The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-02-06 00:00:00, page 2

, Mrhtag to recommend Me too to office,) •
. rank Englishman. Weak mmds receive
their opinions at second hand; great ones
impose them. Hie successor having made
kis Mut rm the theatre of the great world
at the court of Versailles, came home, in
due season, In dress, taste, politicks, philo
sophy and religion ; in short, in every
thing but jhe polish of his manners, a fin
ished Frenchman. Accordingly we find
that Porcupine flourished under the reign
of \he one, and Duane under that of the
other. Mr. Adams would no doubt readi
ly shift off Porcupine, or his answer to the
address of the Bath county militia, or any
other of his infamous retainers, or ridicu
lous and wicked acts, on the political estate
ef your deceased friend General Hamilton.
Do not forget, I pray you, Sir, that you
yourself were one of the faction whom that
impotent garrulous dotard threatened to
bumble in dust and ashes—that faction
made you Secretary of State, and, by con
sequence, President. Discard, I beseech
you, Sir, from your countenance and coun
cil forever, either John, “ a prating scrib
bling pair." Both father and son have no
other Object but to sell their political M no
tiant" hi any market they can find. This
Mussian embassy baa too much the ap-
of a reward for apoMacy. It
looks to something like an under- hand mis
sion so the great 'Smperour, through the
tittle One. * ’
. 1 have said, Sir, that I had found more to
approve than I had expected in the course
of your administration. Among acts how
ever, of this description, I cannot reckon
the appointment to the first place under
your government of a man notoriously in
competent to the discharge of its duties;
whose ignorance of the marine depart
ment on which be hung fur eight years,
could be equalled only by the profusion with
Which he outstripped the legal appropria
tions for Its tervice: A man who received
the salary of Secretary of the Navy, whilst
the business of the department was cun
ducted-w/lrr a faehion, by his chief clerk.
But the manner of his appointment to hi*
present office—the first act of your admin
istration—is calculated to wound the feel
ings of every independent American.—
They feel themselves insulted in the per
son of their chief magistrate, when they
hear the insolent boast, that you were dic
tated tn on that occasion. Neither, Sir,
can I approve the appointment to the se
cond military command In our country, of
the head that contrived and the hand that
executed the great master fraud of the
Xaaoo; of a man who rolls in princely
wealth the (rulta of that stupendous cor
ruption. I say nothing of Wilkinson. •He
is in the last stage of putrefaction ; touch
him, and he falls to pieces. Nor Is it credit
able, Sir, to the Americas government,
that it should be represented, even at the
court France, by the imputed authour
of the celebrated anonymous letters pub
lished at Newburgh at the close of the war,
inviting the army to turn their swords upon
their country. As long as the dread father
of that army and that country lived ; as
long as the beams of his glory irradiated
the land of his birth; this recreant, un
worthy to be called his fellow-soldier,
sought shelter in obscurity and darkness;
but when the sun of our country's glory
had descended below the horison ; in the
political twilight that foretold the dark
ness of the night to come, this speculative
. parricide, (with many an obscene animal
that shuns the day,) crept forth from his
hiding place. This minion of France who,
(from his insolent pamphlet in mockery of
the distress of the American merchants
robbed uader colour of the Louisiana con
vention,) appears to have studied his art
of love, as well as his politicks, in the
school of Cambaceres,* is unworthy to he
four representative. Let him be turned
out of the stye of sensuality in whose " vile
mire he now wallowe.*' Ship Wilkinson,
(if he will bear the sea sweat,) to his
friends in Cuba. Send Wade Hampton
back to his cotton-gins and tanvats. Let
him enjoy if he can under the tenure by
which he holds it, his miserable wealth;
or let him, “ riven and blasted by the light
ning of eloquence," pay to the offended
mnjesty of virtue the dread homage of his
remorse. Strip, Sir, the epaulettes of an
American officer from shoulders branded
by the scourge of the publick executioner.
Tear the cockade from the hat of every
scoundrel in the army, if you can find hon
est men to accept their commissions. Suf-|
fer no man holding an office under you, to
abuse it by any attempt to influence the
freedom of elections. Let not the govern
ment labour under the odium of supporting
•The American reader may form some
idea of the state of society in Paris, wlien he
is told that the Prince Arch Chancellor of the
Empire, the Duke of Parma of the present day,
is so notoriously addicted to unnatural lusts,
that a pretty youth, who frequented the Thud
lerias a few years ago, was well known
throughout Pans, as Madame Cambaceres.—
Nor is this odious propensity confined to this
grand.dignitary of the Imperial Court alone.—
The theatres and publick walks swarm with
male prostitutes plying for custom ; soliciting
-
wt to the commission of
cfl me—{not to be named among Christiana
for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroy
ed by fire from-heaven. O' for the pen of
Juvenah or Sam Johnson ?
The shore is related upon the faith of a
respectable • gentleman as any in the Unite
p''• • ’ :
notorious swindlers Mid blacklegs, against
men of the fairest character and pretenr
cions; against men of honour and of
•cif nee; against the orphan-sons of heroes
who sealed their attachment to their coun
try with their blood; whose children, in
gratitude to their fathers* services, have
been educated at the publick charge. I
know, Sir, that you have a difficult part to
act The rejection of the treaty negotia
ted by Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney, and
more especially the manner of that re
jection, has greatly ehlianced the difficulty
of an accommodation of our differences
with England. The pride of the two gov
ernments, and of the two countriet has
been roused; But it is essential to the in
terests, and, (I might add,) the existence
of both, that they remain at peace. Far
be it from me to palliate, much less to jus
tify the misconduct of the British Minis
try ; but let me remind you, Sir, that the
sentiment of hostility against America, en
gendered In that country by the revolution,
was confined to the King and his Ministers,
and the vultures that prey on the vitals of
every state; and that it hour interest that
it should not be transfused, (as assuredly
it must be if we take part with France
against whom they are contending for
their very existence,) Into the breast of
every honest Englishman. Whilst we were
fighting for our own. liberties we bad the
good wishes of the majority of the English
nation; but the case is changed when their
own existence is put at stake.
You arc advanced in life, Sir, and you
are childless. Au honourable fame courts
your acceptance. The interest of your
country coincides with the ease of your ad
ministration. The people look in vain into
the correspondence of Mr. Jackson for the
outrages which he is alleged to have com
mitted on the dignity of their government.
They will support you in every proper ex
ertion of spirit. They have been equally
disgusted with the rashness of one, and
with the meanness of another of your pre
decessor ; but they will not be driven even
by their mast honest prejudices into the
arms of France, whose touch is pollution
and whose embrace is death. Your Min
ister of finance has told you, that, (invasion
out of the question,) war is impossible.—
This extraordinary man, although “ fallen
from bis high estatealthough he has
lent his transcendent abilities to the ar
bitrary and unconstitutional acta of the late
reign, and to the insidious and covert at
tack made at the last session of Congress
on the sinking fund, that best hope of the
nation—is yet “ not less than archangel
ruined." He is indeed no longer, “the
apostle of truth and the favourite votary
of liberty," immortalised by the pen of
Curtius—“ Quantum matutut ab iUo*~
but he is yet an intelligent if not a vigorous
statesman—versed in expedients and wiles,
and upon him you must rely for whatsoever
of wisdom and ability you may look for in
the counsels of your cabinet. For “ when
the waters are out,..and the file affords no
precedent,” you will turn your eyes in
vain, towards the Giles’s and the Smiths,
and the V*rn*ms, and that whole tribe
of ignorance, imbecility and impudence,
whom the first swell of the great stream
of publick opinion will sw’eep back,, into
their native insignificance, never to rise
again. *
Such is the infatuated predilection of
many of our leading republicans, who give
the tone to publick sentiment, for despotick
France, and so strong the honest revolu
tionary antipathies of our people against
Great-Britain; fortified too by a just .s«p»se
of recent wrong from that proud and haugh
ty nation ; that 1 am prepared to be repre
sented by our demagogues, and to be con
sidered by many of the honest, unsuspect
ing dupes of these impostors,, as the par
tisan of England rather than the friend oi I
my native country. No man is more sen I
sible than myself of the violence, injustice, I
and folly of her government; but I consider
the existence of my country, (at least ah I
that can render a country dear to a free
man,) to rest upon her independence. She I
is now paying the price of her own Sins: I
her corruption and tyranny produced die I
American revolution, the immediate cause
of that of France, from which, again, the
present gigantick power of Bonaparte has I
sprung.—Her proscriptions and oppressions I
have driven from their country thousands I
of the brave inhabitants of Ireland, in each I
of whom she has made a deadly enemy. I
Not only is the continent of Europe united
against her ; in the other hemisphere she
has converted six millions of her own pro
geny into determined foes. Nothing is far- '
ther from my wish than to produce a rup
ture with France \ such an event could be
productive of no possible good. It is the
interest of the United State* to be at peace
with all nations, but with England more es
pecially. We have the tame interest in
her preservation against France, now, that
we had twelve years ago, in the preserva
tion of France against the combined pow
er*. But our interest, (it may be said,) is,
contingent and remote; that of England
immediate and certain ; and if she will not
own surety, nut will force ui
—— it Ui becomes us to yield to con
•—h of tenfold
into* «•• •
Mil "rations* to which, althou b
weight in’her case, she pays no regard-
In any ordinary case thia vie* of the sub
ject, which has often pressed itself upon
me. would bare great weight. But becauft
her council* are ruled wj infatuation and
insanity ; because every thing like political
sagacity, or even common sense, seems to
have been buried with her two great rival
statesmen, I will not therefore disregard
considerations which involve the very ex
istence of my country. Besides, Sir, I put
it to your candour, whether the crooked
insidious policy of your predecessor was not
calculated to give England, (with all her
faults,) good ground to believe that whilst
we did not dare to mingle in the dangers
of the conflict, we anxiously awaited her
downfall, and omitted no indirect subordi
nate measure that might tend, ns we sup
posed, to accelerate it. But when England
does fall she will fall like the strong man
in the scripture, she will embrace the pil
lars of the temple of human liberty and
human safety, and its destruction will be
the last effort of her desperate strength;
“ imfiavidumferienter alia 7” Was it less
the interest of Sparta and of Athens instead
of wasting themselves in the fatal Pelopo
neaian conflict, to husband their strength
for the common foe, because one of those
states was under a regal, and the other a
popular government ? Even the Greek co
lonies of Asia Minor, although subject to
the Persian monarch, refused to rivet their
chains by lending their assistance to the
great king again* the parent country. It
is impossible, Bir« that a gentleman of your
sagacity and political learning, can for a
moment be deceived by the cant of “ the
liberty cf the eeae aud commercial fieace,
held out by the dictator of Europe to de
lude the multitude both at home and
abroad.'* You are too well acquainted with
the scantiness of our resources; with the
inherent weakness of the government over
which you preside J and with the powers
of French intrigue, and French arms, not
to know how dangerous our situation must
become, when Bonaparte shall have “ con
quered the liberty of the seas.” If, twenty
years ago, io the infant stat# of our west
ern settlements, a party could be formdd to
abjure their allegiance to the United States
and place themselves under the protection
of a government at once odious for its des
potism, and despicable for its imbecility,
what effects may we not expect from the
French spirit of proselytism operating in
thtsame country ? Has it restored the tone
to publick morals? Do you suppose, Sir, to
see the chief agent of\hat conspiracy,
loaded with caresses, and favours of a more
substantial nature, by the government of
his betrayed country ? Would the stern
ness of his republican virtue revolt at the
cordon of the legion of honour, or the in
vestiture of the grand duchy of Orleans?
Or would the new duke efface from our re
collection the turpitude and bestiality of
his worthy prototype, the last duke who
bore that tttlu ? Think you. Sir, that the
republican simplicity of General Smith
would be started * a proposition to make
him a grandfUignitary ot the empire of the
two Americas? the modesty of Mr.
Giles would refute to cut in for these new
honours? In the/number of applicants by
whom you are beset for office, you have a
tolerably good barometer by whioh to cal
culate the pressure upon the French pre
fecture for similar favours. Recollect, that
the population of Louisiana, of the key of
the Mississippi* is French, and that, (take
the British naVy out of the way,) you hold
New-Orleans and the navigation - of the
Mississippi by no other tenure than that by
which the Dutch held Fort Li Ho and the
Scheldt. France, become mistress of the
ocean, can take it when she pleases and
hold it as long a* she pleases. What force
have we to oppose to her ? Long proclama
tions and “ scanty levies?” You, I am sure,
Sir, have too great an insight into the na
ture of man and the constitution of things
to derive much comfort from the recollec
tion of the display of fiatriotiem and energy
which defeated the conspiracy of Col. Burr,
after it had defeated itself. I blush for
my country when I hear it stated as matter
of exultation that a needy and profligate
adventurer has been unable with his single
arm to overturn all our institutions and
place himself at the head of the state, as
a tavern bully would take the head of the
publick table.
In that transaction, in whatsoever light I
view it, I can find no matter for publick
congratulation; In its origin, its conduct,
and its consequences, all is base, humili
ating, and revolting. To crush a single
miscreant the constitution is heaved from
its very foundation : Pelion is heaped upon
Ossa ; the rights of every man in society
are invaded, and yet the criminal escapes!
But enough and more than enough of this
miserable wretch. ,
Although the publick expectation has
not been gratified by your administration,
yet, you have hitherto done nothing which
may not be retrieved. Lay aside the in
volved, ambiguous style in which your pre
decessor has deemed it expedient to clothe
his dark designs. ** Tacitus,” (it has been
well remarked,) ** some where observes
of Tiberius, that his speeches to the Se
nate, by the involutions of the stvlf. at
once bettered tnc character of their au
thour; and seemed to shadow out the pic
ture of his dark and crooked po
** -*» forward to the nation, and
I'npUin'.nd manly lanp-ff. •«■*••>•>«>
und.nl Ml wUhoua aidoOeom-
meatary, excreta the II
upon you by the conttitwSon. .Neither j|
shrink from the responsibility with which
it invest* you, nor degrade your high of- II
fice by paltry intrigues with the legida- I
tare. Give vs your naked unbiassed opin
ion on the state of our affairs: Tell us hon
estly what we have to expect Do your
duty; and be it at their own peril if Con
gress fail In their’*. If it be necessary to
express an opinion of the conduct of the II
Court of St. James’s or its Ambassadour,
let it not be done in the language of the
Court St. Giles's. Above all, save us
from the fangs of France. Leave us not
to curse revolution itself; for which we
•hall have paid too dear a price, if we
purchased'a few years of independence at
the expense of an age, perhaps aneterni- l|
ty of bondage. Cap you anticipate for
your country and for the world, the dark I
and horrid night off despotism which suc
ceed to the usurpation of Octavianus, and
not sicken at the prospect? When the
wretched victim could find no refuge with
in the haunts of civilized man, from his
oppressor ? When the human mind itself I
sunk under the narcotick powers off des
potism? »
The observations which I have deemed
it my duty to submit to you, and through
you to the publick, have been hastily
thrown together under circumstances not I
the most propitious to successful composi
tion. I write—or dictate rather, (for with- I
out the aid of an amanuensis I should be L
unable to address you,) under the pressure
off disease, when the operations of the
mind are, off necessity, slow and painful;
and I am not unconscious of that obscurity 1
and feebleness, which in my present situs- I
tion lam unable to remedy. Under other
circumstances, I flatter myself that this
address would have been leu unworthy of
your attention. I write, however, neither
to acquire fame, nor to gratify spleen—
but to serve my country. lam prepared
for imputations of foreign partialities and
attachments. Every honest man, who, in
1798, attempted to arrest the mad career
of our political Malvolio, was stigmatised
us the adherent of France; and I hope,
Sir, that you had the honour to be of the
nsmber. On this subject off foreign par
tialities, permit me to conclude in the
word* of a treatise, which I earnestly re
commend to your most serious attention.—
I '• shall be called” Tory and fritnd of j
Great-Britain, I “ suppose, for express- |
ing these sentiment*. This is to me a
matter of perfect indifference. I do my
duty in making publick the fact* and im
pression* to which I think it of impor
tance that the attention of the country
should be directed; and am too much qjfc.
cupied with the honest anxiety excited by
these statements, even to be conscious of
the contempt, W'th which, at another
time, I might treat such insinuation*.”
MUCIUB.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Saturday, January 27.
Mr. Haven presented a petition from
Luke Leighton, of N. Hampshire, praying
remuneration for his newly invented plan
of constructing carriages for carrying can
non. Referred to the committee of com
merce and manufactures.
On motion of Mr. Pickman, the message
of the President of the United States of the
12th Inst, relative to capture and condem
nations of American vessels by the belliger
ents of Europe, was referred to the com
mittee of foreign relations.
Mr. Moseley submitted the following re
solution, modified as it is inserted at the
suggestion of several gentlemen, [at first it
included only France,] premising that the
President’s message had referred to com
munications made to France, and to the
result of. those communications as having
not been such as could have been expected.
He thought there could be no objection to
laying them before Congress.
Retolved, That the President of the
United States be requested to cause to be
laid before this House copies of the several
communications made to the government
of France and also of Great-Britain, in
pursuance cf the authorities vested by Con
gress in the Executive, in respect to their
Orders and Decrees, affecting their neu
tral commerce, except such parts as may
in his judgement require secrecy.
Mr. M'Kee moved, that the resolution
lie on the table. He could see no propriety
or utility in asking the President to lay
open the arcana of the Cabinet at a time
too, when negotiation! were supposed to be
pending ? w
Mr. Lyon could not conceive why gen
tlemen were afraid of calling for informa
tion; though it had been whimpered abroad
that government had lately made some se
cret propositions to France.
Mr. Dana could see no objection to the
resolution, as it called only for such com
munications as had been made by the Exe
cutive in pursuance of law.
Mr. Taylor hoped the resolution would
lie on the table, for the purpose of obtain
ing more information than it requested.—
The replies of France and England to these
propositions would also be acceptable. It
had been alleged in the publick papers
that the late measures of the Preet dept.
•ConareiSji.
recommending preparatory mosnres had
been caused by despatches received from »
abroad. This Mr. T. did not believe; the
rumour* have been raised for party pur
pose*. He wished to have thetij put down.
Mr. Troup thought the calf upon the
Executive for papers, had grown into a
serious evil. The books off the Secretary
of State had better at once be laid open to
the House, or their Clerk be converted in
to Secretary of State. He wished the re
solution to lie on the table, that he might
if he deemed it proper, accompany It with
: a call for information relative to an alleged
project for the/separation of the Union.
I The question to lay the resolution on the
table was taken by yeas and nays, and car
ried—73 to 53. »
Mr. Milnor presented a petition from
T. Campbell, a captain in the revolution
ary war, stating his destitute condition, and
calling upon the benevolence of Congress
to afford him such relief, a* in their wis-
I dom they may see fit.—Referred to a
lect committee.
On motion of Mr. Dana, the tame com
mittee were instructed to inquire into the
I propriety of augmenting the full pensions
of invalid officers and soldiers, known to
have been disabled in the war of the revo
lution.
The bill respecting the commercial in
tercourse between the United Statesand
Qreat-Britain and France and their de
pendencies, having been read a third time,
Mr. Mumford made, several additional
remarks against the jbill. He believed
that the moment it was rtfcteived by France,
the port* from the Bosphorus to the White
Sea would be shut against us.
Mr. Fisk advocated the bill. The na
tion were not prepared for war. If the
bill operated partially towards France, the
House were not legislating for the ihterest*
of a foreign nation, but for their own in
terests. What ? should it be said, that
when this House were taking a measure of
national policy, they were to inquire how
would France take it ?
Mr. M‘Kee remarked, that if the bill
operated partially against France in one
respect, it did against England in the ex
clusion of armed vessels. But he could
never go to war, unless it had been recom
mended by the President; and unless ha
found that a very great majority would
support it. A war with England would
throw us into the embrace* of France; and
the affair at Bayonne was art Important
lesson of warning to this nation. He did
not see the policy of conquering Canada i
he had no wish to see Canadian Tories and
! Nova-Scotia Refugees sitting on that floor..
The House adjourned about three o’clock,
without the question or the passage of the
bill:being taken. *
PHILADELPHIA, January 90.
It is with great sympathy that we relate
a dreadful catastrophe that happened at
the Powder Mills of Messrs. Schott and
Mandeville, near Frankford, on the 11th
inst. Mr. Mandeville and the brother to
his partner, Mr. Charles Schott, rode out
to the Mill in the afternoon and entered
the room where a foreman and a labourer
were busily employed preparing salt-pe
tre; a shorb time after their arrival, a boy
entered the apartment and shut the door
hastily, which, together with a defect in
the boiler, caused the salt-petre to take
fire, and the room was instantaneously en
veloped in flames ; Mandeville during the
conflagration made a grasp for the door,
and accidentally hit the latch ; and opened
the door, which was the means of saving
himself and four others from instant death ;
but, alas! only to give them time to pre
pare for another world. The boy died
twelve hours after, the foreman lingered
a few days, the labourer about a fortnight,
and Mr. Charles Schott died on the even
ing of the 26th instant. Mandeville now*
lays very ill, but great hopes are enter
tained of his recovery.
Mr. Charles Schott was in the bloom of
life, loved and esteemed by all who.knew
him. His memory and good qualities wilt
never be forgotten by those who were inti
mately acquainted with him.
Captain Thompson, of the British ship
Mary, 35 days from Liverpool, which ar
rived at Amelia on the 28th December,
reported that a number of British vessels
were fitting out in England for France
having been furnished with French and
British licenses to trade to France and
Holland. The British vessels dere to be
allowed to bring corn from France; it Was
not however, known what cargoes would
be admitted into France. Captain T. also
reported, that S large French privateer
luggers were captured and carried into
Cork just before he sailed.
From Wattinfton, January 27, 1810.
“ The war breeze has entirely blown
over here-—there is not a man in the bouse
now that would dare avow himself an ad
vocate for war—even Desha, of Kentucky,
who made the violent war speech a few
days ago—who took Canada and Nova-
Scotia as easy as any one of hie country
men could take half a pint of whiskey—
'* In the midst of life we are in death.”
top tlje jhatix.
NEW-YORK, February 1.