The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-12-07 00:00:00, page 2

jßigcellanp.
FOR ThR RhODK-IsLAND viMHRICAH.
[M pitrt. Dukhum & Hawkiwi,
You may inform a “ Subscriber” that be
has not to deal with boys.]
LETTERS, kc.
Ah. VI.
December 4th.
I kwow you will forgive me, my friend, if
I now and then allow my style to become
essayick; especially on ao serious a subject
as that of » wearing. Were this but one of
these mere moral failings, whose unfitness
or misbecomingness makes all the guilt, 1
should, possibly, counsel a person to wean
himself of it by degrees, whose progress
were scarce discernible before its end;
just as physicians use to reclaim those that
have been long accustomed to unwholesome
diet. But as the same physicians, when
once a dangerous surfeit is contracted, re
strain not by degrees, but totally and ab
ruptly, those excesses that occasioned it,
and whose continuance would prove fatal
to the patient; so here, where that which
IT ' *
decadence it unhappily too Visible, yei,
’ thank heaven, young also in corruption.
Party has not yet become so atrenuous that
h will rend into anarchy every essay of re
form. Wealth is not yet so strongly in
trenched that it can guard itself bom the
force of equal laws, nor so influential that
it can give to publick regulations, the tone'
of aristocracy. i
This, then, is the period in which the at
tempt should be made. Let us, my fellow
citizens, do away that cause of obloquy
which our enemies use against us when
they say, Rhode Island is a State without
constitution, consistency or union. Yet let
us do it away not because it is used against
' us as a reproach by others; but because
we feel that it is debasing’*® the honour,
and derogatory to the dignity of the State;
repugnant to the principles of good govern
ment, and deeply inconsistent with the pub
' lick weal. _
raoM "vXTTTderal azrusLiCAß.
I Wk have seen a letter just received from
Washington! which mentions it to be the
opinion of Mr. Gallatin, that all goods im
ported from England, subsequent to the
beginning of February, are liable to seizure,
unless it shall be previously ascertained,
that the British edicts, contemplated by
the act of Congress, are revoked; that
Mr. Gallatin has declared that the penal
ties will be more rigidly enforced than
heretofore ; and it is the opinion of the
writer, deduced from conversation with*
Mr. Gallatin and his own reflections, that
! * * the continuance of the intercourse with
England will be made by administration to
depend not only upon the revocation of the
Orders in Council, but also upon the revo
cation of what they agp pleased to call/ia
fter blockades. Though this mode of exe
cuting the act of Congress would be incon
sistent with the construction put upon the
very same words, which are in fact trans
• cribed from the non-intercourse law, whose
provisions were released in favour of Eng
land on Mr. Erskine’s engaging that the
Oiders in Council should cease, still we
make no doubt that this or some other
means or pretext would be found to create
a fresh dispute with England, should Bona
parte have put a stop to the execution of
his Berlin and Milan decrees after the Ist
Instant, as Mr. Madison’s proclamation as
sumes to be actually the case. The secu
rity against this new rupture is to be look
ed for in the equivocation and bad faith of
France. Nothing countenances a proba
bility that the decrees of France will cease.
The Flash arrived at Ne w-York left L’Ori
ent on the Ist of November, but she brings
no token of the change. Were the decrees
meant to be abrogated on that day, some
letter, order or correspondence would have
t transpired maiking its reality. Some fact
would in the natural course of things have
hap|>ened to put out of doubt, that the
Emperour had for once, and so contrary to
every just construction and reasonable an
ticipation, adhered to a very equivocal pre
mise, and given it an operation, beyond its
nwn text, in order to pay his homage to
justice. But the Flash brings nothing of
this sort; no consolation to the hopes of
French partisans or the wishes of our cred
ulous citizens, or palliation or apology for
the rash and partial proclamation of the
President.
We consider, in short, the prudence of
giving orders fur importations from Great-
Britain to arrive after the Ist February, to
depend upon the opinion that may be form
' ed respecting the probability of Bonaparte’s
doing in fact, what the President’s procla
mation states, to be now actually done by
him. If he has revoked his decrees, then
England will not have it in her power to
make as many sacrifices of her dignity, her
rights and her safety, as will be necessary
to place her upon a footing with her rival,
in the regulations of our government.
In about one week more, if the short pas
sages from Europe continue, we may have
intelligence of a date subsequent to the Ist
of November, which will remove all doubt
and uncertainty from this affair; after
which importers may proceed in their or
ders with greater confidence.
is to be forsaken io not so properly a fault
as a sin, we must refrain without the least
exception or connivance; since else (the
thing prohibited being In itself a sin) we
allow ourselves to offend God as much as
ever, though not no often, by committing
the same sins in quality, however not in
multitude.
Indeed, what is lessened by the number
of our oaths in this partial reformation, is
recompensed by the ggK , * valed
ness of their nature; those that seemed
formerly but the slips of infirmity, being
now authorized by dispensation. This bare
abatement of the tale of our’sins is a good
refuge, but a bad design : many times this
diminution is the utmost our endeavours
can arrive at; but then it ought to be prac
tised, and not to be intended; for true re
pentance, and a purpose of relapsing, are
hugely inconsistent, the one not being real,
without a property destructive to the other;
since he but very lamely repents his crimes,
that resolves not against, relapses into the
crimes that he repents. No, no; this faint
desisting from some acts of vice, does but
endear the rest that are unexiled, and that
importunately urge for the recalling of
thtfir banished companions. This mild re
missness, if it do not prune a vice, at least
it does but lop it, and that prohibits not its
future growth ; which the only way Infal
libly to prevent is, to dig it up by the roots,
with the spade of an absolute and irrevoca
ble resolve, never to accord to ourselves,
so much as by connivance, the least license
that may endanger a relapse.
PHILO.
Many opinions are embraced without
examination, and transmitted from genera
tion to generation merely on the faith of
their original adopters. In religion and
politicks the profession of unexamined doc
trines has been productive of serious mis
chief. In literature it may be less crimi
nal, but is not less ignoble. Deference is
doubtless due to the opinions of those who
have enlarged, or more accurately fixed
the bounds of knowledge, but reason should
never be outweighed by authority. It is
every one’s duty, as well as his privilege,
to examine for himself, and believe accord
ing to the result of that examinatiqn.
Among the opinions of very general re
ception, we find that "anauthour in order
to express passion must feel it.’’ The sub
sequent remarks are directed against this
opinion.
In all the transactions of real life, dis
guise and hypocrisy are proverbially pre
valent. The leading object of one part of
mankind*is to deceive the other. But is it
ever thought that the hypocrite feels the
submission and admires the godliness which
his prayers express ? Does the insidious
lecher feel the love he professes to the ob
ject of seduction ? Does the lying mendi
cant feel that sympathy for the fallen sol
dier, whom he calls bis comrade, which
his tears denote ?
And why should an authour, io the se
clusion of his clnset, be less able to write
the language of passion, without feeling it,
than the deceiver in real life to speak it ?
One circumstance adduced to support
the opinion I am combatting, is the acknow
ledged assistance which a speaker derives
from warmly feeling the emotions and pas
sions that he desires to express. But the
resemblance between a heated speaker,
giving utterance to the labouring passions
of his breast, and a writer in his closet,
portraying the actions and words of a ficti
tious, or even of a real character, is ex
tremely remote. In one case there is pas
sion directly operating. In the other there
is calculation coolly describing.
It is not easy to perceive why it is more
difficult to describe passion without feeling
it, than to describe calamities without sym
pathizing with the subjects of them. The
effects and consequences of passion are as
visible as the blaze of a conflagration.—
Among these effects is the passionate lan
guage which the subject of passion utters.
And why may not the effects of passion be
described without feeling it, as well as the
effects of a conflagration without being
burned by the beat ?
It is hard to believe that Shakespeare
felt all the passions which, in some of his
tragedies, he has in such rapid succession
portrayed. The character of delirious
Ophelia is confessed to be drawn in the
colours of nature* The passions and affec
tions which, in irregular succession, direct
those whe are bereft of reason, are pathet
ically attributed to this unfortunate female.
But who pretends that the authour of Ham
let must have been afflicted with tempora
ry madness ? Or who believes he trem
bled at his pen while describing the fear
of the sentinels on beholding the ghost of
the “murdered Majesty of Denmark?"
Who believes thnt Young felt all the dire
ful passions of his Zanga ?
If passion must be felt before it is ex
pressed, why should the writers of trage
dy ever fail to express it in its natural lan
guage ? For knowing they must feel it,
and knowing, likewise, whether or not they
do feel it, how happens it, that in some of
their best descriptions, nne or two expres
sions are sometimes found which accord not
with the voice of nature t Does passion de
part for a moment and then return ? If so,
why do they labour io her absence? For
FOR THE RHODE-ISLAND AMERICAN.
surely every writer knows whether he be
mad or pleased, jealous or unsuspecting, sad
or cheerful. If, therefore, when he feels
passion he expresses it, and if, when passion
leaves him, he must be conscious of her de
parture, he surelg would cease to write un
til her return. But, as In the best authours,
expressions are found which natural pas
sion does not dictate, it proves that authours
themselves suppose it unnecessary to feel
passion In order to express It. And who
are more able to judge ?
It is often said, that the character of a
writer Ip heat known from his works. If
the preceding remarks ere correct, «his
opinion is for from just. And, indeed,
there are some circumstances in the life of
two or three authours which prove, irre
sistibly, that a character is not easily ascer
tained from his writings; and also corro
borate the, opinion, that passion to be de
scribed needs not to be felt.
The pages of Sterne are replete with the
moot pathetick strains. Every reader Is
pronounce him possessed of the
MHbttcate sensibility. Yet, if we are
to wRv his biography, he in reality was
a most unfeeling and monkish stnick. His
conduct to his family was brutal; and
though he could sigh over a dead ass, he
could laugh ever domestick misery. He
could weep at the sufferings of a fictitious
Maria, but knew no sympathy for a real one.
He whom we call the tender Rosseau, was
as hard-hearted and unfeeling as a brute.
It is related of a lady of accuteness and
judgement that on perusing the poems of
Thompson, she pronounced him a great
lover, a great swimmer, and rigorously
abstinent. But, says his biographer, he
knew no passion but for the sex, was never
in cold water in his life, and indulged him
self in all the luxuries wjthln his reach.—
To express the passion of love, then, it
seems unnecessary to feel it, and the same
may undoubtedly be said of all the other
passions.
" The historisn of the Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire, though he has fre
quently described in glowing colours, and
perhaps in some pages with lascivious
freedom, the passion of love, was a stran
ger to its pleasures, and passed his life in a
state of singular and rigid chastity."
The flight of Lucien Bonaparte, the
state of war in which Napoleon stands with
most of his family and coadjutors, justify
hopes of the downfall of his power, from
the rebellion of his instruments.
Lucien flown from his tyranny; Louis
flown from his tyranny ; the quiet Joseph
buffeted about from Italy to Spain, forced to
remain amidst a sea of terrours; Jerome be
reaxpd of his love ; the stupifl bully Murat,
incapable of giving assistance; the legiti
mate wife divorced; her family conse
quently full of resentment and revenge;
Fouche and other main instruments dis
graced—thus exciting the suspicion and
distrust of others equally necessary. This
is a situation of affairs highly dangerous to
Bonaparte, which the adoption of Berna
dotte as king of Sweden, nf Berthier as
king of Poland, and Massena as king of
Portugal, may not be able to counteract.—
Incapable of finding ruffians sufficient in
his own family for his kings ; incapable of
having legitimate children, whatever he*
may call the bastards begotten on a Princes a
of Austria ; he may rave and swagger, and
dictate, but it is evident that circumstances
conspire against his designs, and that they
are likely to frustrate the views of this
splendid villain, notwithstanding all his
triumphs in the field.
Of Bonaparte’s character and of his pro
bable fate, history affords us examples well
deserving attention. His feats and his for
tune are not singular, though to the multi
tude they appear unexampled and astonish
ing. About forty years ago a work was
published in Paris, by M. Ophelfot de la
Pause, entitled •• Melanges Philosofihi
ques,” from which a portrait of Julius Cx
sar is given in the Annual Register of 1772,
so closely agreeing in likeness to that ot
Bonaparte, that it amazes by its spirits of
prophecy, and leaves consolatory hopes
arising from past examples. The article
says
V Cjcsor had tbe good fortune to exist in •
times of trouble and civil commotions, when
the minds of men are put into a ferment*
when opportunities of great action* ure fre
quent, when talents are every thing, and
those who can only boast of their virtue are
nothing. If he had lived an hundred years
sooner he would have been no more than
an obscure villain, and, instead of giving
laws to the world, would not have been able
to produce any confusion in it.
" I will hefe be bold enough to advance
an idea, which may'appear paradoxical to
those who weakly judge of men from what
they achieve, and not from the principle
which leads them to act. Nature formed
in the same mould, Cxsar, Mahomet,
CmmweJl, and Kouli Khan. Thty all of
them united to genius that profound policy
which renders it so powerful. They allot
them had an evident superiority over those
by whom they were surrounded ; they were
conscious of their superiorly, and they made
subjects, and became fortunate usurpers.
Had Cxsar been placed in Hersia, he
'JOSTIN.
A’ron: a London Paper.
Character of Bonaparte.
would have made the conquest of India;
in Arabia, he would have been the founder
of a new religion; in London he wodld
have slabbed bis sovereign, or procured,
his assassination under the sanction of the
laws. He reigned with glory over men
whom he bad reduced to be slaves; and
under one aspect he is to be considered as
a hero, under another as a monster. But
it would be unfortunate indeed for society,
if the possession of superiour talents gave
individuals a right to trouble its repose.—
Usurpers, accordingly, have flatterers, no
friends; strangers respect them; their
subjects complain and submit; it is in their
own families that humanity finds her aven
gers. Cxsar was assassinated by his own
son, Mahomet was poisoned by his wife,
Kouli Khan was massacred by his nephew,
and Cromwell only died in his bed, because
his son Richard was a philosopher.”
" Cxsar, the tyrant of his country; Cx
sar, who destroyed the agents of his crimes,
if they failed in address; Cxsar, in fine,
the busband, of every wife, and the wife of
every husband, has been accounted a great
man by the mob of writers: but it isonly
the philosopher who knows how to mark
the barrier between celebrity and great
ness. The talents of this singular man, and
the good fortune which attended him till
the moment of hfe assassination, have con
cealed the enormity,of his actions.
" I respect highly genius and talents: but
if a Cxsar should arise in any of our mod
ern republicks, I would advise its magis
trates to lead him to the gibbet. If such a
man should appear in a monarchy like that
of France, it would be prudent to confine
him in the Bastile. He should receive no
protection but under an absolute govern
ment, and there he might rise to be an ex
cellent despot.”
NEW-YORK, November 30.
INTERESTING.
w. have been favoured, by a merchant I
of this city, with the following questions to,
and the reply of, Mr. Gallatin, Secretary
of the Treasury.
[Letter from Washington.}
For your government we annex two que
ries, proposed to Mr. Gallatin the Secre
tary of the Treasury, relative to the re
newal of the Non-Intercourse between this
country and Great-Britain, with his re
plies thereto.
Ist. Whether goods shipped from Eng
land, prior to the 2d February next, but
arriving subsequently thereto, would be
subject to seizure, or admitted to an entry ?
and 2dly, Whether a vessel with a cargo
of British goods wouldjte permitted to call
within the waters of the United States for
orders, or to learn the continuance of the
Non-Intel course ?
In answer to thf Ist, Mr. Gallatin shew
ed a letter to Mr. D. Dunham, asking the
same question, which stated that all goods
imported from the dominions of Great-Bri
tain, and arriving within the United States
subsequent to the 2d February, will be for
feited, if Great-Britain shall not on that
day have revoked her edicts. It follows,
that if no knowledge of such revocation is
known here by the 2d February, goods im
ported as aforesaid, will be subject to
seizure.
In answer to the last, viz. Whether a
vessel would be permitted to call, &c. Mr.
Gallatin was not so explicit, but said it
would be left to the courts to decide. That
the law would be rigidly enforced in all
cases of arrivals after the 2d February ;
and he begged it to be understood, that
there would be no release from the trea
sury department.—He mentioned this, he
said, because several releases had been
made under different circumstances, which
he explained, upon the arrival of vessels
after the revival of the law under Mr.
Erskine’s arrangement. In that case* it
was the act of the Executive and of the
British Minister which induced merchants
to give orders—here, it Was under a law
well known to all the merchants—and that
all shipments from England, unless the
revocation on her part was full and per
fectly satisfactory, will be attended with
risk and hazard.
Mr. Gallatin is also of opinion, that the
Orders of Council of November, 1807, are
done away by the Order of Blockade of
April, 1809, so that a repeal of her paper
blockades (so called) is the principal thing
demanded.
The President, by making the letter of
the French minister the basis of his pro
clamation, has taken it with the conditions
annexed—-one of which is, that England
shall repeal her blockades. From this it
is inferred, that a formal repeal of the
Orders in Council of November will not
be deemed satisfactory by this government
for the purpose of preventing the noo-in
ter course. f
Our readers, by referring to the Non-In
tercourse law of Congress, will observe,
that those sections revived by the law of
Ist May last, apply only to the exclusion
of the British flag from our waters, and to
prohibit the importation of all British goods.
Of course, American ships, with cargoes,
may go to Great-Britain ak heretofore,
even if she should not revoke her block
ading orders.
25p tjje jßailF.
NEW-LONDON, December 5:
Wednesday last arrived here the United
States frigate Constitution, of 44 guns,
Captain Holl, and on Tuesday the schoon
er Revenge of 16 guns. Lieutenant Perry.
The President, Commodore Rogers, and
Argus are daily expected We understand
this port is to be the place of rendezvous
for the winter. It is highly gratifying to
learn the government have thus noticed us.
This harbour is not shut up with ice once
in fifty years ; the water is sufficient for a
ship of the line ; the moorings excellent;
safe in the moot violent storms from any
point of the compass; accessible in all sea
sons; on all accounts a safe, cheap and
convenient asylum for the navy. We
hope the Commodore will be so well satis
fied with the accommodations and recep
tion of the squadron, as to receive the most
favourable impressi. n«.
While the ft igate Constitution, Captain
Hull, was coming down the Delaware, a
young seaman accidentally fell overboard
and was drowned. A subscription was
opened on board the frigate on Monday
last, for' the relief of his mother, a poor
widow, living in Philadelphia; when the
sum of one thousand dollars was subscribed
by bis ahip-maies, which they have re
quested the Hon. Secretary of the Navy to
have stopped from their pay, and to be
paid over to this unfortunate woman. The
brave are always generous.
The Board of Trade yesterday desisted
from granting Licenses to and from French
ports, and also to and from all blockaded
ports within the range designated in the
Orders in Council.
Letters under date of the 15th inst.were
yesterday received from Rotterdam. They
mention that it was intended to impose an
exorbitant duty on the importation of bona
Jide American produce, equal in fact to that
extorted from the trafficks in British Colo
nial produce or manufactures.
Captain Lewis, who arrived yesterday
from Liverpool, favoured the Exchange
Coffee-House with a London evening paper
of the 25th of October, from which the fol
lowing paragraphs are extracted:
London, October 25.
The mysterious allusions in the last Pa
ris papers to the arrival of " a foreign
Prince at Fontainbleau,” and " the happi
ness the Empress was about to receive in
a few days,” are explained by letters to
the 20th instant, received yesterday from
the French coast. According to these, this
foreign Prince is no less a personage than
the Emperour Francis, whose visit is sup
posed to be for other purposes besides the
mere indulgence of a father’s fondness.
Despatches were last night received an
nouncing that the Isle of Bonaparte, (late
Isle of Bourbon,) surrendered to the Brit
ish arms on the Bth of July. The English
had none killed in the attack, and only 18
wounded. A valuable French brig was
taken off the Isle of France.
The Dolphin and Zrnobia sailed this day
from Portsmouth, for Spain and Portugal,
with convoy, in which thirty thousand
blankets, and twenty thousand pair of shoes
are sent to the Patriots in Spain.
* Our advices from high authority inform
us, that all American ships that have en
tered French ports in ballast, and which
had been boarded by British cruisers.' were
at liberty to load with French produce, and
return to the United States.
A vessel, under the flag of the Repub
lick, with sugar, coffee, and other commo
dities, had been permitted in a French
harbour, to discharge her cargo, upon pay
ing the stipulated duties.
Plymouth, October 23.
The Melampus and /Eolus have detain
ed and sent in here the Portuguese ship
Fortuna, from Madeira, with rum and
rice, for the Brazils—her crew are all
Americans.
Margate, October 22.
Eleven sail of the line belonging to Sir
Richard Strachan’s fleet, have been blown
from their station off Flushing, and taken
shelter in our Roads.
British Admiraltt Court.
October 23.
Retrieve, Powers—this was a question
of salvage for a re-capture—report order
ed of the value of the property.
Sophia, Koster, from Petersburg to Bal
timore, under Russian colours. The Tri
nity Masters ordered to attend*
FROM MM YORK
By the politeness of gentlemen from New-
York we have been favoured with the pa
pers of that city of Saturday morning.—
Beside a few paragraphs of Marine Intel
ligence, they contain only the following ar
ticle :
Washimgtow, November 27.
The following extract of a letter is from
a gentleman of the first respectability at
Washington, Mississippi Territory, to his
friend in this city, bearing date October 30,
1810.
“ The situation of Florida most certain
ly claims the earliest possible attention of
our government, for unless they are adopt
ed into our family of governments, there is
An act worthy of Ameriann Seamen.
BOSTON, December 4.
LATEST FROM ENGLAND.