United States oracle and Portsmouth advertiser — Portsmouth, N.H., 1803-09-17 00:00:00, page 1

From the BALANCE.
No. 11.
A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE DISAD
VANTAGES AND BENEFITS, WHICH
WOULD PROBABLY ACCRUETO THEU
NITED STATES, FROM AN ENLARGE
MENT OF THEIR TERRITORIAL
LIMITS BY THE PURCHASE OF E[-
THtR
LOUISIANA OR THE FLORIDAS.
0
HEeriormous him of money,that
has been plighted in the purchase of
Louisiana, demands, and -cannot fail
eventually to excitea lively attention—
The sale of a wilderness has not usually
commanded a high price. A veiyex
tenfive diftrid, in that part of New-
England called the Province of Maine
was fold by Ferdinando Gorges,for the
sum oftwelvehundreds fiftypounds fter
ling,in the year 1677; which was more
than fifty years after the Settlements of
several parts of Massachusetts, in the
neighbourhood of that diftri&, had
been begun. And even since the . Amer
ican revolution, there have been fold in
Massachusetts, which is one of the old
ell and belt cultivated Rates in the u
nion, very large trads of new lands for
only a few pence an acre.
Fifteen million two hund> ed end fifty fte.
sand dollars is a number that may be Ut
tered with the tongue,in a finale moment,
anb without any effort: it may also be
deferibed on paper, in characters or figures
with a few Strokes of a pen . yet one,
perhaps among a thousand comprehends
it, or hasany adequate idea of megnimde.
Let us fuxvey this enormous max's of
money, fifteen million two hundred
and hhy thousand 'dollars, allowing
sixteen ounces to the pound, and two
thou And pounds to 'he ton, would a
mount to four hundred and thirty-three
tons of tiiver : it would load eight hun
dred and Uxty fix waggons, at the xate
ofotre thoufaud pounds weight iiieach.
If thofc waggons, loaded with fiber,
were placed in a line, allowing the
space of two rods for each waggon and
its team, (which would be as near to
gether as they could conveniently trav
el,) they would reach five miles and
and nearly a third of a mile. If this
silver were put into bags fifty pounds
wt. in each, & a file of men were placed
at the distance of one red from each
other, every one bearing on hi§ (houl
der one of those bags of fiver, the file
would extend a little more than fifty
four miles. If the whole mass of til
ver,which the afortfaid sum amounted
to, were laid in a heap and a labour
were hired to (hovel it into waggons,
one thuufand pounds weight in each,
and reckoning the loading of sixteen
waggons for a days' woxk, he would
be employed more than two months in
accomplishing the fcrvice.
A public debt of fifteen million two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, di
vided equally among all the white peo
ple men, women and children, in the
United Spates, would be about three
dollars to each individual : if divided
among all the men in the United States
who are the real owners of freeholds
or any other property worth five hun
dred dollars,it would probably average
little, if any, less than forty dollars to
each individual (hare. All the silver
and gold coin in the whole union,
were it collected and amassed together,
would fall vaflly Short of such a sum.
An immediate payment being therefore
impoflible, the nation mult be loaded
with a debt, which will run on interest
to an indifinite period.—What is the
amount of the yearly interest of fifteen
million two hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars ?—At seven per cent, it
amounts to one million sixty-seven
thousand and five hundred dollars :—
in other words, the yearly interest of
that sum amounts to more than thirty
+ons of silver. The yearly interest of
fifteen million two hundred and fifty
houfand dollars, if the capital were
appropriated for a fcb^lfcnd, might
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE TWENTY.SEVENTH YEAR. rf^f^^!!^^ FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, FIFTEENTH YEAR. ^
Gotten States ®rarte, anb
Portsmouth &^ Advertiser.
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. Printed and Publiflied every Saturday Morning, by Will'm & Dan'l. Treadwell,
"'• XIII.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,1803. Price one dollar and fifty cents per ann. [No. 50.
Os ALL THE DISPOSITIONS AND HABITS WHICH LEAD TO POLITICAL) flfi (rfADVERTf SEMENTS ,fo,^%^fr^-CoMMU
PROSPERITY, RELIGION & MORALITY ARE INDISPENSABLE > , ) nications duly attended to—and every Favor thankfully acknowl
supports WASHINGTON'S Legacy. J ™ ( edged.
William Penn obtained thevaft wilder
nefs,which isnow the Rate of Pcunfylva.
nia for the sum (if my memory iscorred)
of about five thousand pounds Gerling ;
in commutation for a debt which the
Britifn government owed his father, and
which, from the low Rate of the public
financeswas not obtainable in cafli. Those
turns, compel 10 the vast sum, which
has been promised for the possession of
Louisiana, are Ike drops compared to the
ocean.
support forever two thousand one hun
dred & thirty-five excellent free schools,
allowing five hundred dollars to each ;
and reckoning fifty Scholars to a School,
there might in such a difoofal of the
money, be cohftantly inputted at the
public expence, the number of one
hundred and fix thousand seven hun
dred and fifty children ; who, by a
proper education, might become intel
ligent and ufeful members of the repub
lic. At the present moment, there
arc many thousand, perhaps not fewer
than a hundred thousand 'children,
within the limits of the United States,
who are growing up as ignorant al
most as the savages.
And for whose benefit principally
are those millions of dollars to be ex
pended ? Principally for the benefit of
the Southern and Weßern people.^
Will they pay their proportion of the
debt ?— They will not.—The excise
on their whifcey is taken off ; & what
they pay in support of the government
and toward the difeharge of the public
41ebtfyis comparatively trifling.—The
,burden of difehargiug the annual inter
est of this immenTe debt will fall upon
the Atlantic States and mostly upon
the Eastern and middle States ; which
can receive comparatively but little ad
vantage from the acquisition of avast
and distant Weftern Wilderness.—Nor
can it escape notice, that the purchase
of Louisiana was negociated at a junc
ture the most favourable which could
possibly happen, for obtaining that wil
derness on cheap terms. Bonaparte,
who was then engaging in a war with
England, well knew that during the
continuance of that war he would be
unable to colonize Louisiana : he well
knew also that bis rival would probably
seize it. The property that he put on
sale, he whs effectually debared from
pofleffing ; and was alfe in the utmost,
danger of losing. This circumstance
tends to increase the public aftonifhulent
at the enormous price which has been
pledged, on the part of the American
negociators. The foregoing remarks
are predicated on the supposition that
there will be no reduction of the sum
which has been engaged in the purchase
of Louisiana : perhaps, however,there
may be a considerable reduction of
that sum, by an exchange of Louisiana
for the Floridas.
CALCULATOR.
sere—!^=^^T===^^
[D^Bor Baker, while be seems refilled to
flick to bis party, is obliged to combat
their principles and measures. Thefol
lowing is one of bis pieces under the fg
nature of "Plain Truth.]
To the Editor. Sir,
IN the management of every regular
government the people will find
there is a point in the condud of men,
beyond which it is criminal to be silent,
and traitorous to tolerate. In ordina
ry cases, laws are made to punish such
offences, and courts are established to
investigate the fads. But there has
grown out of our great hospitality to
wards foreigners, and the political ani
mosities among ourselves, a dangerous
usurpation, which it seems there is no
legal power to controui. It is a prin
ciple admitted and declared by us, that
the people have a natural right to'fe
cure their own fafety and happiness.
It is a constitutional maxim, that pow
ers not granted to the general govern
ment are reserved to the States respec
tively, or to the people. It is a fad,
which ought always to be remembered,
that we are a diftind and sovereign na
tion, and that our government was
made for our own people, and not for
the outcasts of other countries. If
then the present administration have no
constitutional power to check the out
rages, the daring insults, of unprinci
pled foreigners, who have flown here
to escape punishment in their own coun
tries, the people ought to delegate such
a power ; and if the authorities thus
constituted do not protest us against
their perfidy and insolence, let us with
one voice change our rulers ; let the
native virtue of our country be roused
into energy, and crush at once this blas
phemous, usurping phalanx of foreign
ers. Surely there can be no Ameri
can who does not believe the accounts
of their behaviour in Pennsylvania, and
who does not forefee what it must end
in, But there are certain important
From the Washington FeJeralift.
dier" whilst he shews his fears, if all his
toils—all his, fufferings and dangers,
were undertaken and borne, with an
expedition that foreigners might gov.
ern his poflerity, and have the benefits
of office ?—many of these foreigners
perhaps were in the enemies ranks in
the day of battle !
Our constitution has given the true
eligibility to office, in faying that no
person ffiall be PreGdent who is not a
native born citizen,or a citizen at that
time ; and even in these cases, he must
have resided here fourteen years. Pol
icy, justice experience, and I am very
certain the unanimous voice of native
citizens, will be for felf government,
which alone can give us a dignified;
sovereign, national char after.
The Second point is, the innate at
tachment of every man to the country
which gave him birth. It must be in
the recollection of every elderly man, at
least, that the partiality of the Scotch
before the revolution was proverbial—
that the persecuting, unrelentlefs hatred
of the English, Scotch, and Irish during
the war, and since, towards Americans,
has been justly complained of, with
some exceptions. Even Fiench levity
and German anfterity are alike difdain
ful of every thing American."* The
love of country is intuitive. It has
ever been cherished among the strongest
ties, the noblest virtues. It grows and
(Lengthens with our yeais, and be
comes a part of our nature. Through
every nation, in all the ti anfaCtions of
life, we may trace its influence upon for
eigners. They cling together like the
creeper to the elm, and cannot be fe
vered but to return toiheir native foil.
I appeal to the candour of every gentle
man to fay if these things are not true—
and as they are true, let me appeal also
to their understanding, and alk why are
we to fly in the face of all experience, of
all justice, by giving foreigners the offi
ces in our government, and (hutting the
doors of honor against native citizens ?
But more than this, why do we fuffer
the most abandoned foreigners to com
mit outrages ip our country with impu
<ity, for which, in anyother, they would
fuller death ? Let me fuppoie a case,
which certainly may happen, and for
ought I know, has happened. If
France or England mould have designs
againtt this country, could they not
fend over men of talents here - let them
parts of the fubjeCt of foreigners which
people seem to have forgotten.. To fay
nothing about the felf evident truth
that every country finds most security
in its own citizens—to pats over the ex
perience of every country upon earth,
which has fuTered from the introduc
tion of foreigners—to overlook the mis
eries which their principles of infidelity
have produced—we ought as an inde
pendent nation to confider them in
three other.points of view.
, ift —as refpeds our national cha
racter ;
id—the inborn attachment of every
man to the country which gave him
bi^th— and \ .
3d —that no Country ought to give
citizenship to a man who cannot de
fend that country against her enemies.
, . The national character of this coun
try is "The United States of America."
— All the citizens of the United States,
at the Peace of 'B3 and their descend
ants, were declared by the Treaty to
be independent of Britain ; those who
have.come since from Britain are Hill
British fubjeds in the eye of the En
glith law. Now if our Congress and
Government are to be composed of
men, who have come here since the
Peace, we are governed by British fnb
jefts and not by our own people. What
.will the Governments in Europe think
of us as a nation, when they have to
tranfaft business with our public offi
cers, many of whom have been spewed
out of their own jails.? What would
Mr. Jefferfon have faid,if he had been
told, when the British army so wanton
ly destroy his property (about which
time he was waiting those just and ele
gant remarks upon foreigners in his
Notes on Virginia) that before twenty
years fhould.eome round, a British sol
dier, and a British fubjed too, should
migrate to this country, and in his pub
lic paper profcrib'e many of ou'r bed ci
tizens, and prevent free Americans
from the right of fuffrage at a public
eleftion ? And this too whilst Mr. Jef
ferfon himfelf was President of the U
nited States ! Aik the "war-worn fol-
The friends to the following petition,
now in circulation through Prince
George's county, Maryland, for the
tignatures of the citizens .'Merely hope
there is no indecorum in thus giving it
publicly before it is presented to Con
gress.
To the Honorable the Senate and House
of Representatives ofthe United Status
in Congref; afonbled.
The petition of inhabitants of Prnee
George's county and State of Maryland,
humbly (heweth,Thac your petitioners,
feeling the rig ht of Freemen to the ex
ercise of opinion, and the constitutional
privelege of /Americans to remunerate
to their rulers, cannot forbear at this
time to express their great fenfibiliry &
alarm at the very improper interference
of many foreigners who have come a
mong us, both in our political and re
ligious institutions. The history of
Europe for the last fifteen years is an
awful admonition to American inno
cence, and warns us to be faithful to
ourselves. While we make our grate
ful acknowledgements to Omnipotence
for the Angular exemption of thiscouhtry
from the miseries of Europe, and con
template our unexampled proferity,
the reflecting mind retraces with horor
the bloody footfteps of men who have
migrated to this once happy land, dis
seminating the very principles which
have produced those miseries. We have
seen the unwearied exertions of such
foreigners to arrange our people into
parties, and inflame the public mind,
by means of Newspapers. We fee the
presses generally in such hands. We
have seen the American nation insulted
by indecent petitions at the very last ces
sion of Congress. We have seen their
attempts to degrade our executive by
dictatorial memorials on the fubjeCt of
office. We have seen the whole mer
cantile class of cur citizens branded
with infamy. We have seen with con
siderable alarm their designs to over
turn the system of jurisprudence in a
fitter Rate. We have fun with inJig.
The last part of this fubjed refpe&s
the right of foreigners to citizenship,
when they cannot yield their allegiance.
It is an admitted principle in all govern
ments, and among all nations, that no
man is entitled to the proteaion of any
Country, unless he can render his perfo.
nal service to defend that country against
its enemies. , Now I do aver, and dare
even Duane to deny it, that every man,
woman, and child, who have come to re
file in the United States, from England,
Ireland, or Scotland, since the treaty of
peace in 1785, are at :h;s time British
fubjefts, and if they are found in arms
against Britain, will be bung upon the
firft. tree—if the? are found on board of
(hips, they will swing at the yard arm.
Here then is unfolded the truth, the real
fixation of the men who have come here
usurping the direction of our country !
In case of a war, they dare not appear in
arms—and ought our country to be peo
pled by such charaßers ? Ought these
men to rule us ? In the event of a ques
tion of national interest, how tVould such
men probably vote, when their native
country is implicated ? Until human na
ture is changed, fa requires ho inspiration
to foretell.
PLAIN TRUTH.
Prince George's County, Augtift 20,1803.
*We bear the Scotchman fay at dinner,
that our Black Fife are the beftf/h he has
eatfince be left Scotland —the Englishman
that our whitebacks are the heft ducks he
has tafled since be was in England—the
Frenchmen that our ortalons were almofl
as good as birds in France —the German
that our venison was feme of it tolerably
good, but not like the German deer—and
when the bottle comes round the, all pro
claim the wine "The best they have drank
in America !"
take the oaths, and get into Congress ?
and will they not be able to pry into
every circumstance and feeret of the
government? Who is to hinder them,
since they are members of Congress ?
But suppose they go farther, and get a
majority (which they certainly can do
if they please, for it only requires mo
ney and talents) where then is our
boasted liberty ? If foreigners, 0 ye
deluded Americans, are permitted to
come here, and there be not fomechange
in our naturalization law, farewel to
every thing we hold sacred and dear to
us!
From the Wahhington Federalist
The slave that digs it, and the flavc that hides
"Our, old mother Earth once laid an
indidment against Avarice before the
Courts of Heaven for her wicked and
malacious counsel and advice, in tempt
ing, inducing, persuading and treach
eroully seducing the children of tire
plaintiff to commit the detestable crime .
of parricide upon her, and mangling
her body, ransacked her very bowels
for hidden treasure." This indictment
was very long and verbose ; but we
must omit a great part of the repeti
tions and fynonimous terms, not to tire
our reader too much with our tale.
"Avarice being called before Jupiter to
answer to this charge, had not much to
fay in her own defence. The injury
was clearly proved upon her. The
fad, indeed, was notorious, and the in
jury had been frequently repeated.
. When therefore the plaintiff demanded
justice, Jupiter very readily gave sen
tence in her favour ; and his decree
was to this purpose : 1 ha: since dame
Avarice, the defendant, had thus grie
vously injured dame Earth, the plain-,
tiff, ty ranking her ^m, ibe
nation and refencment them daring
threats publifh p c! in the Aurora paper,
to deter free Americans frOTn the exer
cise of the right of fuffiage at a public
eleftion, and we fee wrh inexpreilitle
regret that such men have wormed
themselves into a participation in office.
The patient fufferance of native citi
zens tinder such a train of indignity
and usurpation, Your Honors will be
lieve it strong evidence of our forbear
ance and love of order. In the fame
spirit of humanity we now alk from
our government the constitutional lem
edy against such enormities. Your pet
itioners sincerely with their complaints
could flop here ; But whilst the con
dua of such foreigners, in these par
ticulars only, might be accounted for
in their acknowledged contempt —their
known hatred for native Americans, &
their desire to acquire wealth and in
fluence, their attacks also upon the
Christian religion, gives it like the parts
of a great machine put together, the
form and shape of a system. Such a
fyfiem exited in miserable France and
could not be diffoived but with the
blood of millions of men. We hold
these truths to be incontrovertible,
founded in natural reason and the fad
experience of ancient and modern times ;
That the United States ought to be
governed exclusively by native citizens,
and that Christianity, the religion of
our ancestors, is the only fare balls of
social order. It is a native citizens on
ly who can feel the endearing obliga
tions of the Love of our country —It:
is a Chriflian only who can feel the un
crating incentive to moral rectitude.
Solemnly imprelTed with these con
siderations, your petitioners resort to
the great councils of our country to
allay our appreheofions and to arrelt
the growing evils in such manner as in
their wisdom may be thought bed for
the lading pr ofperity of Americans, and
your petitioners as in duty bound will
Pray-.
From the Mirror cf the Timm
.—o—
—
0
Among the fables of M. de la Motte,
there is one levelled against avarice, which
teems to be more natural an I tafy then
most of the fables of that ingenious au
thor. " A miser, " Lys he, " being dead,
and fairly interred came to the banks of
the Styx, desiring to be ferried over elong
with the other ghosts. Charon demanded
his fare, and is surprised to lee the miser,
rather then pay it, throw himfelf into the
river and swim over to the other fide, not
withstanding all the clamour and opposi
tion that could be made to him. All Hell
was in an uproar, and each of the judges
was meditating lome punishment, suitable
to a crime of Inch dangerous confquence
to the infernal revenues. Shall be be
chained to the rock along with Prome
theus ? Or tremble below the precipice in
company with the Danaides ? Or assist
Sisyphus in rolling his done? No, lays
Minos, none of these; we must invent
some severer punishment. Let him be
sent back to the earth to fee the use his
heirs are making of his riches."
I hope it will not be interpreted as a ce
fign of fitting my felf in oppofrion to this
famous author, if I proceed to deliver a
fable of my own, which is intended to ex
pose the lame wife of avarice. The hint
was t^ken from these lines of Mr. Pope ?
Damn'd to the mines, an equal fats betides