United States oracle and Portsmouth advertiser — Portsmouth, N.H., 1802-12-11 00:00:00, page 2

2d. That as soon $s this is effeded,
a joint-meeting shall be agreed to, to
choose State and Federal Officers—and
to avoid all apprehensions of alteration
tin jhc'f filling members in either inter
-o,in consequence of objections to the
legality.of their feats, it shall be under
&oo&bat no removals whatsoever, pre
vious to the joint-meeting, shall be
made.. ^^ .> F -i 4 // . I
;d. As tbeoffice of Governor and
Senator are deemed of the, ffirft impor
tancerand upon which ,the public mind
is anxionfly fixed, the undersigned mem
bers, defiroits to avpjd the unhappy con
fcquences which might flow from in-
Sfting OR te& do therefore relinquish
that grouddand consent to yield up
one of those high offices in favour of
the bppotifion 'inrereft—and further to
evince their foiicitude to close conten
tion and provide for tip exercise of the
government and th^wel/are of the peo
ple, they,agree to permit the twenty-fix
gentlemen in the oppofitipp tp choose
which of the: two office£ithqy would
prefer to fill— and the undesigned will
amily, at the time alluded to ; a cir
cumdauce which I had thought it fair
2nd proper to date, before he should
commit himfelf by identifying any ope,
The next morning, having learnt that
this Polly Osborne lived with Mr. Ste
phen T. Northam,! waited on Mr.Rich
ardfon, and requested him to appoint
a time for feeing her, which he declined,
whereupon I reminded him ofhis pro
mise to do to ; to which he replied,
that he had, the night before, been in
formed that this girl was not in Mr.
Rutledge's family at the time. I then
a&ed him to fee the othet girl who Hv
dat Mrs. Dulanyf. He replied he
would not go after the girl. I further
asked him, if he would fay, whether
either of these girls was the one he
meant to allude to in his affidavit, if
they were brought before him in any
place he thould appoint ? he replied,
" He would not trouble himjelfany farther
about the bufinejs ; that he did not ex
pert his conversation was to be men
tioned again ; that he would fay no
more upon the fubjed, and I might
make the mod of it." I told him I had
not attempted to draw any thing out
of him unadvisedly ; and that it was
impossible he could have expeded the
tircumftances he had Rated, were not
to be mentioned, since I had expressly
informed him in the beginning of our
eonverfation, that I applied to him as
the friend of Mr. Rutledge, and jor the
purpose of having his affidavit corrected, and
obtaining from him all the information
he could give,towards placing the tranf
adion in its true point of view. I then
further urged the said Richardson to
point out the girl he meant in his affi
davit ; and what other knowledge he
had of the bufmefs ; but could after
wards obtain from him only short and
eVafive answers.
Proportions of the Federal Members.
WE the undersigned twenty-fix
members of the Legislature,
who at the late joint-meeting voted for
Richard Stockton, Esquire, as Gover
nor. and Aaron Ogden Esquire, as Sen
ator, deeply sensible of the responsibility
of our situation, and anxious at the
present crisis to exhibit to our immedi
ate constituents, and to the people at
large, proofs ofa sincere desire to pro
mote union in the public councils, and
tranquility and efficiency in the admin
istration of the Government, have met
together and after full deliberation on
the fubjed, have agreed that Colonel
Martin,Judge Outwater,Col. D.Yroom
Messrs Frelinghuyfen, Pearson, Coxe,
Clement, Vancleve and Dunn, being
nine of the undersigned gentlemen,
shall be a committee of conference, to
be met (if so agreed) by an equal, or
any number of the twenty-fix gentle
men who voted for Joseph Bloomfield,
Esquire, as Governor, and John Con
dit, Esquire, as Senator ; which com
mittee, on the part of the undersigned,
are authorized to propose and agree to
the following propositions and terms in
regard to the public offices, viz.
Ift. That in as much; as a vacancy
Will happen from this date in the Sen
ate of the United States on the 4th day
ts March next, and therefore it would
be expedient for the Legislature to fill
it, the members in both interests ' shall
agree to facilitate the passage ofa law
to enable'the joint-meeting, if so difpp
fed, to make an appointment.
The length to which this article has
already extended, precludes further
comments. We hope to finifh the fub
je& in our next. ______
CLELAND KINLOCK.
Newport, Off. 12, 1802.
State of Rhode-Ifland,ff.
S^orn before me, B. HAZARD,
, Dep. Sec'ry & Pub. Not. ex off.
New-Jersey Affairs.
Os the Federal Members of the Legislature of Netu
ferfey. to the Democratic Members,for the pur
pose If effecting an accommodation of differences
with refpeß to the appointment of the principal
Officers of the State, together with the Answer of
Mr. Pennington, and the Reply of the firft men
tioned gentlemen.
PROPOSITIONS
0
7th. Should the gentlemen in oppo
sition, contrary to all reasonable expec
tation, reject a compliance with the
firft and third propositions—so that no
Governor or Senator will be appointed
—yet so anxious are the undersigned
that the other necessary appointments
should proceed, that the committee
on their part is inftru&ed to propose
and consent to a joint-meeting, for the
purpose of choosing all other necessary
officers for executing the powers of
government, and laws of the land, and
generally they are authorized to assent
to all other reasonable arrangements —
observing, however, to adhere with in
flexible firmnefs to the terms of the
firft and third propositions.
Bth. Lastly, that the gentlemen in
opposition may have full notice of this
proceeding and be allured of its sinceri
ty and have full time to prepare an an
swer by the time of meeting, the com
mittee on the part of the undersigned
are requested to make a copy of this pa
per and deliver it to some one gentleman
in the other interest, who will commu
nicate it to the others, and request a
meeting of conferees at the Council
Room on Monday evening next at se
ven o'clock.
Ephraim Martin, Thomas Blanch,
fohn Cutwater Peter Ward,
Thomas Clark, Stephen Barroses,
Peter D. Vroom, fohn Lacey,
Ebenezer Newton, Samuel French,
Samuel Hough, Isaac Kipp,
Wm. Pearfin, Simon Wyckoff,
Abel Clement, Wm. M'Eowen
Benj. Vancleve, F. Frelinghuyfcn, .
Wm. Stockton, sos. Falkingburge,
Sam'l W. Harrison, fames Van Duyn,
Wm. Coxe, Erkuries Beatty,
fohn Combs, Gerfhom Dunn,
Trenton, Nov. 11, I^o2.
o
Aufwer of Mr. Pennington, in behalf of
the Democratic Members.
To Col, Martin, Judge Outwater, Col. D.
Vroom, and Messrs. frelinghufen, Pearson,
Coxe, Clement, Vancleve and Dunn,
Gentlemen,
THE Paper you did, me the honour to de
liver me on Friday evening last, containing
aCommunication from a number of the members
of both branches of the Legislature of New-Jer
sey, to otter members of the fame houfes,view
ed in all its circumstances, tendencies, and conse
quences, isof a nature the most fiogular extra
ordinary. that ever came within the reach of my
observation, and exhibits a phenomenon in legis
lation, I trust no where to be found in the an
nals of modern governments. The interesting
matter therein contained, added to the respec
table characters from whom it was received,
has induced me to communicate it to all
those gentlemen for whom it was intended,
and their uniform answers have been, that
they will not enter into any ftipulatibns out of
doors, relative to their duty in either house.
That acting under the obligations of an oath of
office, they will, in their refpe&ive places, do
what their judgments and consciences dial! re-„
fpedively inform them is for the good of the
state. They have ho\ aver one and all expressed
much fuprife that propositions id pointedly ex
a&, minutely circnmfpe&, and markedly for
mal, should grow out of the ffmpfe circumstances
of a difference in opinion on the qualifications
of a few candidates for public offices, and that
surprise hath been greatly increased on observ
ing that those stipulations are carried much be
yond the fubjed lmatter on which they are os
tensibly predicated. They most finecrely la
ment a discordance in opinion on any matter
that has become the fubic& of their legisla
tive deliberations; that however they possess
too good an opinion of the understandings of
the citizens of New-Jerfy,to entertain for a
moment an idea that a disunion in our councils
will disturb the tranquility of the state, nor can
they conceive that the failure op the firft vote
to choose a Governor and Senator, indicates a
very alarming crisis in our public affairs ; But
even if it does, that the members of the two
houses of the legislature in Joint' Meeting con.
venedyare the constitutional conferrees to adjust
any roifiinderflanding that may pbftrud a
choice on ,the subsequent vote. .That with re
fpe& to arty laws which the general interest
of thecate may require to be enabled, should
the two houses difagree,—a conference oft
a committe of both houses, held in the pre
sence of the remaining members, is in, their
opinion the most confident mode that can
be adopted to reconcile difrordant opinions, or
correa any improper sentiments that may, from
the wane of information, or any other cause,
have been imbibed. Thejd,giof* ,giving and
taking in the affairs of Legfflftion, is repugnant
to what they concieve artbnQientious regard to
their duty requires of ifaflifr that a com
pliance with the willies of yogrfelves, and your
qth. It will be agreed by the under
signed to re-appoint Mr. Saltar, I rea
furer, the gentlemen in opposition a
greeing to re-appoint Col. Rhea, Clerk
of the Supreme Court.
. sth. As to all other offices which are
vacant or may become so, the nomina
tions to be made without stipulation in
the usual manner, the undersigned be
ing willing however, and wifning it to
be adopted as a good and general rule,
to re-appoint the old officers, if deemed
fit for the office, and fubjed to no par
ticular objection.
6th. In regard to the choice of re
presentatives for the Bth Congress,
the undersigned recommend to the
committees of conference to endeavour
to agree upon some plan of a law which
may ensure to each political interest
that equality to which it is entitled.
agree to accept of and nominate to the
other, but it is to be understood that
the rights of their constituents, and the
just expectations they entertain, that the
undersigned will never abandon both
these high offices, forbids them ever to
recede from the above propotition ; the
undersigned agree to give up one, and
to give the choice to their political op
ponents, and infill upon the other un
conditionally.
WE have thus long waited to make a re
ply to a paper written by, signed by, and hand
ed to our Committee by one of your number,
who partly assumes to himfelf to be the organ
of four sentiments; apt } partly at rogates to him
felf the office ofinftruding us in the facrecLdu
ty of Inflation. We allude to a paper handed
to us, signed by W, S. Pennington. We fay
we have thus long delayed a reply, because we
really hoped, that after more mature considera
tion of our plain, friendly, and, as we think,
generous propositions, yen would have deemed
them worthy of a very different ahfwer. Dis
appointed in this refpedl, and supposing the an
swer to our propositions made by William S.
Pennington, to be in all its parts your aqfwer,
we beg leave to address to you the following
observations:
You fecm greatly Surprized that twenty-fix
gentlemen, on questions intruded to all of them,
Should hold a conference, and attempt, for the
good of their common country, to compromise
the difference by reasonable conceffons. You
fay it is a phenomenon of which the pages of
modern hillory coats not an example. Permit
us, gentlemen, to aslJypu, whether we could, a,
members of the Aifembly, whether we could,
as members of the Council, as in ordinary cases
of legislation when differences arise, have pro
posed a conference ori the fubjedt matter now
to consideration ? Was it a question between the
Ihoufes of the Legislature ? You muff answer
both those queftious in the negative. What
then more reasonable, more friendly, in our em
barrassed Situation than to propose a conference
a conference of patriots on the slate of their
country.? W^dtte equal in number, and we hope
it will notOTend, when we,fay,equal in refpe&-
ability.—Did rwe. ask you to legislate out of
doors, or to a& contrary to your oaths of office ?,
Did We afk'you to Sacrifice your judgment to
outjudgment, and to give us a preference in
theiegiflative or elective scale ? No, gentlemen,
we only asked you as individuals to confer with
us, and to evince the rc&tude of our intentions
we gaveyou a preference, which, considering our
equality in every refpe&, we had reason to hope
would have removed every difficulty, We
completely put it in your 4 power to place the
flare,?f N&w-Jcrfeg in the fame Situation id
which it . was left by the last Legislature; a ma
jority of whom were of your political princi
ples? We did not aSk you for a Single new ap
pointment to any office; for, by taking your
choice of the Governor, every thing, as far as
we could aft would bare remained in the fame
" To the foregoing, I beg leave to subjoin
a few obfervatious of my own. It certainly
mull afford to every thinking man matter for
serious reflection, and sincere concern, that an
association, at once so refpeCtable and powerful
should have been formed in the vitals of the
body politic, conftittiting an imperium in imperio,
that the association should have all the proper
ties of an organized body, deliberative and ex
ecutive, and entered into under the signatures
of contracting parties, and. that it should have
for its basis determinations anting upon and con
trouling almost every function, intruded by the
confticution to the various departments of gov
ernment, extending even to the fuffrages of our
fellow citizens, (peaking in language at once
imperative and irrevocable, the whole tending
to impress on the mind of the American nation^
that the people of New-jersey are placed in
hostile array under two separate banners You
will pardon mC, Gentlemen, when I request of
you to seriously enquire of yourselves whether
you have hot wrought your minds into a firua
tion no. way corresponding to the real feelings
and sentiments. of the citizens of the Rate—Can
it be portable that the people of New-Jersey,
who, a few year's ago, so nbbly fought hand in
hand to Shield their wives, their children, and
their all, from the desolating sword of a barba
rous qnemy, should now be ready to marshal
themselves in hoflile ranks agaiofc each other,
on a trifling difputc about the appointment of
a few officers ? Ts rilyadual information did
not contradict the fad, my knowledge of the
character of my fellow citizens would. Bead
vifed, gentlemen, as you value the fafety and
prosperity of the Rate, hitherto so happily fe
.cured by the constitutional operation of the
government, to delift from the meafurei you
have taken—destroy the fatal instrument by
which you are associated together—cut in fun
der the knot that ties you to any other interest,
but that of the whole, and thereby restore to
New-jersey an usfhackled Legislature.—Let
the whole of this trenfadion beburied in, oblivion
the friendly tomb of error, that we ma, con
tinue to hail each other as brethren of the fame
family, and difpla, our accommodating dispo
sitions on the floors of the refpe&ive houses to
which we belong, and in the joint assembly of
'both constitutionally convened. Then (hall we
be treading in the paths marked out to us by
the authority under which we derive our pow
er to a& at all, and in doing that, should we fail
of success, and evil happen to the Rate thereby,
yet we (hall return to our constituents, with
this confuting reflection, that the fault is not our
own.
" The phrafcology of the communication is
also a fubjc& of conlilerable fdrprife and aston
ishment to .them. They do ndt comprehend
what is meant by " opposition interest" and the
like ; they know of no other interest, but that
of the State, and the Union ; they are not the
legiflacots of a part, but the wiofa-That because,
in the exercise of a power confided to them bf
the confticution, they have, in a particular point
thought different from you, it does not follow,
they fay, that a like difference will arise on eve
ry, or any other point that may become the
fubjed of Icgiflative attention. They confider
every question as Landing on its own abftra&
merit and no farther depending on any ether
question, than what (hall arise from the natural
or incidental connection between them. They
ask no man to depart from a line of conduct
dilated to him by his confidence; nor will they
fuffer any inroads to be made on their own ;
nor do they apprehend any great inconvenience
can ensue to the State, eyen should another at
tempt to choose a Governor and Senator
prove unfuccefsful ; the Vice- President of the
Council being vested with the executive and
other powers, in ordinary cases exercised by the
Governor, and in the usual course of Congres
sional proceedings a Senator will not be wanted
until after the meeting V the next legislature,
and should an extraordinary case happen, the
Executive is fully empowered by the Constitu
tion to fill the vacancy during the rccefs of the
Legislature.
" I have the honor to be, with the highest
refpea and eftcem, Gentlemen, your very hum
ble servant, WILLIAM PENNINGTON.
Trenton, Nov, Ifo lßot.
Reply of the Federal Members.
GENTLEMEN,
associated friends on.that head, would in their
opinion be introducing and in some degree fan
dlioning, a practice more injurious, in its con
sequence to the Rate,that any evil it can pdflibl,
fuffer from the temporary vacancies of those
offices which we have been unfuccefsful in our
attempt to fill.
—_o
We shall not, gentlemen, detain you with re
marks on the ohrafeology of your answer: this
may, in ah hour of Icifure, furnish amusement
— We aim at lubftancc—not at words.
Von seem to treat the unhappy division of
sentiments in the present Legifl^tureas a mat
ter of trivial concern, and rely on the good
sense of our conftitnents that they will not be
alarmed by a difuniou in our councils, and you
conclude with observing, that no great incon
venience Can arise to the date if a Governor
should not be appointed. Did you, gentlemen,
seriously confider when you addressed to us
these observations ? If you really believe
what you fay, permit Us to undeceive you.
That good sense on which you rely for our
future tranquility must convince then! that their
dearest intcrefts are in danger when their coun
cils are so divided,& when the mod honorable ef
forts to compromise differences prove foabortive.
To tell them and to tell us that a Governor is
unnecessary for New-jersey, and that all his
functions can be difeharged by a Vice President,
and that he is Governor of the State, is, we will
not use harsh language, it is, gentlemen, trifling
with their and our understandings. You mutt
have forgotten the words of the Confticution,
that sacred instrument under which you are as
sembled. You mud have forgotten the solemn
duty which it enjoins upon you, and you mud
have estranged your minds from the important,
executive, military and judicial duties of a Gov
ernor, or such language would never, by your
order, have been placed on paper. Without
going back to former times—without attempt
ing to utter the smallest reflection on the pre
sent Vice-President, let us ask you, gentlemen,
Have the people of New-jersey a Governor ?
To make a Governor of New-jersey requires
a joint vote of both houses of the Legislature.
The votes of both houses would probably be
given for one more or less capable to fulfil the
great duties of his office. Has Mr. Lambert
the votes of both houses of the Legislature ?
Is he adequate to the important office? To the#
firft question you need not answer—to the lad
let your consciences reply!—We are in truth a
people without a leader; or, if your construc
tion be right, out all is placed in the hands of
him tubom the people brte ne^er chosen; and who,
with the mod honed intentions, is incapable to
lead or direCt, to guide or decide. In this de
ranged date of affairs, gentlemen, our proposi
tions met your eyes. You saw in them, if you
would fee, the anxiety of jerfeymen wiihing
the welfare of their country ; and when you
Cead them again you will perceive in them a
disposition to remove every difficulty Which pre
fenced itfelf in the arrangement of the affairs of
our State. You, gentlemen, have rejected them;
Upon you be the consequences. Our conftitd
ents mud judge between us—to them we cheer
fully appeal. Let not those constituents by you
be told that we offered to bargain with you for
the public offices of the date; but let them be
told that we found ourselves on one fide and
you on the other fide, precisely equal in number;
that neither party could call, with propriety
upon the othet to recede from their opinion :
Let them be told you voted according to your
consciences—Let them be told that we voted
according to our consciences, and that the votes
of both, by the exad t equality of numbers,were
altogether nugatory ; and then,finally, let them
be told, that both parties having difeharged the
duty they owed to their consciences in the giv
ing of their votes, that we came forward to do
the next bed good we could th preserve the
date from derangement; that we gave you a
mod important preference of choice, and that
you contumelioufly rejected our proffers—and
then they will be told the truth, and nothing
but the truth.
We now come, gentlemen, to the closing part
of your answer, which appears in a much more
questionable shape. We will not, on this occa
sion, follow your example, and express great
fitrprife; but we will tell you that we frequent
ly indulge the charitable hope that all of you
never gave your assent to a production so full
of misrepresentations—so replete with unmerit
ed reproaches. Had we viewed this thing as
the ad of an individual, we would have treated
it with its merited contempt: but considering
it, more or less your a&, we deftm it our duty
to give it a ffiort reply.
And permit us gentlemen, solemnly to ask
you when, where and how have we entered in
to an association, within the vitals of the state,
constituting a government within the government,
and claiming to itfelf powers deliberative, ex
ecutive and legislative ? Do us the justice gen
tlemen, again to read our propositions, and then
with your hands on your hearts, answer us this
plain question :—Do they contain an, thing but
offers of friendly compromise, proposals of am
icably confering on our peculiar and Unprece
dented situation? Be advised gentlemen—take
back at least that part of your answer so untrue
and so very unfriendly ; strike out those un
founded charges, and by so doing you will do
juttice to us, and, we arc sure you will do jus
tice to yourselves. Have you considered; gen
tlemen, that our situation was and is a peculiar
and unprecedented fituation?—A situation from
whith nothing but ' compromise could relieve us,
unless indeed you conceived that every thing on
our part was to be yielded. And when you
have thus considered, let us not part before we
have, by mutual concessions, performed the du
ties required of us by the laws and constitution
of our country. We do not adhere to any par
ticular man as Senator or as Governor, and if
you are equally disposed for conciliation we
have no doubt it can be effected.
Your charging our conduct with having a
tendency to convey the idea to the world, that
the people of New-Jersey are in hostile array,
under two Separate banners, is to til matter of
astonishment) —We know it flowed from the
pen—it never came from the head of the wri
ter. To pacify, to heal, to prevent confufton
and disorder, and to harmonize a body pf legis
lators so euriepfly formed, as to be precisely
equal in numbers, on what is called the 30 po
litical opinions of the country, has been the
object of our warmest wishes, and we cheerfully
appeal to our words and our a&ions, to prove
the truth of this our declaration—And surely,
gentlemen, when you saw and knew this to be
the line of our conduct, there would have been
a propriety in advising your writer to fpart his
subsequent remarks. "Our minds are not
wrought into any situation" which does not cor.
respond with &,eal happiness of our common
country. We duly appreciate the struggles of
Jerfcymen in the cause of Freedom, and wedu
ly value the prize Which the joint struggles of
Americans procured: We recoiled with ex
quisite pleasure the times when, like a band of
brothers, our citizen fokfors returned with lau
rels from the well fought field, and when our
Counfellors were a band of Patriots, firm, unit
ed and free. To reftorc the Council# of New-
state. The government would have been ar
ranged—the more important and the subordi
nate offices would have been filled, and peace,
and harmony, and good order would every
where have prevailed. We have now told you
what we have done. Let us next look at your
conduct.'
YOU have presented for these ttyo
years pafi an afflicting fpe&acle. Opfeo-
Jite falcons have fuccefiively seized on
power ; they have signalized their
reigns by a fiflem of partiality, which
shewed their weakness and inability.
In the course of the year 10, your,
government desired to have the French
troops in Helvetia withdrawn. The
French government willingly seized
this-occasion to honour your indepen
dence,but quickly afterwards your diff
erent parties recommenced the trou
bles with new fur, ; the blood of the
Swiss was shed by the ' hands of the Swiss.
You have disputed together 3 years,
without understanding each other ; you,
will go on killing one another 3 vears
longer without coming to a better un
;derftanding.-—Betides, your hiftory
proves that your intestine wars could
not be terminated without- .the effica
cious intervention of France- (
}lt is true that I-had endeavoured not
to meddle with your affairs. I had
conftanly seen different Governments
requelling, of me advice .which -they
never followed, and sometimes abu r
sing my name, according uto their in
terests and paffiorfs. But t neither can
nor ought to renfain insensible of the
misery to which you- are a prey.' I
revoke my resolve. I will bewfe med
iator of your differeces.;but my med
itatiort shall be efficacious; such as be
comes the great people in whole name
I I speak. - A.'
Jersey to this happy fruition is the object
of our warmed desires, and therefore we shall
not take your advice and defid from the mea
sures we have taken ; we will continue to pur
sue every lawful method to unite and harmonize'
the date. We will not "cutin funder the knot
that ties" us together,but we will draw it closer,
and closer, that by our united efforts we may
attain to this desirable object—nor shall we de
droy the instrument so elegantly called " fatal"
—Nd, gentlemen, we will preserve it as a re
membrancer for our children, to (hew them that
their Fathers in a day of difeord and diffentio.Q
exerted their bed endeavors to restore order &
harmony to society ; and they were willing to
facrifice their private opinions on the altar of
public good.
We have thus gentlemen, in a cool and dispas
sionate manner, and in language plain and uo
difguifed, conveyed to you our sentiments in
reply to your answer to our propositions, and
we do solemnly appeal to the searcher of all
hearts, before whose tribunal we must appear
to answer for all our condud, that the tran
quility and lading happiness of New-jersey are
our only guides on this momentous occasion.
From what you have said, gentlemen, we can
not have any further intercourse with you but
on the floor of the joint-meeting, which you call
" the constitutional place of conference."—
There gentlemen, we will meet you—and there,
we trust, we (hall evince to you the Sincerity of
our declarations, and the uprightncls of our in
tentions. '
We are, gentlemen,
with sentiments of due regard,
Your most obedient servants,
Trenton, Nov. 24,2802.
{f Signed by the fame gentlemen who Jigned the
propositions.
To Messrs. Lambert, Little, Parrett, Walft,
Moore, M'Cullougb, Pennington, Linn, Howell,
Shaver, Dicfcrfon, Corwin, Ogden, Kitcbell, Lay,
Darby, Godwin, Smith, Rea, Burroughs, Pierson,
Burgen, Knott, Cox, Scudder, Gordon.
PARIS, OCT. 4.
THE interesting affairs of Smitzer
landarreft much of the care of
the First Consul. The democratic indi
tutions, which have been, patronized by
France, have lately been, overturned
with great rapidity ; and the Old Confed
erated Government has been on the point
of being eftablilhed.—The whole coun
try is in arms ; and the blood of Swiss is
daily shed by Swiss. The Confederates
are commanded by Barop D'Erlach,
Gens. Watterville, & Effingure,
Who have about 30,000 under them,
composed of the hardy peasantry of
Afgovia, Sature, Oberland, Petit, Lac,
Niddaw, and Arberg.; together with a
Number of the emigrants, and the an
tient Swiss troops. They have taken
poffefGon of Berne, Zurich, Fribourg
and Soleur ; and obliged the Gallo-
Helvetic government to retire to Lau
sanne ; where Gen. Andermatt has
gone to prdte& it. Though many se
vere engagements have taken place, and
much blood has been shed, the revolu
tionists have in almost every inftaned
been fuccefsful.
In consequence of this state of things,
our government, which must be the ar
biter of states, has diredied a. French
army of 15,000 men to enter Switzer
land, and restore the former govern
ment. — It is commanded by Gen. Ney,.
and proceeds from the Milanese, by the
lake of Como, so as to form a barrier
between the Swiss andAuftriahs, should
the latter offer to support the new gov
ernmet. Other troops are to enter Swit
zerland, in an opposite direction.
Citizen R^pp, Aid-de-camp to the
First Consul, has set off for Lausanne,
to summon the Helvetic government
to repair again to Berne unefcorted ; and
to demand of the Cantons whether
“ they wilh to be at war or peace with
the French Republic."
The following Proclamation will
fnew what a lively interest the First Con
sul takes in the-affairs of Switzerland.
St. Cloud Sept. 30. 1802
Bonaparte, Firfl Consul of the French Re
public and President of the Italian Re
public, to the Eighteen Cantons of the
Helvetic Republic.
Inhabitants of Helvetia !
Foreign Articles.
AFFAIRS OF SWITZERLAND.