United States oracle and Portsmouth advertiser — Portsmouth, N.H., 1802-05-01 00:00:00, page 1

' [/I 7 ) have lately noticed in the Gazette of
the United States, aferies of Communi
cations from the Seat of Government,
whic fefrd much mere information of
the proceedings.of Congress than are to be
found in any of the papers printed at
WaJhington. Thefubfequent journal is
from that excellent print.]
MT" E have already Rated that on
Monday ihe sth inst. the ministerial
majority of the House of Representa
tives in Congress, adjourned as they
have been accustomed to do when they
could proceed ne farther without a cau
cys. Our letters enabled us to make a
more complete statement of the pro
ceedings on the resolution of Mr. Gris
wold, already mentioned; The refold
tion firft offered was in the following
wor&j r ;
"Refolded, that the Secretary ,f State be
directed to report to this House 'whether the
sumos 32f^dollars and 54 cents, expend
ed in the repairs, put upon the corvette Ber
ceau before her delivery to the French. Re
public, was expended to fit the Berceau for
the service of the United States, or for the
,purpose of delivering her up in good condition
to the. French . Republic, ingonformity to the
''ftipulations ofthe Convention of the U.Stales
and France-and that he trafrit to this
House, copies of all papers in his office, which
relate to the repairs of the Berceau."
General Smith, who a&ed as Serre
, tary of the Navy, and gave the orders
for repairing the Berceau, appeared to
be alarmed by the refolqtion, and pro
posed thatit mould lie on . the table.. „,
Mr. Griswold laid there was great
difficulty in callingup a resolution laid
mpon the table, and for that reason he
hoped it would be immediately afted
upon. He said there was nothing in
the resolution which required delibera
tion ; it merely, afcd for a fact which
the House ought to know, and. which
the Secretary could very readily com
municate. He had never supposed that
there was any secret in the business
•whic h gentlemen need to hesitate about ;
if that was the case, and they would
fay f^ he had no wish to draw it out:
Ifnot, there ,ould be no reason for
withholding the information from the
House, and tirtife woqld be saved by act
ing upon it immediately. .. ,
Mr. Giles hoped the consideration of
the resolution would be postponed. He
uifclaimed the knowledge of any secre
cy, but wished for time,to consider the
fubje&. He believed that the order for
repairing the Berceau was given by the
, former aHminiftration, and that the
present Secretary had only Completed
what the former one had begun. Be
tides, he said, the resolution called for
, the motives of the Executive, which he
considered as improper. ,
Mr. Bayard,hoped the resolution
• would be a&ed upon,immediately. ,t
was immaterial to him what adminis
tration had given the orders ; but it
was important to know for what pur
pose the ,money had been expended,
whether for,he use of the United States,
or for the use of France. Another ar
gument which Ihewed the importance
of the information was the difference of
opinion between himfelf and the gentle
man from Virginia last up. He had
good reason to believe, and from very
recent conversion. with the former
Secretary of the Navy, that that Secre
tary had expressly ordered,that.no ex
pences fhould.be bestowed upon the Ber
ceau. It was proper for the House and
the Country to know ^Whether his in
formation or that of the gentleman
from Virginia was correct. He declar
ed, that he,could not fee how the infor
mation could be denied ; all that the
resolution afted for was a simple faA,
whether the Berceau wa§ repaired as a
French vessel or an American vessel;
it,was certainly proper that this fa&
should be known ; Never before the
present session had he known informa
tion denied, when that information was
necessary to enable members to form
Correa opinions upon any fubjed of na
tional importance. This information
could be procured with little trouble,
could certainly do no injury, and ought
- therefore to. be granted, though those
who arc in habits cf intimacy with the
affairs of the cabinet may not want it
on their own account. He said the
gentleman from Maryland [G^ Smith]
KoI.XU.) SATURDAY, MAY i, 1802.
Os ALL THE DISPOSITIONS AND HABITS WHICH LEAD TO POLITICAL,
PROSPERITY, RELIGION AND MORALITY are indispensable}
SUPPORTS- Washington's Legacy. j
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. Printed and Published every
Congrefonal "journal.
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, TWENTY-SIXTH YEAR.
Portsmouth
©nitet j^tat^
thinks we ought not to be continually
troubling the Executive officers ; we
must conclude then that these officers
are no longer to be considered as ser
vants. I had not expected, said he, so
soon after this House had voted to those
officers a very cmfiderable increase of
salary, to be told that we must not aft
for information important to us, for
fear of giving them trouble. A gen
tleman has said that we are calling for
the motives of the Executive. We firn
ply aft, was that (hip repaired for the
United States or for France ? Gentle
men will not tell us that the interests of
the United States and of France have
become so entirely one that it can be of
rio importance to the legislature to know
whether 32,000 dollars out of the treas
ury has been expended for the use of the
United States, or for the use of France.
Gen. Smith proposed to amend the
resolution by ftrikmg out Secretary of
State, and inferring Secretary of the
Nayy.
Whether the General supposed that
his brother, the Secretary of the Navy,
would make a more frank and impar
tial disclosure of this affair, in which he
seemed so much mcerefted, than would
be made by the Secretary of State, he
did not directly fay. He was however
opposed to the refolution,even if amend
ed as he proposed, because it went to
demand the motives of the Executive,
and to i& for what purpose they had
made the repairs.
Mr. Dana had no obje&ion .to the a
mendment proposed, if it was thought
more proper to make the enquiry of the
Secretary of the Navy. He was, how
ever of opinion, that there would be no
impropriety in making the application
to the Secretary of State, as that officer
had already, of his own accord, made
several statements refpeding the Ber
ceau, and the sum expended in repair
ing her. - He declared himfelf unable
to understand the force of the objection
which gentlemen made to the resolu
tion, on the ground of its being an en
quiry into Executive motives, He had
not heard the intentions of the Execu
tive relative to this affair impeached,
nor did he feel any inclination to im
peach them ; but he thought it proper
that the House! should know whether
that velfel was fitted up at a public ex
pence for the use of the United States,
or for that of the French nation.
Mr. Randolph went into a zealous
discussion of the resolution laid before
Congress for an enquiry refpe&ing Jon
athan Robbins. He said that the /in
formation called for on that occasion
was denied. , a
Mr. Bayard proved from the journals
that the gentlemen's statement was not
correct ; that the House did allow the
call to be made, the information was
furnifhed by the President and acted
upon by the House. He hoped the fame
course would be pursued Un the present
occasion, ; ,
.A long conversation refpeding Jon
athan Robbins took place ; and would
2robably have continued much longer
ad not the Speaker called back the at
tention of the .House to the resolution
under consideration. c . : /
Gen. Smith, who appeared not at all
to enjoy the debate, moved; to strike out
all that, part of the resolution which,
mentions the sum expended, and which
Mr. Giles said a great deal of noise
had be{n made about this velfel, and
much clamour had been raised against
the President under an idea of his par
tiality to France. If gentlemen expect
ed to increase this clamour by the reso
lution now bro't forward, they would
be disappointed. ;Any sensible man
Would not need a minute's reflection to
convince him that there existed no sym
pathy between the Executive of this
country and that of,France. He hoped
and believed that ihe President felt no
partiality to the government of any
foreign pation, certain he was that,he
felt no such partiality for that ofFrahce.
No two governments could be more
diametrically opposed in their views and
objects than the governments of these
two nations. Mt. Giles said, that a
very few days would convince the world that
nofympathy exists between the Executive of
this country and that, of France. Hewas
opposed to the resolution ; he thought
it improper, and that the precedent
wo ^& e dangerous ; yet to convince
gentlemen that he was disposed to fatis
fy their zeal, he Should vote for it.
.Those who are not acquainted with
the mysteries of the present order of
things, will think it very unaccountable
that the mipifterialifts should spend-two
days in opposing the admission of an ar
ticle of information so perfectly reafon#
able, and so evidently important as that
asked for-by the resolution. The fub
je& deserves a,little explanation. It is
dated in.the documents laid before Coo
grefs, that the repairs put upon the Ber
ceau cost nearly 33,000 dollars. It is
well known that when these repairs
were ordered, she was intended to be
delivered up to France. It is further
known that no appropriation was made
by law for this purpose ; that the Presi
dent, in his message, has talked about
fpecific appropriations, and censured
the expenditure of money without such
appropriations. { It appears by tlie doc
uments laid before Congress, that the
monies expended m the repair of, this
vessel, were taken from the fund appro-,
priated to the fapport of our own navy;
and that by applying them in this man
ner, they hve been diverted from the
Mr. Euftis proposed to amend by
calling for all the papers relative to the
'purchafe as well as the repairs of the
Berceau. He said some facts not ex
pected would be disclosed.
Mr. Griswold had no objection to the
amendment, and was willing to carry
the enquiry to any extent that gentle
men might chufe. He said he was fur
prized to find gentlemen dill excusing
the denial of information which they
seemed disposed to make,under the plea,
that the resolution was an enquiry into
motives. He'put a case which he said
was parallel. Suppose an application
Should be made to purchase cannon and
ball for the navy, and another to
purchase cannon and. ball for the
army. No one would pretend that
miliary stores could be purchased out
of the navy fund.. Suppose then,
that the, Government fliould pur
chase a quantity of cannon and ball
from the fund appropriated to naval
purposes ; ever, one wo,ld fay that the
Legislature would have a right to en,
quire, nay, it would be their duty tQ
enquire for what purpose these supplies
were purchased, and whether the money
had been applied conformably, to the
direction of the law. So in this case we
merely inquire to what purpose a cer
tain sum of public money has been ex
pended ; and when this qileftion has
been officially answered we Shall be able
to decide whether there was any appro
priation which would juftify such an
expenditure.
Mr. Bacon wanted a division of the
question, so that a vote might firft be
taken upon that part of the resolution
which he said enquired into the mo
tives of the repairs, and afterwards upon
that which . called for the copies of pa
pers and documents. He said he should
be opposed to the firft and in favour of
the last. . He said the demand in.the
resolution was just as improper as it
would be to demand of the President,
what was his object in recommending a
repeal of the internal taxes ; whether to
relieve the citizens of a burthen,, or to
destroy the government.., The cases Ure
exactly similar. Mr. Bacon repeated
this three times, and then he fat down.
makes the inquiry whether the expendi
ture was to fit the Berceau for the. Ser
vice,of the United States, q, for delive
ry to France.,
Mr. Nicholson said that it was the firft
time, chat he had heagof a proposition
for calling up@ the Uecutive for their
motives ; for inquiring what was their
object in doing this or that. He said
that the present Secretary could not
give the information demanded by the
resolution, and if he could, it would be
improper to ask for it.
Gen. Smith withdrew his amendment.
Mr. Morris of New-York, moved to
amend the resolution,. by striking out
the Secretary, and inserting so as to re
quest the President to direct the proper
officer to lay the information before the
House.;,,.
Mr. Griswold agreed to the amend
ment, and it was of course adopted—
The question was cglled.for. Some en
quired what the question was. Mr.Grif
wold remarked that no alteration had
been made in the resolution.
Mr. Nicholson said he did not very
well understand the question, and there
fore moved to adjourn. The adjourn
mend was carried.
" In relation to accounts under the cen
tred of the department of state, those of
MrJefferfon have been fettled face thrift
December in the year 1793, and no balance
is due thereon. 1 bofe of Mr. Randolph
have been adjufled, and afuit instituted ev
er face the year '797,fa a balance of a
bout 51,000 dollars, which, notwithstand
ing the jireiiuous efforts of the comptroller,
to bring it to flue, has not yet been decided.
The difficulty to recover balances, due to the
United States, being one of the great impedi
ments to the public service; extracts of the
correjpondence of the dflrif? attorney of
Virginia, on that fubjeft, marked B. are
annexed :—The accounts of Mr. Marshall
have been rendered, but are net yet fettled.
Those of the present secretary of state, for
the floort time, during wbi§b be received-pub
lic monies, are fettled, and no balance is
due thereon.—Those of Mr, Pickering
have been rendered, and bis general aCceunt
has been fated by the Auditor.—By this it
appears, that, with the exception of two
items fufipended fir want of vouchers, or
difpael by the parties, be has accounted for
all the public monies received by him, so far
as tofrow, that the whole has been applied
for public purposes..
In the account of Mr. Pickering given
to the committee, is a credit ^14,588 dol
lars 54 cents,gained in the purchase of bills
of exchange, probably in making remittance
to Holland—ls Col. Pickering had been
the leaf disposed to jpeculate on public mo
ney, how, easy would it have been, to have
pocketed this money. . How absurd then, to
. charge a man, .of openly converting public
money to bis own use, who neglected so easy
a mode of acquiring upwards of 14,000
dollars. But Col. Pickering does not want
defence, the people of the United States ase
too well fatisfed, cf his integrity, to give
credence any longer, to the infamous charges
which have been urged against bins.
The above extract from Mr. Gallatin's
report, is given to fhen» that the might, bub
ble is burst, the mountain, after a most
painful perturbation has brought forth a
mouse. . ?
<An out cry was raised againfl the officers
under the late administration, for bating
converted tb their own private use; millions
of dollars.-—lt was an eleßioneering trick,
and bad its effeft upon the country. When
however, the fallhood and absurdity of the
charges .were-about to.be proved ; the people
w@re called upon to; suspend their opinion till
Mr. Gallatin foould h^ve time tofcrutinize
the 'accounts of these delinquents, and the
mos important and wonderful difeoverier
would be made — Behold the fruit of ayear's
labour ; that " Mr. Pickering has account
ed for all the public monies received by him,
Jo far arto /how, thgt the whole has been
applied for public purposes with the .-excep
tion of two items Jufpended for want of
vouchers, or deputed b, the parties," which
item> we are informed are aj small value.
" Out of thine own mouth will I conbid
thee." .
People of America, .bow long will you
fufo yourselves to be deceived, by these elec
tioneering tricks ? How,long will you fufi
far those to retain that power, which tas
acquired Jy such falfoood and deception ?
Pelage the mulatto, at present ruler
at Guadaloupe, was formerly a /lave,
and was taught the brick-layers business.
objects of the appropriation, and appli
ed to defray the expences of our foreign
intercourse. Every body knows how
much clamour there has been railed a
gainst the former administration, not
for 'taking monies from a fund appropri
ated to one object and replying them
to a totally different objel as has been
done here, but merely for making par
ticular applications under general ap
propriations ; such as applying part of
the funds appropriated to naval purpos
es to the purchase of naval yards, &c.
Under these xircumftan.ces, the minif
terialifts could not be prevailed upon to
have official documents laid before the
public, which would prove that they
have gone so much beyond all former
example in the diferetionary application
of public money, at the very time that
they were crying out against allowing
any diferetioa whatever.
Early in the present fefon of Congress a
committee was appointed, at the request of
Mr. Nicholson, to investigate the state of
the Treasury, and examine the accounts of
the secretaries —• The committee applied to
Mr. Gallatin, for information — The fol
lowing is an extract of bis dnfwer to the
committee.
From the Washington Federalist.
Saturday, Morning, by WILLIAM TREADWELL, & C^
^ADVERTISEMENTS reasonably fc!sconspicuously, inserted—COMMU
f NICA.TIONS duly attended to—and every FAVOR THANKFULLY
< ACKNOWLEDGED.
PRICE I DOLLAR 50 CENTS Per Annum. [No. 31
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, FOURTEENTH YEAR.
Advertiser.
®^CI& anti
From the WEST-INDIES. ™
[The following papers appear to be a pro
test of the American merchants at the
Cape.] by
TOBIAS LEAR, i^
General Commercial Agent of th United States.
SIR, .
OUR duty compels us to date to
you the numerous grievances under
which our commerce in this country
has already too long fuffered,and which
we were induced to bear in silence so
long, in the hope of their being speedi
ly redressed.—We are forty to End,
that so far from this hope being realiz
ed, every day serves only to produce
new instances of oppredion and vexa
tion.
Upon the firft arrival of the French
army and fleet in this place, the only
American property that remained from
the late general dedrudion, was a few
cargoes on board of vessels in the har
bour ; these, or such articles of them
as suited the government, .were fold to
them on their own -terms, and their own
mode of payment ; we were taught to
believe, from the circumstance of the
case, that this was a measure merely
for the moment, and dictated by the
mod urgent neceflity Experience,
however, has proved to us, that it is an
established rule, to which all American
velfels are to be fubjed, whild French
vessels arriving here with the fame ar
ticles on board, are permitted to land
their cargoes immediately, and dispose
ofithem to whom they please. ^.
The mode in which we are to be paid
for sales to government, is one fourth
in caffi, and three-fourths in bills on
France at two months ; this mud un
queltionably be a Source of feiious lof&
and inconvenience to the merchants on
the continent—Bills on France being
altogether out of the regular channel
of American commerce, and it being
impoiTible to raise cash on them to meet
those engagements; the length of time
necessary to afeertain the fate of those
bills, and the expences in commission
and other charges (unvoidable in the
regular rotine of business) with the loss
which in all human probability, must
be sustained in remittances from France
to America—and above all, the length
of time that the American merchants
must be deprived of their money, at a
time when it is so essential, will, we fear,
as soon as it is. known, stop all further
supplies to this colony. But thi&griew
ance, already so ruinous in its effect, is
rendered dill more intolerable by the
delays which we experience in the pay.
ments—After having complied with
the contrad on our part, by delivering;
our goods; and at a moment, when,
for the reasons before mentioned, too
much expedition cannot be used, in
getting the bills forward— : We are told
we mud wait the arrival of the Gene
ral in Chief, before we can get paid ;
his official occupations or dome acci
dent may prevent his return to this
place—in which case we are tb be de
prived of our funds and vessels that
may have been ordered to wait for
their return (as is generally the case)
are liable to be totally ruined. .
The unparalleled difficulties and de
lays which we experience at the custom
house in entering and clearing vessels,
is- a grievance of the mod serious na4
ture. Ten and 12, and sometimes 16
days, are requisite to enter or clear an
American velfel, when a French vessel
is fuffered to proceed without a mo
ment's detention. Where the cause of
this lies, we cannot pretend to fay ;
but it appears very evident that it is
done for the express purpose of incom
moding and embarrassing the Ameri
can commerce as much asfpoffible.—
The whole world does hoi produce
such instances of partiality and procras
tination in a custom-house. „ When we
fold to the government, the sales were
made according to the usual customs
of this place-Some things it was cus
tomary to fell by the barrel, without
fpecifying the quantity contained in it,
such as wine, beef, pprk, &c. &c—Up
on the delivery of those articles, we
were surprised to find that every hogs
head or barrel was to contain a given
quantity, which in the article of wine,
was well known that they seldom or
ever contained that quantity,and upon
which,notwithstanding thefale was un
derstood to have been made in a differ
ent way, there will aiifc a loss of at