This is not new, it is the old practice of despots; to use a part
of the people to keep the rest in order. And those who have once got an
ascendency, and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation,
their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their
advantage. But our present situation is not a natural one. The
republicans, through every part of the Union, say, that it was the
irresistible influence and popularity of General Washington played
off by the cunning of Hamilton, which turned the government over to
anti-republican hands, or turned the republicans chosen by the people
into anti-republicans. He delivered it over to his successor in this
state, and very untoward events since, improved with great artifice,
have produced on the public mind the impressions we see. But still I
repeat it, this is not the natural state. Time alone would bring
round an order of things more correspondent to the sentiments of our
constituents. But are there no events impending, which will do it within
a few months? The crisis with England, the public and authentic avowal
of sentiments hostile to the leading principles of our constitution, the
prospect of a war, in which we shall stand alone, land-tax, stamp-tax,
increase of public debt, &c. Be this as it may, in every free and
deliberating society, there must, from the nature of man, be opposite
parties, and violent dissensions and discords; and one of these, for
the most part, must prevail over the other for a longer or shorter time.
Pages:
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683