence to confer upon himself by virtue and wisdom, or cast away by vice. and improvidence, Liberty is the greatest ; it is that without which. all the other advantages of life are scanty dull and insecure, and possessing of which man Can endure the greatest degree of worldly privations. But it is at the same time above all others the most deceitful and treacherous. It makes its most ardent. lovers its worst victims. and wheedles them into the most eager pursuit-only for the purpose of more completely vanishing from their sight forever. It may be called the wine of life which, so long as men use it with moderation, invigorates and renders them cheerful and sociable. but taken to excess-produces intoxication, madness and ultimate ruin. In short. like wine it is capable of producing the greatest benefits or the greatest mischiefs ; and those benefits and mischiefs. depend wholly upon the use that is made of it.

The history of mankind is so replete with proofs of the truth of these propositions, that they will appear to many to be too evident to require insisting upon. Yet evident as they are, we see every new generation rushing into and acting upon contrary opinions before those who have gone before have had time to avail themselves of the convictions received from experience, and to act accordingly ; so that, obvious as the truth of them may seem, it is still necessary to remind the world of them continually. and to warn society of the danger they. incur by not attending to them.

Irksome as the task is to us, and much as it afflicts us to have to say we cannot play the traitor to our duty so, far as to withhold from the people, the sad the horrible truth, that they are at this moment in the direct high road to the extinction of their real liberties,-by pursuing with all the. frantic eagerness of Youth in the Chase, illusory phantoms in the pursuit of which the hell-hound huntsmen of Democracy with their train of hallooing whippers in, urge them forward with all their art and ability. Every day produces some new circumstance to intimate to. them their danger. Every day some new instance of those who for a time in error, were hot in. the pursuit ; but who convinced of their danger have drawn in their reins, and now turn their back upon the hunt.

The views of the party now in power begin to develope themselves so fully, that none but those who labour under mental incapacity or wilful blindness; who are too blind to see or too corrupt to lay their private views and interests at the feet of truth and patriotic virtue can fail to discern them or refrain from opposing their progress. The suspicions that were raised against the federal ministers of the government, but which never could be substantiated, are now brought home embodied into certainties against the present administration, by some of the wisest and ablest of their own friends and advocates. The popularity of that party, and the cunning and deep concerted design with which they are making use of it to intrench themselves in power, burst from their disguise in full unblushing face upon the public sight ; and among the most wise the most virtuous, and patriotic members of the antifederal side the alarm has for some time been begun. We hope not too late We hope, that there is not yet in the official composition of our state. as in other countries e materials left to make a bulwark of corruption strong enough to bid defiance to the country's best and truest friends. We think not. It is only by their own folly and submission to the delusive tricks of the demagogues of a faction, that the people. can be undone.

It may be remembered that the first of the antifederal body who took the alarm at the rapid progress which the Jeffersonian party was making to intrench itself immovably. in power was. Mr. Burr the Vice President . The alarm which he received he returned back upon the faction with tenfold interest. a great meeting he had the temerity. to give as his toast, t The union of all honest men." .And straight an universal clamour and uproar was raised against him as a traitor to the party sa tergiversator, and the. enemy of their kind of liberty, and their honest views

" The universal host up sent A shout, that tore Hell's concave and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night"

This first open detection of the designs of the party seemed only to whet their appetite for power ; to stimulate to more numerous and decisive acts of encroachment on the constitution, and to render them more anxious and active in throwing up the mounds which their power and popularity, and the blind, mistaken zeal of the people in their cause, gave them hopes of being able to erect, in order to secure themselves in a fixed and perpetual aristocracy, which no accident nor change of circumstances should ever be able to overthrow. In proportion as things pressed them, they grew more malignant to all who opposed them and perhaps : no man ever underwent more gross, more unjust or more villainous abuse than the second magistrate of the Union Washington scarcely received more calumny and insolent invective from the agents of the party than did Mr. Burr, for daring to express his dislike of the proceedings of government. or to insult them by drinking "s The union of all honest men

At length some others of the more enlightened of the Anti Federal party took the alarm also. They plainly discerned those in power proceeded by forced marches forward to the perpetration of their grand designr the forming a consolidated unshakeable aristocracy through the medium of the lowest species of democratic influence. Governor M'Kean the supremacy of whose wisdom and talents all admit : whose republican principles none can doubt; and of whose vigorous and undaunted spirit the Union has had demonstrable evidence- has fallen back, and the mob of Pennsylvania influenced and headed by their jacobin, incendiary demagogues, are at drawn daggers with him. Governor Mercer, of Maryland, too, has followed his example, and erected a standard in the spirit of Mr. Burr's offensive toast; to bring about an " union of honest men," Well may the faction exclaim in fright,. " omen handbonum."

To the people of this and the contiguous States, it would be superfluous to speak of Mr Butler, the present member in Congress for South Carolina: His conduct in the revolution has established his character as an American patriot; his zeal in the cause of the party to which he since attached himself, mistaken though it may be precludes all suspicion of his having an aversion to democracy. He too, has taken the alarm, and we are convinced that his name will act as a conductor to communicate that alarm with as quick and penetrating effect as that of electrical fire, to the very utmost bounds of Georgia, on one side, and of North Carolina on the other. His opinion of the federal administration, is known by every one to be extremely unfavourable yet he has declared that he considers the real views of the present administration to be more pernicious and their measures more oppressive than those of their predecessors. Carolinians, you who regard the permanence of your freedom, put these words. home to your hearts, and remember that they are the words of your chosen representative, Mr. Butler.

(Courier)