Public Leger, Volume 2, Number 63, Richmond, Wayne County, 4 June 1825 — Page 1

" FRIENDLY TO THE BEST PURSUITS OP MAN, FRlENDLYjrojrilOUGHT, TO FREEDOM, AND TO PEACE." Cycr.

XUMBEK C3.J

RICHMOND, WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA, SATURDAY, JUNE

4, 1825.

VOLUME II.

,xTEU AND PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY HY

KD3IUND S. BUXTON, front street, opposite the Richmond Hotel. THE TRICE OF THIS PAPER t One Dollar and Fifty Cents for fifty-two numbers to P:litl in advance; Two Dollars if i'.imY within the year, or Two Dollars and Fifty

Ccnt-S not l)iU ne,ore the expiration of the veir- iKl) ment in :u'vance being to the mutual .-rpct of'both parties, that mode is solicited.

v.'-nh? rrintinn taken for less than six months, and

r.3 pipcr uiconiinueu UI1U1 a, arrearages are

4 iVhrc to notify a (discontinuance at the cxpira-

ionolt.ie iimc Miustnutu mi, win uc contiuereu imjj LtHtrs to the Editor must have the postage i-iJci th'.y t-'Hl not be altcnled to.

TERMS OF ADVERTISING.

ty"t?eR line5, or les, for three insertions One Dol- ' jHr each continuance Twenty-five cents. ;Yicer aJvtTtisemcnts in the same proportion. AMERICAN PORTRAITS.

From the National Journal. roBTEAiT so. IV.-JAMES MADISON. The character of Mr. Madison posses-

cr? more singleness of features than those

tf most of his contemporaries. He began

to attract the special attention of his fellow citizens at the close of the revolution

srv war. when the public mind was occu

pied with the formation of state and national constitutions, but more particularly

the litter, rendered indispensable by the iretT::acy of the Act of Confederation. Fie timorously co-operated with the principal rncn of the country to produce the meetin:: at Annapolis and the convention at Pijil.iuYlphia, in which he ranked among

the first luminaries of the day. No per

son comprehends more fully the principles cf the Constitution of the United Stales.

He participated in all the discussions pre

liminary to its adoption, incidental to its

composition, and requisite to make its pro

visions acceptable to the people. A large portion of the numbers of TKc Federalist

t.is from hi pen. In congress he nicelv discriminated the relative powers of the

ctate and (jeneral Governments, and in

that body, a3 well as in the Legislature of irginia, was recognized as an able ad-

vocite of the right of the people. Unos

tentatious and retiring, he never wounded the pride or vanity of others; and whilst every one acknowledged his deportment tj be that of a perfect gentleman, he won, by the amiahleness of his manners, the

mr.it cordial and durable friendships. Hi?

approach to popularity was gradual, and

entirely through the intrinsic force of his intellect. A champion no less of religious, t.iaq of civil liberty, bis writings and bis

spei-cie5 were as refreshing to an intelli

gent community as they were balmy and yealing in the irritations of controversy. -'Ki of good sense every where appreciated the value of Mr. Madison's talent? ; and e constantly enjoyed the moral support thebetter'infornied part of society. So pre were his motives, so universally salutary were his aims, that he made no per sl al enemies; and even in the heat f P 'rty strife, he secured the respect of his opponents. ( In the Department of State, Mr. Madias faculties were called to the performcf high and extraordinary duties. tbtions arose which required profound searches into the elements of the law of atior. France and Groat Britain, wawar to extremity, had alternately dc''1 from the fundamental maxims of

itime hostility, and neutral commerce ,s entrappird, or fell a prey to the arbi-

f regulations of both. Against these lc!snents, Mr. Madison bad to conj - I itlitie most accomplished ministers jj huropc; and never did statesman dis,1 v H creator fn.l f 1 fi't rill nrf k rr" d

oi.ues. iy laua and sea the firmness of the American spirit was conspicuous. With a barren treasury, erroneous and un

favorable loans, clashing jurisdictions of . A 1 m . t

state ana national authorities, militia scruples, and a powerful and active enemy, the achievements of our warriors, on both elements, shed an imperishable lustre on the name of the republic, the reputation of whose heroic sons shines with a brilliancy that no time can efface. Even when the fortunes of Napoleon waned, when whole nations, in battle array, directed bv

the policy of England, with the banners of St. George floating victoriously in the van, precipitated themselves upon unhappy France, and the United States beheld themselves left to combat single-handed with Great Britain, Mr. Madison did not shrink from the impending danger; but invoking his countrymen to arms, by every consideration that could inspire the hearts of freemen with patriotic ardor, exhibited an energy that increased with the perils of the hour. The pacific issue of the negotiations at Ghent; a subsequent conven

tion with the British government; the rejduction of the army; the resuscitation of

trade and navigation; the re-establishment of the finances; all bear testimony to his mental capacity, to the comprehensiveness of his views, and the accuracy of his judgment. His imagination is lively, but

not ardent; his wit refined and poignant; his penetration quick and discriminating; and his reserve in affairs of state was ha

bitual, polite and wise. No breach of

promise could be imputed to him, for he

j made none. His intentions, for the most

part, first appeared in his measures; and his honesty as a statesman was never questioned, although frequently surrounded by intrigues and beset by importunities. He

seldom yielded to expediency; and uniformly sought to govern men more by their

reason than their passions. His style of writing is easy, natural and classically English. He endeavored not to dazzle, but to convince; not to amuse the fancy, but to satisfy the understanding; and his talent for analysis appears to be intuitive. His colloquial powers are peculiarly agreeable, and he possesses a playfulness of humor in conversation which is altogether charming. In a word, the mind of James Madison is of the very first order. It unites simplicity with grandeur, dignity with moderation, and delights more in the mildness of persuasion than in the harshness of reproof. It is doubtful whether America has ever produced a more excellent statesman; it is certain she has not seen a better man.

rnr r-r - i . i

. ' '"ft his advr rsarif5 wiflwmt ifir .-.

C0I made: it apparent to the world

i"jMnev rcli,.(l on nothing but naval audi

j;'iar.v strength. The state papers from 'fit a:ui co"b'in a store of arguments for r UrV,cr-'ioiis, applicable to almost eveVc t ,ntt'-f it,f:,llt'"r' lo which a bellige- '' condition of nations can give rise. V rin "i)on t,ie iidenrv at a de,.i;luir"r"nent, when difiicult.es seemed ni:,i?hiIpfr, IC was, bv tie had faith i.toT11 I5.rit;iin' suddenly" thrown back t,.?ft P r;llJst f embarrassments, which C'5 ,iTr:;,ib merged in a declaration of i'l ,r. : ..II . . .

-J' IV- till I'll II". C 111 III HI' I tl,o

--, " llll.ll IjlHSUUII? re submitted to the arbitrement

i ; sword, this conflict was marked by

;-;';UU(lrj I'ut manifestly terminated to

id .-'ivai.t;i;e of the United

ADDRESS To General Ijafayette delivered at Cincinnati on the 20A of May, by Joseph S. Benham, Esq. The love of liberty, natural as the love of life is an instinct common to all animals. In man, beneficently endowed with intellection, by which he is pre-eminently distinguished, it displays itself in every action of his life. It is the centre of all his affections the key to his heart no less essential to his greatness than to Ins felicity. Subject his destiny to the arbitary will of a tyrant, you mar the beauty and majesty of his form, which is so "'express and admi,nble" you extinguish every noble and Godlike aspiration,and " tame him into dullness." All order is subverted, all harmony destroyed. Subordinate the social mass to one feeble and impotent will, ever influenced by narrow and contracted views, by tumultuous passions, by self aggrandizement, or by the adulation of courtiers; and it cither pines in a passive lethargy, or, if called into action by extraordinary excitements, exhausts its strength by its efforts, while its produce is wholly drawn off by the priviledged part: similar to the aged oak, on which we see a few of the higher branches, verdant, while the trunk is rotten and sinking speedily to thedt'st. Despotic governments exert a like baleful influence upon the inhabitants and the country. Their wealth is in the bands of the nobility a few haughty lordlings, who regard the populace as an inferior race of beings, forming a portion of their inheritance, and fit only to minister to their sensual gratifications. The inestimable rights of person and of property are alike insecure industry receives no encouragement -the arU and the sciences languish, and commerce is in the hands of strangers while poverty, ignorance degradation and

wretchedness, brood upon the face of the country, like primitive darkness upon the face of the waters, and form the national character. Fix your eye upon the map of the Ottoman empire, and you have a glaring example of these truths. You there see an extensive region.of exuberant soil, in a genial climate, salubrious air, and benignant skies ; yet, such is the despotism of the government, with all these blessings, it is the most poor and barbarous upon the Continent. This, too, was once the seat of the Muses, and is now the scene of every classic reminiscence; the land of Homer, the country of Enaminondas, of Themosticles

and Leonidasr! But, alas! liberty, the mujses, and the arts, like the last flight of the

dove from the ark, have wended their course from these inhospitable regions. Ignorance has here shewn her natural hostility to taste; by mutilating the statues, demolishing the temples, and defacing the elegant forms of sculpture and architecture. On the rock of Acropolis, where once stood the magnificent temple of Minerva, famed for its golden statue, marble fragments are all that remain. The odeum of Pericles, which once resounded with the notes of the lyre and the sublime strains of the choral is now appurtenant to a Turkish Castle. These are the deleterious effects of despotism upon the moral and physical world. Compare this picture, though feebly crayoned, (for the original would justify darker shades and deeper hues,) with the government of these United States, the prosperous, cheerful, and happy condition of her citizens, and how vivid in contrast! All the transatlantic dynasties have been fortuitously formed. They have mostly begun in bloody anarchy, and after describing the whole circle, have at last termi

nated in sullen despotism. They have J passed from infancy to manhood, and from

manhood speedily to old age. I he American government, no less prudent, cautious and circumspect than those of the old world, like Minerva from the head of Jove, sprung at once into full maturity and symmetry, and armed in sovereign panoply, took her rank among the kingdoms of the earth. The Greeks and Romans boasted that their laws and government were divine emanations. We propogate no such delusion. Our government is universally acknowledged to be the production of!

human reason, consecrated by the free will of the people. The constitution deliniated by their mighty hand, in their sovereign and unlimited capacity establishes certain first principles of fundamental law, and is predicated upon the indestructable pillars of justice and equality. In its shade, like that of a great rock in a weary land, the pilgrims of the old world repose faithfully and happy. The philanthropists, philosophers, and sages who formed this charter of our rights, never lost sight of the selfevident truths, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiyicss.'' This beautiful fabrick of free government, which has excited so much envy and admiration, was no sooner formed than it was hailed as a "magnificent stranger" in the world. Here, the wealth of the nation is equally distributed among her children, who are alike noble, without the gaudy insignia of nobility. We have no laws of primogeniture to create and foster an aristocracy. The rights of person and of property are sacred and inviolate; industry, in every branch of business, is encouraged; the arts and sciences flourish, and commerce unfurls her canvass; while competence, contentment, independence, enterprise and intelligence, form the bright escutcheon of the national character. Here civil liberty, in exile from the old world, has established her empire and fixed her throne. It is here our laws are equal, mild and beneficent; it is here that religious bigotry and intolerance are unknown; it is here a provision is made by government for the poor: it is here, in fine, that persecuted truth finds refuge and persecuted man an asylum and a home. These, La Fayette, are the fruits of thy toils and sacrifices. These are the laurels that bloom for tlwc in America won by thy gallantry in the vales of Brandywine, on the plains of Monmouth, and at Yorktown, and which, like the Aloe flower, blossom in old age. These form the bright constellation of thy glory; let its shining radiations impart one cheering ray to gild

the gloom of despotism, and like the star of Bethlehem, conduct the kings and wise men of the earth in the road to civil and religious freedom. At the mention of thy name, revered and venerated hero and sage, every countenance beams with joy, and every heart dilates with gratitude, while "you read your welcome in a nation's eyes." Most nations, when tyranny had become intolerable, have had their benefactors and deliverers: daring spirits, whom no dangers could appal, no difficulties dismay. Scotland had her Wallace Switzerland her Tell Poland, dismembered prostrate Poland, her Kosciusco; and America thrice happy America, her Washington. But these immortal champions of human liberty were inspired by an ardent love of country, to save from pollution their household gods and their altars. Lafayette, inspired by the same enthusiastic love of liberty, and prompted by a generous, disinterested sympathy, at the juvenile age of nineteen, relinquished the charms of nobility, the ease of affluence, the fascinations and endearments of friends, home and country crossed the ocean, and in the true spirit of chivalry, sustained with his fortune and his blood, our fathers in the doubtful struggle for emancipation. It had been predicted by an Orator from the mountains of Virginia, that in their distress they would receive foreign succor. And lo! the youthful chieftain, wafted by the encouraging smiles of his countrymen, arrives upon our shores: at a crisis the most inauspicious and dark in the history of colonial suffering; when despair appeared legibly in the faces of many, and hope the companion of the wretched lingered, only in the bosom of the brave. Our faithful little band of war worn soldiers was at that period retreating through the Jerseys, almost naked and barefoot, leaving its traces in blood. To them the news of his arrival was "glad tidings;"" like the beams of the glorious sun, after a night of "triple darkness," it dispelled the gloom from every countenance. Hope elevated and joy brightened the soldiers crest! He forgot the dangers and difficulties he had passed, and looked forward to the day. not far distant, when the triumph of victory should be the knell of oppression. The disastrous condition of our affairs) seemed to offer but an humble theatre to the aspirant for military fame. The cypress extended its mournful boughs over our army. But nothing could extinguish the ardour of the young Hero. He immediately clothed, equipped, and organized at his own expense, a corps of men, and entered a volunteer into our service. All Europe gazed with admiration, mingled with regret, upon the Eaglet that had left the royal nest and soared into a distant hemisphere to fight the battles of Liberty, In retracing the incidents of the eventful life of our benefactor, a duty which gratitude imposes, we find them alike illustrious. They exhibit a man passing with the consistency of truth the sternness of stoicism and the resignation of christianty, through greater trials and reverses of for

tune than any other in the annuls of biography. Behold him in his youth contemning all patrician effeminacy, courting fa tigue and danger in the tented field, and leading our fathers to independence and to glory. See him soon after acting a conspicuous part in the most awful and appalling convulsion in the annals of the world, "in which every old institution was trampled down with contumely, & every old institution was covered in its cradle with blood." We see him a member of the National Assembly, alike obnoxious to the Jacobins and the ancient regime, to bloody anarchy and frightful despotism, moving the abolition of the odious letters de catchet and tie emancipation of the protectants, holding in his hands for adoption a constitution containing the elements of a representative monarchy. View him in the champ dc Mars, at the head of the National Guards, in the midst of an ampitheatre containing half a million of his countrymen, kneeling at the altar, and swearing, on their behalf to a free constitution. But all will not do! The Jacobins get the ascendancy! Lafayette and constitutional liberty are proscribed! Danton and Robespierre rek.n! and France is deluged in blood. He now suddenly disappears; even his family know not where he is: behold him in the Austrian dungeons! spurning all compromises with his oppressors, upon dishonorable terms, and claiming the protection of an American citizen. He is at length released,.