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Volume IV.]
LOUISVILLE, (wLOßGlA)—Publilhed every Wednefday, by AMBROSE DAY & JAMES HELY, State Printers,
a. j ars ri..n.. \, acre LfiSys, Articles ot Intelligence, Advertifcmcnts, &c. &c. are thankfully received,
and I’KINI ING in all its variety, is executed with neamcls and difpatch.
From the National Intelligencer.
THOMAS PAINE ,
TO THE CITIZENS CF THE
UNITED STATES.
LETTER the SECOND.
AS the affairs of the country
to which I am returned are of
more importance to the world,
and to me, than of that I have
lately left (for it is through the
new world the old mufl be re
genciared, if regenerated at all)
I fhall not take up the time of
the reader with account of femes
that have gaffed in France many
of which art painful to remem
ber and horrid to relate, but
come at once to the eirn m-
Ivances in which I find America
on my arrival.
Fourteen years and fomething
more have produced a change,
at k aft among a part of the peo
ple, and I afk m\ felf what it is ?
I meet or hear of thousands of
my former connexions who
are men of the fame principles
and frienc fhips as when I left
them. But a non-defeript race,
and of equivocal generation, af
fijming the name of federalifm a
name that deferibes nocharaXer
of principle good or bad, and
may equally be applied to either,
has fincc ftarteei up with the
rapidity of a mufhroom, and
like a ntufliroo'm is withering
on its rootless Folk. Are thole
men federalifed , to fupport the
liberties ot their country or to
overturn them ? To add to its
fa-r fame or riot on its fpoils ?
The name contains no defined
idea. It is like John Adams's
definition of a republic in his
letter to Mr. Wythe of Vir
ginia. It is fays he an empire
cf laws and not cf men. But as
laws ma. be bad as well as good,
an empire of laws may be the
beft of all governments, or the
word of all tyrannies. But John
Adams is a man of paradoxical
here Ties, and confequently of a
bewildered mind. He wrote a
bock entitled <c A defence cf the
American Conflitutioa." and the
principles of it are an attack
upon them. But the book is
defeended to the tomb of for
gctfulnefs, and the bell fortune
' that can attend its author, is
quietly to follow its face. John
was not born for immortality.
But to return to federalifm.
In the hiflory of parties and
the names they aflame, it of
ten happens, that they finifli
by the direX contrary principles
with which they profefs to be
gin, and thus it has happened
with federalifm.
During the time of the old
Congrefi, and prior to the eftab
cf the federal govern-
THE LOUISVILLE GAZETTE;
AND
REPUBLICAN TRUMPET.
WEDNESDAY, Decemrhr 15, 1802.
LIBERTY TS OUR MOTTO troth our guide,
ment, tre continental belt was
too loofely buckled. The fe
veral fates were it i red in name,
but nor in faX, aid that r,(.mi
ll al unrn bad neither centre nor
circle, lie laws of ere fate
frequently interfered with, and
fimeiirres oppoied thofe of
another —Commerce between
Fare and Fate was without pro
tcXion, aid confidence without
a point to reft on. Ihe condi
tion the cc untry was then in, was
aptly dc fir Ted by Tel an ah
WelFer when he fa id, “ 'Jhir~
teen fares rid ne'er a hup will
net make a barrel
If then by ftdcraiift is to be
umkrftrrd, one who was for
cementing the union by a gene
ral government, operating e
quail) c \tr all ihr fates in all
matte rs tFar < mbraced the com
mon ii tereft, anti to which the
ahtl or if y ot the fates fcverally
was net adequate, for no one
Fate can make laws to bind
another. If I fay by a federal ft
is ment a perfon of this defirip
ticn, (and this ; s the origin of
the name) Itught to Jland frfl
cn the lift cf federalifts , for the
propefuien for eftablifhmg a
general government over the
union came originally from me
in 1783, in a W'ritten memorial
to Chancellor Livingfton then
lecretary for foreign affairs to
Congrefs, Robert Morris mi
n Ftrof finance, and his afifoci
arc Governeur Morris, all of
whom are now living, and we
had a dinner and conference
at Robert Morris’s on the fub
jeX. Ihe occafion was as fol
lows :
Congrefs had propofed a du
ty of five per cent on imported
articles, the money to be #ap
plied as a fund towards paying
the intereft of loans to be bor
rowed in Holland. ft he re
folve was fent to the fcveral
Fates to heenaXcd into a law.
Rhode-Hand abfblutely refufed.
I was at the trouble of a jour
ney to Rhode-Hand to reafon
with them on the fubjeX. Some
other of the Fates cnaXed it
with alterations, each ore as it
pie a fed. Virginia adopted it,
and afterwards repealed, it, and
the* affair came to nothing.
It was then vifible, atleaftto
me, that either congrefs muft
frame the law's necefiary for the
union, and fend them to the fc
veral Fates co be cnregiftered
without any alteration, which
would in itlelf appear luce uuir
pation on one parr, and pafTive
obedience on rhe other, orfome
method muft he devi.ed to ac
compli Fi the lame end by con~
ftitutional principles, and the
propefuien I made in tne me-
mcri.il, was to add a entf{ren
tal legifiature to a7gre;s to ic
eictled i) ihe/uitirljiuft’s. ft he
pH | ( fine n n et ti e full a| | ro
bat.cn of the gentlnuc n to whom
it was addieFeo, and tie an
vrrlation turned ( n 11 c n anr< r
of brirghg it fciward. G.
Mina, in walking w.th n *• at
ter din (i, v. F eti n t to throw
rut ti e idua in ti e ntwf-papers.
I replied that I did not like to
be always the prt-pofcf* ot new
things, that it wruld have h o
aFuming an appearance; and
be Tides, that 1 did not think the
country was quite wrong cm ugh
to be put right. I remember
giv.ng the fame reafon to doc
tor Kl-F1 at Thiladelphia, and
to general Gates, at whole quar
ter I jpent a day on my return
fr m Rhode-Hand, and I fup
pcie they will renumber it;
becaufe the obfeivation fumed
to finke them.
But the embarrafTments en
cn Ting as they nec< Fai ily muft
from th». want of a belt- r ce
mented union, the Fate of Vir
ginia propofed holding a com
mercial convention, and that
convention, which was not luf
ficicntly numerous, propt fed
that another convention, with
more extenfive and better de
fined powers, ihoilld be held at
Philadelphia, May 10, 1787.
When the plan of the federal
government formed by this con
vention w r as propofed, and fub
mitred to the confuleration of
the feveral Fates, it w'as ftrong
ly cbjeXed to in each of them.
But tiie objcXions were not on
federal grounds, but on confti
tutional points. Many were
fliocked at the idea of placing,
what is called executive power,
in the hands of a Tingle indivi
dual. —To them it had too much
the form and appearance of a
military government, or a de
fpotic one.—Others objeXed
that the powers given to a pre
fident were too great, and that
in the hands of an ambitious
defining man, it might grow
into tyrranny as it did in Eng
land under Oliver Cromwell, and
as it has fince done in France.
A republic muft not only be fo
in its principles, but in its forms.
The executive part of the feder
al government vvas made for a
man, and thofe who confentcd,
againft their judgment, to place
executive power in the hands of
a Tingle individual repofed more
on the fuppofed moderation of
the perfon they had in view
than on the wifdom of the mea
fure itfeif.
Two confidcrations however
overcame ail objeXtions. The
cne w’as the ablblute neccftlty oi
a federal government. The
other the rational idltdion, thac
| as government in America is
) founded on the reprefentativc
, fjftem, any error in the ftrft:
! eflhy could be reformed by the
j farm quiet and rational proccfs
In which thcconlliiut.cn wan
fir ft formed ; and tl at, either by
the generation then livii g, or
by rhofc who were to luccerd.
If ever America look fight of
this principle, fhe vli be no
longer the land cf liberty ihe
father will become the aflafTu of
the rights of the lon, and his
defendants be a race cf Haves.
As mar y choufands who were
minors are grown up to man
hot d finr e the name of feder
ah ft began, it became needfa
r), for their information, to go
bar k and ftiew the or.g.n of d;c
nanse, which is nc wno longer
what it originally was; but it;
is the more nm ttiiry to do tins,
in order to brig forward, in
the open fhccof ('ay, the ap >f
u&cy of v ho talkd
themlrlves tederalifts.
To them it ferved r/ : rlrak
for rreafon, a mailt ftrtynannv.
Scarcely were the\ placed in the
feat of power and < flier, than
fecit rahfin was to be
and the reprefenrativ * fv hmd’
government, the pride and glo
ry of America, and the palla
dium of her liberties, was to ht
overthrown and aboliihed. Tl
nextgenerarionwasnono' f
The fon was to bend I ?
beneath the father's fir i,
live deprived of his rights,
der hereditary contr »ul. A:
the men of this ape ftate deft r
rion is to be ranked the v x. ;
fident, Jon ft Ai a ms. Ic i
been the political career of tn
man to begin with hypocrify,
proceed with arrogance, and
nni/h in contempt. May fueli
be the fate of all fiich ch traders.
I have had doubts of John
Adams ever fince 1776. In a
converfation with me, at than
time, concerning the pamphlet
Common Scnfo, he cenfured ic
becaufe it attacked the Ergllfti
form of governmenr.—John
was for independence, becaufe
he expected to be made great by
it 3 but it was not di/Ticult to
perceive, for the furlincfs of Ida
temper makes him an aukwarcl
hypocrite, that his head was aa
full of kings, queens and knaves,
as a pack of cards. But John
has loft deal.
When a man has a concealed
project in his brain that be w ants
to bring forward, and fears will
nor luccerd, he often begins
with it as pyficians do by fuf
peded poifon, try it firft on an
aaimali i i it agree with the
[No. 1S 3.
