Georgia & Carolina gazette. (Petersburg, Ga.) 1805-18??, July 18, 1805, Image 2

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rs the mcafujc. He saw that v.iformation was wanted, and that it would be ufefui, because when the truth fhculd be known, it would compose the people.. John Adams had gone away in what may be called a clandcjline manner, *itheut surrendering in to the haudAtf his I'uccetFor, as he ought dene in per fen, any accent of the affairs of the executive deoartmenr, fo reign or dome (lie. There are ::o papers or documents that I know of, and l believe there are none, because there can be none \:i the iccretary cf date’s office, that wiil juft.fy John Adams in the ex pence to which his admi aiilration put the country or even aHo id gtouud for lufpici on that cither Fi ance or England mended to invade the United £*ULcs. for what purpose then was an army to be railed. The projectors (ji Inch a measure mult have had Come object in view, and as that object lias ne ver been explained, it ought to be enquired into. It is bad po licy, and alio a bad precedent, efpecialiy in public affairs, to lit unpolitical Hide away with cut detteben. At the time I talked with Mr. £ reckt m idge on this fubjedl, I expected that Mr. Skipxsiiih for Siierly | and at this time, Ame rican conlul at Paris, and Joel parl-rjj would loon arrive, and Z did not v.'iHi the enquiry to be gone Into till they came. After the fill of Ucbefpierrt and the dhbMhmcnt at the dire&ory confutation; those two gentle men and myft-lf, Mr. Monroe being recalled) had better op portunities of knowing the ten timents and intentions of the French government, with ref pc ft to America, than other per lons had; and they can be evidence equally with Inyfelf, that no intention Cxi fled in the Fiench government to'invade America i nor was any prepara tion made lor such an attempt, nor couid it be made. The pof iibinty of luch a thing did not exist. The French navy at time fcas nearly annihilated; her ports blockaded by the Bri tilh i and she had to fight by land, Tingle handed, against al inoif the whole of Europe. She had it not in her power to spare a regiment, much less could she spare an army, to lend to Ame rica i and if lhe could have ipa* red one, she had not the means of traniporting ir, nor a convoy to protect ir. All the circum flances as well as the evidence that can be provided, will fiiew that the adminiilration of John Adams, was a fraudulent and ex pend ve imposition on the coun , try 3 and that the army to be railed was intended for fomc fe rret purpose, and not for the purpoie oi defence. If John Adams was not confcicus of Errs-thing wrong, and appre herhive of feme consequences, why did he ablcond in the hasty and private manner kecid ? Or pA A. S.bp'X h b re J :y:si tve itnjtitJLip during the uilhrrdjirati on of John Adams. 1 believe on fucunt of a rude inful ting letter be received from “limothy Picke ring, then jeeret ary of fate. -Mr. m tutid Ivir, kk'f - wiib . why did his partizans want to put Aaron Burr in the presiden cy. In the days of the black cockades, John Adams had one so enormous and so valiantly large, that he appeared to be fulpended by it; but when his midnight hour arrived, his valor tied and hirnfeif also. The voluntary embassy of Dr. Logan to Paris appears to-have difeoncerted John’s administra tion, and difeomfitted its lea ders ; because it served to ex pose and put an end to their pro jects. When Dr. Logan called on Timothy Pickering, secre tary of slate, with Mr. Skip vvith’s dispatches from Paris, Ti mothy, before he knew their contents, though Logan knew the whole, began to talk of in vanona and dangers, and the ne cessity of preparation. <( It may be very well, said Logan “to have the militia always in good or der.” <c The militia fir /” said Timo thy, “ the militia never did any good and never will. J We mujl have an army .of fifty thoujand men.” When Logan was com ing away, Timothy laid to him at the door, Cf Sir, rhe govern ment don’t thank you.’* When Logan waited on Ge neral Wafhing&on, who had been J Timothy Pickering's resell t cn on the militia defenses a rebuff It was the viilitia that fought at Bunker’s-Hill under Warren, a militia general.—lt was by the aid cf numerous reinforcements of militia to join general Gates that Burgoyne was taken. It was by a volunteer militia under Stark, a volunteer general, that colonel Baum a Hefjian officer, was de feated at Pennington, in Vermont, which was the prelude to the cap ture of Burgoync . But perhaps Timothy reasons ffom btnfelf ; and if hi makes hirnfeif the fan dard by which to judge of the me rit, of the milita, there is ground for bis faying the militia never did any good and never will.— Timothy's firfi public employment was very harmless , that of a tea cher ofpfalmody. When the revo lution began he learned tbs manu el excrcife, and then taught it. He was afterwards .appointed co lonel of a regiment e/jnihtia, and when the affairs, cf Lexington and Concord took place, April 19, 1775, aJ,, d the Britijh were re treating from Concord back to Bcjlon, an Order wasfont to Timo thy, to march with his regiment, andpof limjelf at a certain piace to cut cjf their retreat. Timothy marched, but be flopped jhort cf the place, and drew up his men, and went to prayers , till tbs Bri tijh puffed it. His prayers freed him from the dangers of that day. Ido not know that heJung pfahns. Per hap S’ not. The enemy might have ore;hcard him. Had Ti mothy d±te bis duty cn that oca jion, and put bis trufl in God with out loitering away his fine, the whole party cf the Britijh , about • two thoujand, tnufl have been pd f'oners, per they could not have got back into Is of on ; and the daugh ter at Bunker's hill, the 1 ptc of June following , could not have taken place The whole fora cf the Britijh at Boflon at that time, was about four thoujand, one half cf which were on this expedition. 7 ’ p then appointed the lieutenant general of the army then railing, of which John was commander in chief!—the general received him coldly and flernly, and said to him in a haughty tone, “ and pray fir, what right have you, that are but a private citizen, to interfere in matters of govern ment Login very prudently replied, “ i have no answer, fir, to make to that,'* and withdrew. Fhe flare of Pennsylvania, soon after this, elected Dr. Logan one of its lenators in congreis. Circumstances often unriddle and explain themselves, and it happens so in this case ; for if the adminillration, and those leaders, connected with it, were sincere in their belief that the danger was real, and that the country (as Governeur Morris exprefihd it, in his funefal ora tion on Hamilton) was “ menaced with dangers from without,” and chat France intended an invasi on and if, at the fame time, they had no concealed objtd in contemplation thefrifelves, they would welcome the* mef&nger that Ihouid bring them good ti dings chat all was well. But if, on the contrary, they knew they were afting & fraud, and heating the country with falfhoods and falfe alarms, for the purpose cf procuring loans, levying new taxes, and railing an army to accomplish fome concealed pur pose that could not be accom plished without that treachery, they would be enraged at him ; and this accounts for the rude reception Dr. Logan receiv ed from that administration.- Thousands who supposed that adminifli ation from 3 belief that it was acting right, have fmee abandoned it from a. conviction that it acted deceitfully wrong, and this also accounts for the great majority a: the lad pru dential election. We have no alarms now, nor should we have had any then, if the present ad miniflration had existed a: that time. It requires only a prudent and honelt adminillration to preserve America always in peace.- Her difiance from the European world frees her from its intrigues. But when men gs: in power, wiiofe h ads, like the head of John Adams , are filled with “ firange notions” and counter revolutionary principlesar.d pro jects, things will be lure to go wrong. John Adams, who was more the dupe of a party than the leader of it, entered on the of fice of president with his head turned by the elevation he was lifted to ; and his principles, (if he ever had any) corrupted. He turned out to be a counter cealed project of his adminiflra tionhad lucceeded, the federal conflitudon would have been deflroyed, and that by persons under the aifumed and fraudu lent names of federalifls. “ Hs general IVajhmgtsn (said John Adams) has no children, it will be right to make the go vern ment hereditary in the family of Lund IVafkingtcr..” Perhaps John intended this as a fiy intro duction of himfelf and his hope fu. son Tguinccy in prcfetence to any of the Walhingtons ? for this fame John Adams was one cf the chief of a party ir; ::nrrehs at Pork-tew ain Pennsylvania, in the latter end of the year 1777 and beginning of 78, for dismiss ing IVafungtcn from the com mand of the army, bccauje, they said, he was not capable cf it and did nothing. Yet under John's adminiflration the name of Waf ington was made use of, for the purpole of introducing and co -a counter revolutionary fyflem. Such is the inconsis tency of faction and of men who have no fixed principles! The independence of Ameri ca would have added but little to her own happiness, and beea of no benefit to the world, if her government had been formed on the corrupt models of the old world. It was the opportunity of beginning the world anew , as \t were ; and of bringing tor ward a new fyflem of govern ment in which tire rights of all men fhotild be preser ved, that gave value to independence.— The pamphlet, Common Sense , the firtr work I ever publilhed, embraced both those objects.— Mere independence might at fome future time, have been effect:d and established, by arms, without principles, but a juff fvftem of government could not, la snort, it was the prin ciples, at that time, that produ ced the independence ; for un til the principle spread itfelf abroad among the people, inde pendence was not thought of, and America was fighting with out an object. Thole who know the circumstances of the times 1 (peak of, know this to be true. I am not persecuting John Adams, nor any other man, nor did I ever persecute any ; but I fee the propriety, and even the nectlficy of inflituting an enqui ry into the confufed flare of af fairs during his adminiflration. All the circumstances and the evidence combined with them, juftiry the suspicion that during teat admin deration the country | wa s grofily imposed upon, an d pur to so great and unnecessary expence, which the present ad ministration has to pay off j and that fome concealed and coun ter-revolutionary scheme was in contemplation. The leaders, separately, might hide from each other what his own particular cbjefl was. Each of them might have a different cne. But all of them agreed in the prelim inary project, that of raising afi *nny ; and the caie would have been, that when they had collec - ted that army, they would have broken into diflinft parties, like the generals of Alexander’s a A my, and deflroyed each other, to decide who should be the reigning usurper.—Symptoms cf dilguft had already begun to appear among the chiefs. ~ Ha milton despised W a filing tern ; Adams was jealous of Hamuroh , and Hamilton had a perfect con - tempt for Adams. * But In the end, John, I believe would have come poorly off. He was not a man of the sword, but only of the cockade. I purposely delayed entering upon this lubjedl till the prtfi dential eltflion should be over. Had I pubiifhed it before that tune, the clamour of sass ion would have fa;d it was an electi oneering trick. Now, they can tct .ay y