YORK PATRIOTISM.
American Meeting,
In the true Spirit of Seventy-Six.

AGREEABLY to previous notice, a large number of Republicans from the various parts of the County of York, consisting, (as was ascertained by actual enumeration) of more than three hundred, assembled at Capt. Hobbs's, in Berwick, on Thursday, the 23d of February, 1809, to take into consideration the present alarming situation of our public affairs. But one spirit appeared to animate the Friends of Liberty on this occasion. The Meeting was addressed by a number of individuals, and a Committee, consisting of one from each Town, raised to prepare suitable Resolutions for the occasion, who, after retiring for some time, made the following Report, which was unanimously accepted, and directed, after being signed by the Chairman and Secretary, to be published in the Republican Papers.

PREAMBLE.

WHEREAS alarming attempts are now making by FOREIGN EMISSARIES and the Agents of DOMESTIC TRAITORS, to throw this Country into a state of convulsion, to array the People in a hostile attitude against the GOVERNMENT, to light up the flames of CIVIL WAR, and ultimately to Dissolve the UNION of these STATES;--and whereas all such nesarious attempts should be promptly repelled by the PEOPLE as well as by the Government:--Therefore,

Resolved, as the sense of this Meeting, That the present Administration highly merits the confidence, the gratitude, the support of the whole American People, for the American Spirit with which it appears animated, for the American Ground it has taken, for the Standard for an honorable union of all Parties which it has erected; for its strenuous, unremitted endeavors, at this tremendous crisis, to preserve the Independence, the Peace, Prosperity and Dignity of this rising nation.

Resolved, That it is disgracefully ungenerous, as well as highly unjust, to ascribe to our own government the evils which flow from the wickedness of others; that it is the sacred duty of the people, magnanimously to bear temporary inconveniences which the wisdom of the nation has deemed indispensable, to prevent greater calamities.

Resolved, That the government, at this solemn crisis, needs the countenance and support of the whole American people, for the maintenance of our commercial rights, our political institutions, our very Independence, now menaced with destruction.

Resolved, That we should consider a change of Administration (a change so greatly desired by our enemies, at home and abroad, and an end which now goes to sanctify means, from which principle and patriotism shrink with horror) as in a fearful measure, decisive of the destiny of this nation, as determining, in a great degree, whether the American people are capable of self-government, whether we are to live under the empire of liberty and equal laws, or be subject to monarchical systems, established under the auspices of a foreign power.

Resolved, That those who endeavor to render odious and inefficatious public measures which themselves believe wife and salutary, who justify every foreign aggression when committed by a favorite nation, who manifest a readiness to sacrifice their country to their party, to stake the national existence for a prospect of rising into power, are to be regarded as public enemies, as unprincipled traitors, influenced by foreign agency, if not corrupted by foreign gold.

Resolved, That it is to the leaders of the party in opposition, now identified with the British party, a party undeniably existing in the bosom of this country, who, in order to accomplish their treasonable projects, have shamelessly held out public encouragements to evade the laws and trample upon the national sovereignty, that the violations, the continuance of our present commercial restrictions, as well as the late law more completely to enforce them, are to be ascribed.

Resolved, That the act just mentioned is constitutional, wife and salutary; that the opposition to it has been systematic, has been artfully and maliciously excited by restless men, who hoped, out of the public discontents, to raise a tempest which should prostrate the government, while themselves, riding on the whirlwind and directing the storm, might find their account, even in the ruin of their country.

Resolved, That we consider the conduct of those towns and associations who have petitioned the State Authorities to interpose between the PEOPLE and the GOVERNMENT, as highly dangerous and reprehensible; that it is with grief, indignation and horror, that we have observed a majority of the Legislature lending themselves to the views of serious demagogues, men who have heretofore expressed the utmost contempt for the people, and suffering themselves to be led by unprincipled, daring incendiaries, by sycophantic, insidious abettors of despotism, who appear to have thought the time was now arrived when treason would enable them to reap the harvest of unhallowed ambition, when by an immolation of the government on the altar of faction, the enemies of liberty might be able to erect a standard of triumph over the grave of revolutionary principles.

Resolved, That the Constitution provides the only course to obtain a change of men and measures, that it is the first principle of a Republic that the minority acquiesce in the will of the majority; but that opposition to the laws by force of arms, attempts to drive the government from its purpose by menace, insurrection and rebellion, if successfully followed up, must certainly deluge his country in blood, and whelm the whole American people in one common ruin.

Resolved, That we regard a Separation of the States as the most calamitous event which can be contemplated--those who are endeavoring to effect it, as the bitterest enemies of their country, worthy to be held up to the detestation of the present generation, and loaded with the curses of all posterity.

Resolved, That this country has just cause of war with France and England; that if their unrighteous edicts be not speedily repealed, we trust the national sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and that it will never be sheathed till our national wrongs be atoned and our commercial rights established on the most honorable basis.

Resolved, That we regard the ocean as the common highway of all nations, that no power on earth can have a right to interdict its freedom to other States; that the American People, if called on by their government, are ready to contend for their rights upon that element; and that it is there the Murder of our Fellow-Citizens, on board the Chesapeake, (if no sufficient atonement be speedily proffered) we trust, is yet to be avenged in an exemplary manner.

Resolved, That we regard with disapprobation and abhorrence the political conduct of Timothy Pickering; that we consider him as a British Partizan and a Monarchist, as a systematic, hardened, bigoted, enrage Leader of a desperate, daring, unprincipled, anti-American Faction. To him and his worthy coadjutors we solemnly believe it is, in a great measure, to be ascribed, that our difficulties with foreign nations remain unadjusted; that the systems of plunder, piracy and colonization adopted by France and England, have been so obstinately persevered in, and the liberal overtures of out government so insolently rejected.

Resolved, That we highly approve the conduct of the venerable John Adams, late President of the U. S. William Smith, of South-Carolina, William Pinkney, of Maryland, John Q. Adams and William Gray of Massachusetts, and many other distinguished Federalists, who have come forward, on this trying occasion, sacrificed party feeling on the altar of their country, and magnanimously approved the measures of a rival Administration.

Resolved, That the conduct of the Town of Marblehead is an honor to this nation; and that the memory of its Patriotism deserves to be handed down to future generations with the names of the Heroes and Sages of America.

Resolved, That at this awful crisis, the Government, under Divine Providence, is the only bulwark of every thing we hold dear and valuable; that on its support depend all our hopes of future Prosperity, the continuance of our Liberties and our very existence as a Nation.

Resolved, That we can never consent to abandon the cause for which our ancestors came to this country, for which the best blood of the nation has been spilt: that we are determined to transmit to our descendants, unimpaired, our civil & political institutions; and we would fondly hope that the whole American People will sacrifice party animosity, and unite in support of the only Republic remaining on earth.

Resolved, That it is our most sacred determination to stand by our Country in this hour of peril, that we will be ready at every hazard, when duly called on, to assist in supporting the administration of the laws; & we hereby solemnly pledge to the Government & our fellow-citizens, our PROPERTY and our LIVES, in defence of our Liberties, Privileges and Independence, against the arms of foreign Tyrants and the machinations of domestic Traitors.

WILLIAM MOODY, Chairman.

DANIEL GRANGER, Secretary.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Wonder if we'll EVER rid ourselves of the domestic Traitors and enemies of Liberty? Generation after generation, they seem to raise their ugly heads, from the depth of the pits of hell....