The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-06-12 00:00:00, page 2

multi be a groat contempt of the House to
purloin or copy that part of the journal for
' publication. But it it the “journal” a lone
that b held sacred. It b those part* of
the journal only which the House may de
termine (it Would teem by an expreta vote)
to be improper to be published, and not
ajty other papers whatever, which are not
entered on the journal, that are thus pro
tected by the shield of the constitution, and
screened'forever from the vulgar
What to “ a journal of proceedings ?”*-
Certainly neither mire nor lest than a re
cord of aOUr The House, in parliamen
t's' tary phrase, “ proceeds to consider” this
or the other matter, and the statement of
its “ proceedings," thrown into the form of
a diary, constitutes the “journal.” As it
does not beep a journal of debates, it is
neither required to publish its debates, nor
can it prevent the publication of them, al
though they may have taken place with
Closed doors. For instance, when the
House refused to publish the journal of it*
procMdings upon the secret proposition to
buy Arabia the Bandy, (Florida.) any
member had a right to state what was said
jkre and con, upon the subject generally, if
r *.
aorta power, and beefy /Wrbfr
Nd to “ determine the rules of its pnceefl
<■' fage,” it la clear as light that this HiMu-
SIO* to thake rales of form, has no natural
| fumnorna whh the command to keep a
Journal, which is a rule of substance pre
scribed by the constitution itself, and of
Course a necessary and indispensable one.
♦ The rules of proceeding arc to govern
members only, and only while members.—
Th* right to keep a part of the journal se
cret must bind all men at all time*. If ex
ercised conformably to the constitution, it
he stated no motion or vote. The distinc
tion is obvious. Motions and votes are en
tered upon the journal, arguments and elo
quence are not. It seem* that In England
the exclusion of the populace from the gal
leries has not been considered a* involving
a denial of the right of the member* to
publish even the proceedings, a* we learn
by the following Curious article from a late
number of that celebrated publication,
Bell'a Weekly Meaaengcr. "We remem
ber a time, during the administration of
Lord North, when the gallery was oner
abut. [Only ** once” in the reign of the
e.cat “Tory,” North! Our “Whig*”
of the West ure not so scrupulous.] The
report of the proceedings, however, went
on in the newspapers as usual. They were
furnished by members themselves. Till al
length the good humoured Lord, in the blue
ribbon, stepped across the House to Mr.
Fox, and said, “ Really, Mr. Fox, since
we have turned reporters ourselves, the
speeches arw so clumsy there is so much
misrepresentation, au<l so much nonsense,
that we must open the gallery Joor in our
own defence.” This remark was better
calculated for the meridian of Loudon than ’
it would now be for that of Washington.
The majority of our legislators must either
be silent, or speak with closed dtors, if
they mean to be respected by the people.—
They can never be under the necessity of
opening the galleries in defence of their
own reputation as men of intellect.—
Enough however of this. Nur is it clear
that we are obliged to adopt the common
law of Parliament. But if that body, which
is sometimes, with a spice of profunaoess,
Called “omnipotent,** dot s not presume to
consider its unquestioned right to hold se
cret sessions as involving that of prevent
ing the publication of its secret proceed
ings, it would seem to indicate a little arro
gance in a Legislature whose powers are
so limited as those vt Congress, to presume
to say that documents which form no part
of its journal are not to be published, be
cause it is permitted to keep a portion ot
the journal itself secret!
The task which the writer has under
taken may be a task of years. He hopes
to be enabled religiously to perform his en
gagement* to the people. But as he an
nounces explicitly, as the result of lung and
deep reflection, that he conceives himself
entitled tn make use of at least the sub
stance of all the documents upon which
Congress has acted, and of the whole of
the debaterof the House of Representa
tives, be they now publick, or be they yet
private, even the “ uninitiated” will in a
moment be satisfied that the field before
him is “ voluminous and vast.” The tor
rent of popular passion is now so resistless,
that if any good can aver be expected to
result from these pages, it must be of a
date at least as distant as the probable ter
mination of them. The responsibility of
the writer may be a tremendous one, but
he assumes it with ail the cheerfolnes* of
principle, and will meet its consequences
With all thr firmness of patriotism.
rjKQM rat rtDtttL tttrutticAH.
Or tnat servile spirit, which charac
terises the chief* of our democracy; which
crouches beneath the lash of France; and
bends under the yoke of Bonaparte, such
multiplied proofs have been given, that
any additional evidence of it, far from ex
citing kurprise, can scarcely attract atten
tion. Injuries which in better times w mid
have roused the high' toned and indignant
mind of America, and havg awakened in
every bosom those generous and patriotick
feer.* », which can alone preserve the in*
dependence they gave, have been long con-
templated as ordinary event*, which, if
they posse** any influence, serve only to
prepare us to execute the will of him from
whom they proceed.
To enumerate the accumulated wrongs
and insults which, submissive and unoffend
ing, America ha* sustained, without a
murmur, wouhl he only to present in easts,
what Has passed in rapid detail, without
provoking the slightest resentment, or
‘stimulating us to the manifestation of one
national sentiment •.
If the interdiction of our commerce with
othgtotations; the seisure and confiscation
of our property found at sea or in France,
or in countries reduced to slavery by her
arts and her arms; the burning of our
merchant vessels on the ocean; the im
prisonment and sale of our seamen, and
the contumelious language addressed to
our government, had only produced that
apathy, which, with uncomplaining meek
ness bear all that is imposed, the cup of
American humiliation would have been
sufficiently full.
But this patient suffering does not satisfy
the tyrant of continental Europe. It is not
enough that We are passive subjects—he
commands us to be active, and the hrfpe
rious mandate must be obeyed. He calls
upon us to enter into the league be has
formed against a free and a gallant people,
who are now fighting the battles of the
world, and who present the only obstacle
to his ambitious views. Let him subdue
Britain, and Bonaparte is the Lord of our
earth.
The tools, therefore, of this extirpator
of human liberty, while silent a* the grave
with respect to the actual war waged upon
us by France, find in every measure of the
British government cause of quarreL The
artifice of concealing real injuries and sub- 1
stantial dangers, under the mask of loud
and clamourous indignation against acts ot
questionable right, and expressions in their
nature equivocal, has long been practised
with lamentable success. While the Smiths
the Giles’s, the Eppes's and a long et cetera
in Congress, exhibit no symptom of feeling
at the stripe* inflicted on their submissive
country by Bonqparte, they loudly and
boisterously demand, that war against Eng
land, to force us into which, the future
master of the “ two Americas” avows to'
be his motive for applying the scourge.
In this degrading course, they are pow
erfully aided by those Gazettes, which are
the almost exclusive channels through
which a too credulous majority will receive
information. The papers, which are un
derstood to convey to the people the senti
ments of their rulers, either with unblush
ing effrontery justify the undisguised usut -
pations of the tyrant, at whose feet they
crouch, or diminish their effects by a half
conMttment Bnc * tl>e insinuation of
apologies. Meanwhile the force of ,a F
gtfage is exhausted tn the endeavour to
stimulate every angry passion against Bri
tain. It would seem as if the attainment
of every human good depended on pros
trating at the feet of Bonaparte the only
power which can check his furious career.
No misrepresentation is too gross to be
made; no exaggeration too extravagant
to be imposed on foe publick. For every
action the worst meftives are assigned ; and
measures, which are the inevitable result
of the present state of things, are tortured
into Indications of hostility.
By boldly drawing unwarranted infer
ences, and daringly asserting them as
facts; by concealing or lightly passing over
the deep, perhaps mortal wounds inflicted
on our independence, by the tyrant, who
conceals only from the wilfully blind the
chains he has forged, the attention of the
American people is directed from the tre
mendous danger which is ready to burst
upon them, and all their powers are di
rected against that nation, which stands
alone between them—and that all devour
ing gulph which has swallowed up the con
tinent of Europe.
Pre-eminently conspicuous in these crim
inal machinations is the National Intelli
gencer. The confidential situation ascribed
to the editor of that paper gives to the
poison it disseminates an active efficacy not
always to be resisted even by those not pre
disposed by the structure or bias of their
minds to receive its venom. With unsleep
ing eye he watches every opportunity,
which the progress of thing* may pi esent,
to rekindle that interminable hate of Eng
land which Bonaparte breathes into all hi*
creatures. No occasion is permitted to
escape. He seizes on every event which
can be so managed as to aid this purpose,
and employs every artful colouring, which
may deceive the American people into a
mistaken view of their real situation.
It is not intended to collect from the co
lumns of that paper, the numerous proofs
of the profligate conspiracy against our in
dependence, with which they are filled.—
But his recent remarks on the correspon
dence between Mr. Pinkney and the Mar
quis of Wellesley ought not to escape ani
madversion. ARMINIUS.
Antiquity a* well at the modem timet
may bo*st of tome exceedingly fine and
vcrv exquisite performance* of human art.
CaUicratrt, a* recorded by .Elian and Pli
ny, had made in Ivory, tome anta and other
animals, so small, that then- limbi, very ex-
EXTRAORDINARY PRODUCTIONS.
• ft
actly formed, were imperceptible to other
eyes bet bi* own. Probably, even in they
days, many artists, and not a few state*
men, are continually aeeking out inven
(tone, the foiiity of which is obvious to
themselves only. Not only the Patent-
Office, but the very Capitol itself, in thi
magnificent metropolis of the seventeen
United Stat**, affords some illustrations oi
the truth of this position.
Myrmecidea constructed a coach with
four horses, and the coachman in so small
a compass that' the whole could lie cover
ed with the wing of a fly. A vessel of the
same artist was covered with the wing of
a bee. What a pity that Myrmecidea and
Jefferaon could not have been cotempora
ries!* A perfect coincidence of taste and
talents would have led the latter to serve
an apprenticeship to the former, and when
out of his time, he could have made his
“gun-boats” so small that they coaid
have been preserved under the dried wings
of a few of hi* Louisiana butterflies, and
thus have foved altogether the expense
of “ dry aheda."
on a ring, in a chariot drawn by four horses,
on each of which could be distinguished the
reins and other trappings, with their fore
'teeth, apd all their motions.
Solinua relates that the Iliad of Homer
was written in characters so small as to be
contained in a nutshell. We are author
ized to say, as the National Intelligencer
says, that Mr. Jefferson, amid the gloomy
gyandeur of hi* Virginian retirement, em
ploys his philosophick leisure, tub tegmine
fagi, in an attempt to perform a similar
operation upon the second and greater
“ Iliad,” lately given to the world by Joel
Barlow. Freeman'a Journal
GEORGETOWN, (Columbia,) June 2.
Several Cabinet Councils have been held
of late, but the deliberations and result
aft a secret. Mr. Gallatin left here for
Geneva, on Thursday last; [not the Eu
ropean Geneva, but his seat somewhere
near Pittsburg.] Perhaps no government,
was ever more puzzled than is our* now
how to act- That abominable partiality th
France, and dread of her power, which
ha* so long been rendering our government
contemptible in the eye* of Europe, odious
in the bight of federalists, and at least
pitiful in the estimation of even democrats;
have reduced them to a situation, in which
they stand “tremblingly alive all over;*’
dreading to take a single step, lest they
should blunder, and conscious of increasing
odium, should they continue motionless.—
They are fully awake to all the deviltry,
duplicity and cajoling of Francebut dare
not teH tike people of it: foil well knowing
that the magasines of an insulted, injured,
duped nation's resentment, are ready to be
poured upon them. They cannot, it is ab
solutely impossible; they cannot make the
American people believe that they have
done th*|j* duty. By Gallic and Jefferso
nian, not by American principles and pur
suits, have our government brought this
nation to a depth of degradation and far
spreading calamities, with the prospect
of deeper dishonour, and miseries more
manifold.
How do they feel when they meet to
gether? They can only stand staring at
each other with rueful visage* and torpid
tongues; or give to recrimination, hours
that ought to be devoted to consultation.—
“ It is your fault,” and “ it ,i* your fault,”
can only be bandied from one to another.
The threshold of consultation is strewed
with the thorns of self accusation.—Shall
we call Congress together? Yes, we will
take no responsibility on nurselves; and
longer inaction is impossible. But must
Congress be called ? No: we shall not
know what to tell them, nor what to ad
vance. We can only tell them that by our
own ill conduct and imbecility we have
brought ourselves into an awkward pre
dicament, and the country to disgrace and
impending ruin ; and we now beg them to
help u* out of our difficulties. Let us not
call Congress yet. Let us know the senti
ments of the people; the opinions of pub
lick writers. We muft teem to lead, after
being directed which, way to go. One
month will give us the sentiment* of the
Union, from Maine to Georgia. Our po
pularity, onr luwnum bonum is at stake :
it may yet be preserved by cautious for
bearance, to act without popular direction.
Yet it were better to call Congress; state
the necessity in the proclamation ; but re
commend nothing. When convened, let
u* consult the Gileses and the Johnstons ;
plan our measures, and the majority will
carry them. Their popularity is equally
at stake with ours: We can yet all swim
together.
The Cabinet seems to break up with
faces long as their bodies, fixt in nothing
but indecision. Independent Amer.
On Wednesday evening arrived here
from Laquira, a Spanish brig, having on
board the persona who lately administered
the government in Carracai, under the au
thority of the Supreme Central Junta. We
understand that upon tbe arrival of a ves
sel at Laguirn, bringing intelligence of the
dissolution of the Junta, and of other events
Galen speaks of a phr ton represented
25p ttte foail*.
NORFOLK, June 1.
LANCASTER, (Pqnn.) June 2.
AWFUL AMD EXTRAQRDIMARY.
In the thunder storm of Wednesday morn
ing last, a* four teams were passing along
<.he road at the east end of Mr. Amo* Slay
maker's place, (leading to and near the
turnpike,) they were all at the same instant
struck with lightning. One of the team*
had five horses, belonging to Cbristiaq
Witmer, (Chicey's,)—the whole five were
killed. The three other team* had each
four hones. They belonged to the follow
ing named persons, viz. Jacob Brant, Jacob
Haldeman and Jacob Baker, and each of
these teams had three horses killed. The
drivers were all on their saddle-horse*.—
Three of the saddle-horse* were killed,
and the fourth escaped—but what is most
extraordinary and providential is the cir
cumstance, that not one of the drivers, ap
pear to be injured by the lightning. One
is somewhat hurt by the full of his horse.
Marvellous a* thi* relation may appear,
we can vouch for it* authenticity in every
particular. We have it from undoubted
authority. 1 '
Yellow /ever.—On the assertion of Cap
tain Nathaniel Ray, of th* brig Cumber
land, arrived and entered yesterday, from
Porto Rico, we think it our duty to inform
the publick, and particularly our local
guardian* of health, that the Black Vomit
and Yellow Fever raged very violently on
hi* departure thence, and several American
citizens died withiu thirty hours alter me
attack. . - .
The teams al! appear to have been
struck at the same moment. They we*e
following each other in close order.
A letter from our Baltimore correspon
dent says, “the Spanish gentlemen who
arrived in the Fame yesterday, from La
guira appear to be discreet men. One of
them states that he is the bearer of de
spatches to our government from the “ gov
erning Junta” of Carracas; that the Junta
elected by the people, had forwarded simi
lar communications to England, to the
patriot government at Cadiz, and to the
United States; fry- NOT TO FRANCE;
in which they profess friendship, promise
good offices of kindness, and solicit a re
ciprocity and good understanding. These
gentlemen here, will proceed quickly to
Philadelphia, to see Don Onis, the Spanish
Minister. <
“The Spanish ship Andrews, arrived
below thi* morning—long passage from
Lima, very rich cargo, bound to Cadiz ;
6tppt for information. Touched at St. Sal
vadore, where she left, 16ih March, three
American vessels, names pot mentioned.”
ia Spain, the authority of those who had
administered the government of the colony
in the name of the Junta, was disregarded,
•n consequence of which they embarked,
and we understand, have taken this coun
try in their 'way to Spain, to which they
will shortly proceed.
The circumstances under which the re
volution in Spanish America has been com
menced, lead to a very probable conclusion,
that it will eventuate in the establishment
of a government, provisionally independent
of old Spain ; and that the form to be
adopted, will be dictated by more liberal
and enlightened views of the real impor
tance and interests of these provinces. Thr
commissioners do not purpose suddenly tc
alienate the province* from the regular
sovereignty of the Spanish monarchy, but
affirm that the change has become indis
pensable from the present fluctuating au
thority and inefficiency of the mother coun
try. During thi* precarious slate of things,
they very reasonably conclude, that the
inhabitants of this remote settlement have
an interest to assume the right of govern
ing themselves, and this they have done in
terms of patriotism and of affection for the
old established government. Among the
contributions for this patriotick cause, in
Carracas we were not a little struck with
the force and neivette of the following from
a person of distinction—“l give my per
son and all I posses* in this world”—This
alone evinces the enthusiasm which pre
vails in the cause of the mother country;
an enthusiasm which will certainly be aug
mented in behalf of the ieeakisMerest of the
colonic*.
Captain Cox, who arrived here yester
day in 17 days from St. Bartholomews, in
forms, that just before he sailed, the news
of the revival of intercourse reached that
place, via Antigua, at which place a num
ber of American vessels had already ar
rived. There were about 40 sail of Ameri
can vessels at St. Bartholomews, which
were getting ready to leave the place.
A Nassau paper, of the 26th ult. contains
* Proclamation of the GovemoOr of the
Bahamas, dated the 15ih of May last, al
lowing the importation in British vessels
only, from the United States, of tobacco,
pitch, tar, turpentine, hemp, heading,
boards, limber, shingles, or lumber of any
sort, bread, biscuit, flour, peas, beans, pota
toes, wheat, rice, oats, barley, or grain of
any sort, for a limited time,
THE PUBLICK HEALTH.
PHILADELPHIA, June 1.
NEW-YORK, June 6.
June 7.
. ; EIRE I
About half past 11 o’clock last Tuesday
night, a fire broke out in a two story wood
en building on the comer of Depeyster and
Front-streets, owned by Thomas Harvey,
and occupied by Trdet, Anderson and Co,
a* a Grocery. Before it was got under it
destroyed the building in which it origi
nated, with all it* contents, and an adjoining
three story brick house, owned by Mr. Ja
cobs, and occupied by Samui-i Frqst, hair
dresser. Several of the buildings in that
neighbourhood were on fire at different
time* during the conflagration, but by the
active exertion* of the fire companies were
extinguished without icceiving any materi
al damage. One man We are sorry to leant
was badly hurt by the fatting of some burn
ing timber. It is- not ascertained how the
fire originated.
The May Session of the District Court
commenced in this town on Tuesday last;
and on Thursday, at 10 o’clock, came on
Don Thomas Stoughton, in compliance
with orders he ha* received, and for the
information of all those concerned in' th?
trade to the Island of Cuba, make* known :
That the Intendant of the Havana, under
date of 27tb April last, officially says,
“ Our Lord the Kidg, Don Frimando VlI.
and in hi* name the Regency of the King
dom, has been phased te direct, that
during the present circumstances, ships
and cargoes, the property of neutral* and *
allies, will be admitted in the port* of Ha
vana, Cuba, Trinidad and Matansas, with
such articles of Commerce, a* were per
mitted by the regulation, entitled. Free
Commerce of Spain in 1771, under the ob
ligation of exporting the proceed* of the
importation in the produce of the Island,
at same time, and on th* same termq-th*
trade is extended to Spanish vessels, * all
the ports of entry on said Island. But to
prevent fraud* to the Revenue, or the im
portation of wares, merchandise or manu
facture* of France, every expedition musj
be accompanied with attefltations from the
Consul of Spain, at the port whence they
are made, without which no vessel, or the
effects on board, will be allowed to an en
try.”
It is really laughable to observe th*
twisting and struggling of the democrats
on reading the late news from Frances-
Some pretend to disbelieve it—other*
tempt to paliate the conduct of our best
friends, the French. And ethers, to ease
their stomachs, cry out British atrocities—
American seamen impressed— Order* in
Council—Blockade—Chesapeake, &c. See.
The editor of the Richmond Enquirer, a*
thorough going a Frenchman, aa any in
Bonaparte's Legion of Honour, holds out
an idea that there are yet hopes “ that
the property is not finally swept off.” It
is to be noted, say* he, “ that in the letter
of the Minister of Naples, and in th*
treaty with Holland, there are some hints
dropt, thst the property will await the
provisional measure* of our own govern
ment.” But the good man is forced to ac
knowledge that the letter of the Due de
Cadore flatter* u* with no such hope.—
The truth is, there is no hope. The pro
perty is gone and will never be restored.
If the “ provisional measures of our own
government” should be such a* to please
the Emperour, he may acknowledge the
receipt of the property into the imperial
treasury, to be appropriated for the be
nevolent purpose of reducing the world un
der the benign influence of his mild gov
ernment, and to ensure the freedom of the
aeaa, by bringing the British navy under
his control. But none of the property is
to return to America.
“ The Jtmericano are without juot politi
cal viewt, without honour and without en
ergy** Due de Cadork.
When we read the pitiful whinings of
the leading democratick papers relative to
our foreign relations, we art almost per
suaded to believe the above very genteel
reproach to be true. Notwithstanding the
conduct of Bonaparte, which the most
faithful of his friends cannot justify, not
withstanding his inability to injure us, ex
cept in his own ports, still our democrats
fall down and worship him. Was there
ever such infatuation f We cannot go to
war with France, say they—if we are at
war with Bonaparte, we shall be at war
with all the world!—-We can then have
no trade to the continent!—We must suc
cumb, or must suffer!—We must again
house ourselves'in one shell, for Napoleon
is determined to kick us whenever he can
get at us !—We must adopt the wise mea
sure of the illuttrioua eagi of Monticello,
or we are ruined! In other words, we
must bite off our own noses, or the great,
the mighty, the universal Emperour and
King, will bite them off for us. Is this th*
language of Americana ?—We say not—lt
is the language of French men; and every
true hearted American ought to beware ef
such language. It has slready nearly de
stroyed the national character, and if some
other language is not soon spoken by th*
people, the American nation will be anni
hilated.
PORTLAND, June 4.
JEREMIAH CLARKE.
New-YobX, 6th June, 1610.
CONSULATE OF SFAIM.