United States oracle and Portsmouth advertiser — Portsmouth, N.H., 1802-06-05 00:00:00, page 2

and made them produce more than was
necessary for our own consumption, if
^ the merchant did not purchase our sur
plus produce, and fend it abroad for a
war?" It would be in vain that we
looked for a supply of those foreign
goods, which are so neceflary for our
convenience and comfort, &hat supply
* was not furnifhed by commerce. I
make these general remarks, not be
eaufe I believe that any difference of o
pinion exists between my constituents
and myfelf upon Jiis fubjed, but bc
caufe I deem it important on all proper
occasions to impress our feafaring breth
ren with a just confidence in our cordial
attachment to their interests & pursuits.
The repeal of the judiciary has been
a much more important measure of the
prelent session. This tranfadion has
been very much explained, both by the
debates in Congress, and by news-paper
publication ; but still it may not be im
proper to fay that the law which was
repealed, was passed during the last ses
sion of congress, and provided for an
organization of the circuit courts of
the United States, and directed the ap
pointment of judges for those courts.
The judges were accordingly appoint
ed and for the last year performed the
duties which had been aligned to them,
and as it appears in some of the cir
cuits, much to the fatisfadion of those
who were concerned in the courts. I
was not present when the vote was
taken in the house of representatives to
repeal this law,having been called home
to my family at that period ; but my
opinion was fully made up against the
repeal, and had my vote been import
ant no consideration would have induc
ed me to have left my feat upon so in
teresting an occasion, but it having
been afeertained that a large majority
of the house were determined to repeal
the law, my vote became of no import
ance.—The considerations which gov
erned my opinion resulted principally
from the belief that the constitution of
the United States did not warrant the
removal of judges, by repealing the
law which directed their appointment.
Ihe constitution upon this point is ex
pressed in the following words : “ The
judges of the supreme and inferior
courts shall hold their offices during
good behavior," and as it was not pre
tended that the judges had misbehaved,
1 could not fee how the judges could be
removed, by repealing the law, or by
. any other form,fo long as they behav
ed well. It has likewise been my opin
ion that the constitution of the United
States, like the constitution ofVirginia,
had secured to the people an indepen
dent judiciary, which would always re
main uninfluenced even in the worst of
times, to administer justice imparti ally
give. I take the liberty therefore of
- communicating such a statement, to
gether with some of 'the reasons which
have governed my conduct in those
cases where I have been called to ad.
The firft measure of any importance
which occupied the attention of Con
gress was a bill for the proteaion of
the Commerce of the United States a
gainst Tripolitan cruisers. This bill at
its firft appearance met with some op
position from those who were supposed
to feel unfriendly to commerce, but all
, opposition was eventually relihquifhed
and the bill became a law. My opin
ion I trull has corresponded with yours
upon this fubje&. The bill was calcu
lated to authorize the protection of our
seamen and Vessels against the depre
dations of the Barbary pirates, and I
should have considered myfelf as viqp
lating the duties which I owed human
ity and the commerce of this country
if I had refuted my assent to such a law.
And even if the necessity had been less
pressing, and nothing was hazarded but
the vessels and cargoes of this country,
I should hill, with the fame cheerful
nefs have voted for the supplies, which
became necessary for the protection of
these objeds because I am fully per
suaded that our fellow citizens who are
engaged in commerce have an equal
right to protection with the planter who
remains at home upon his farm. The
interests of agriculture and commerce
are so elofely united that we cannot
leave the latter to ruin without essen
tially injuring the former. It would
be in vain that we cultivated our lands
Washington, APRIL 22, 1802.
AS the session of Congress is draw
ing to a close, I have thought
that it might not be disagreeable to
you to receive from me a statement of
ihe most important measures which have
been adopted by Congress during the
present session, together with such oth
.er information ip relation to our public
concerns as it may be in my power to
itttri&ions, and secure the accounta
bility of persons entrusted with public
money," they refer to thd bill reported
by them during the present session, to
provide for the due application of public
money and to secure the accountabil
ity of persons entrusted therewith, and
also to the communication of the sec
retary of the treafury,made to them on
the second day of March lait.
All which is refpeafully fuhmitted.
Mi. Graton, of Virginia, to his
Conftitnents.
to .ui LWCTpttyns 6i persons. The
principle claimed of destroying the
judges by repealing the law which
regulated their appointment, was in
my opinion a gross violation of this in -
portant principle, and in practice would
strip the people ofthat independent ju
diciary which is so effeßtial to r tonal
feciirity, and the preservation ot public
liberty. The law, however, to destroy
the judges has parted through all the
forms, and it only remains to be decid
ed by the supreme court, whether this
law is a violation of the constitution ;
If the courts should so determine, the
law must be void, and it will be the
duty of the judges of the circuit courts
still to proceed in the execution of their
powers. As the authority to decide
upon the constitutionality of laws, un
questionably resides in the courts it
will be the duty of the people to acqui
efee in their decision upon this import
ant occasion, whatever that decision
may be.
The repeal of the Internal Taxes,
was likewise a measure which met with
my disapprobation. Not, however, be
cause I felt unwilling to relieve the peo
ple from their burthens, but because
I doubted whether it was fafe to dis
pense with so great a branch of the rev
enue, and beoaufe I believed that
if any of the taxes could'be repealed,
those which fell on the necessaries of
life ought to have been preferred. The
wife arrangements which had been
made by the former administration for
the extinguifhment of our debt, was
performing its operation and if those
plans had not been broken in upon, it
was very certain that the debt would
be rapidly reduced and eventually dis
charged ; and I thought it was better
to retain the taxes until the debt was
paid, than to hazard the failure of so
deferable an event by reducing the
means of accomplishing it.
Fer these reasons I thought that the
fafer course would have been to have
retained all the taxes for the present,
under such modifications however as
would have diminished the burthen up
on the necessaries of life. But if it was
fafe to give up a part of the revenue,
I was clearly of opinion that the tax up
on brown sugar, coffee, bohea tea, and
certain other neceflaries of life ought
to have been reduced, instead of giving
up the tax on carriages, stamps, refined
sugar, and the other branches of the in
ternal revenue and in this opinion I was
happy to find myfelf fopported by those
gentlemen in Congress whose opinions
1 most refpeded; and no exertions were
spared, when it was found that the ma
jority of Congress were determined to
relinquifha part of the revenue, to fub
ditute a reduction of the taxes upon
those ueceflhries of life, in the place
of reliiaiuifhiug altogether the internal
revenue ; but those exertions did not
avail, and the entire tax upon brown
sugar, coffee, bohea tea,falt, and indeed
every other article of import has been
retained by'the present administration,
and a majority of Congress, whilst the
tax on carriages, &c. has been relin
quished. I make no comment upon
this tranfadion, because it is the prov
ince of the people to judge, which
course would have best promoted their
interests.
A law has likewise pafTed under the
splendid title of " An a& to provide for
the redemption of the WHOLE PUB
LIC DEBT." —This law did not pro
vide for the objects which its title con
templated, but on the contrary, so far
-as I couldjudge of its provisions, it pro
vided for a continuation of the debt
Instead of compelling the treasury to
difeharge the debt due in Holland,
which amounts to 9,913,000 dollars, it
authorises the re-loaning of a large pro
portion of the fame, upon a credit of
fix years, and at a higher rate of inter
eft,including charges, than is now paid.
This law has likewise authorifed the
administration to enter into contrad
for the payment of any part or the
whole of this foreign debt ; an authori
ty which it is apparent may be abused,
to the great loss of the government, be
cause contrasts may be made under
this law with speculators, who will re
ceive this large sum at the treasury up
on an agreement to place the fame in
Holland to our credit, and may alto
gether fail of executing the contrast on
their part, and our debt may still re
main unpaid. Although I hope and'
trust no such abuse of power will take
place, yet I did not feel willing to give
such extensive powers when I deemed
the fame so unnecessary. This law like
wise enables the administration to em
ploy at considerable expence, a variety
of agencies in relation to the foreign
debt, some of which were in my judg
ment unnecessary, and all of them of a
very doubtful character. Under such
circumstances and impressions, I voted
against the passage of this law, not
-withstanding the rairnefs of its title.—
And although I should think it im
proper to impeach the motives of those
who pafTed the law, or fay that the in
tention was to impose on the public by
a title which agreed so badly with the
law itfclf, yet it could not escape my
notice, that such must be the effed up
on those who had not the advantage of
reading the law. A further season
Dollars 47,871,889 29
During the year 1801 in consequence
of the ample revenue which had been
provided by former congresses, the
treasury was able todifehargez, 279,371
31 cents of the principal of the debt ;
and during the current year, unless the
present administration should avail it
felf of the law which I have mention
ed, to re-loan & perpetuate the Dutch
debt, the treasury will be compelled to
difeharge a further sum amounting at
least to 3,400,000 dollars pf the prin
cipal, and so from year to year to con
tinue discharging the fame until the
whole debt shall be extinguished. This
prosperous situation of our finances is
owing to the skill with which the trea
sury department was conduced under
the former administration. When the
new administration came into power,
they found a full treasury and an am
ple revenue, and they had nothing to
do, but to apply the public money to
difeharge the public engagements. —-
Whatever my fears may be refpeding
the contequences which must result
from the meafiires of the present ad
ministration, I sincerely hope that we
shall continue to enjoy the fame pros
perity which attended us under the ad
ministration of our former Prefi&nts.
In expressing this sentiment I cannot be
fufpe&ed of infmeerity, because I am
embarked in common with others in
the destinies of this country, and must
fuffer by our common misfortunes, and
be benefited by the general prosperity.
The large addition which has been
made by the late law of Virginia to the
diftrid which I had the honor to rep
resent in Congress, although not imme
diately connected with the business of
Congress, is a transaction of too much
importance to my constituents to escape
notice. I therefore avail myfelf of this
opportunity of expressing my regret
that the legislature of Virginia should
have deemed it proper to deprive a dif
trift of its due share in the representa
tion of the State. By the law of Con
gress, apportioning the representation to
the States, it is provided that there shall
be one representative to every 33,000
persons, deducting two-fifths from the
slaves included in any State. By the
enumeration of the inhabitants of this
diftrift, it appears that the population
is as follows :
Whole No. Slaves. Federal No
Accomack 15,692 4,429 13.923
Northampton 6,768 3,178 2,170
Gloucester 8,181 4,909 6,219
Mathews 5,806 2,804 4,686
York 3,231 2,020 2,423
Warwick 1,659 1,024 1,244
;"zabeth City 2,778 1,522 2,170
James City 3,931 2,389 2,976
Middlefcx 4,203 2,516 3,197
52,245 24,791 39,008
From whence it appears that the
people of this diftria have not been al
lowed their due share in the representa
tion of this State in Congress : that
instead of giving us one representative
for 33,000 persons, the law of Virginia
has given us one representative only
for a population equal to 42,230 white
persons ; and this injury to us has been
carried to the credit of other diftrids in
the State. It is likewise a fad worthy
of remark, that no other diftrift in Vir
ginia has been constituted with so large
a population, and some of them with
iik Aie< 4 u son,.dive n^Le operat
es on m, mind agarnft the passage of
!. itwin quertum/ was that by com
png tht law with the former provi-
Uons tor the redemption of the debt, it
appeared that the former provisions
were really better than those of this law.
The former laws had provided funds
to meet every part of the debt, both
principal and interest, as the fame fell
due, only authorifing a re-loaning of
parts of the fame, in cases where from
unforfeen causes the revenue should be
inefficient to meet the object, and they
likewise provided that every surplus of
revenue should be faithfully applied to
buy in the debt, as it could be obtained
on fair terms in the market ; whilst the
new law without varying essentially
the former provisions, has only embar-
Taffed them, by authorifing a re-loaning
erf the Dutch debt at the diferetion of
the administration, and creating a vari
ety of new and extenfis;e agencies.
Since my residence in this place, I
have availed myfelf of every opportu
nity to gain information refpeding the
situation and amount of the Public
Debt, and the means which have been
provided for its- extinguifhment, and
the refirft of my enquiries has been,that
the debt has been placed completely
under the controul of the Government;
and the means provided by former con
gresses for its final extinguifhment,were
in every refped ample, and if left to
their operation, would have accomplish
ed that obje& without embarrassment.
The National Debt on the firft of
January last amounted to 77,891,890
dollars, 29 cents, and consisted of the
following description of flock :
Six per Cent & Deferred Stock 6,851,783 66
Three per Cent do, do. 19,375,705 63
Navy Six per Cent do. 711,700
Six per Cent of 1796 do. 80,000
Five and a half per Cent do. 1,847,506
Four and a half per Cent do. 176,000
Eight per Cent do. 6,430,200
Bank Loans at Six per Cent 1,590,000
Ditto at Five per Cent 1,150,000
Dutch Debt 9.9X5,000
a population but little to exceed one
half of ours. It is not my intention to
impeach the motives of the members
of the State Legislature, but it cannot
be disguised that this trarafadion has
deprived us of one of the birth-rights
of freemen ; a right to our due influence
and voice in the national councils and
as it cannot be pretended that any local
circumftanccs, could juftify or excuse
this facrifice of our interests, I deem
it the duty of every freeman in the dif
trift seriously to confider of those means
which are best calculated, in a fair and
constitutional manner, to procure re
drels. It has appeared to me that un
der these circumstances, it is a duty
which we owe ourselves and the com
munity at large, to remonstrate to the
State Legislature at the next session in
terms of decency and refpe& against
this injurious measure. Before I con
clude I beg you to assure yourfelf that
I am not prompted to these remarks
by any consideration of personal gratifi
cation ;my experience of public life
has taught me to believe that the port
of honor is the private station.
I hope you will excuse the liberty
which I have taken of addressing you
this letter, it has resulted from a desire
of giving to my conftitutents a faithful
account of the part which I have taken
in these concerns, in which they are so
deeply interested ; and I have deemed
it more important to do this, in conse
quence of having differed in opinion
from all my colleagues upon every im
portant measure which has been agitat
ed during the present session. It would
be indecorous in me to question the
corre&nefs of the motives which have
governed their condud, and confeious
of the integrity of my own, I am will
ing to submit to the tribunal of the pub
lic, whether their condud or my own
has been best calculated to promote the
true interests of this country.
I am, fir, very refpedfully, your ob't
ferv't. J. STRATON.
Citizen Portalis spoke. He firft recalled the
laws refpeding worship at the period of the
18th Brumaire, and the intention of Govern
ment to eflablifh religious Peace. However
advanced, said he, may be the perfection of the
people, they cannot be without morals, and con
sequently those who are to teach them.
The idea of an universal Legislature is as
necessary to the intelligent as to the phyfieal
world. There are in iociety rewards and pun
ishments, because men are naturally disposed to
fear and to obey. The law can only apply it
felf to one adion. Religion embraces the whole
life of a citizen. The multitude are more ftrick
cn by what is given faun than by what is
proved to them.
The minds of men need to be fixed, and this
is the-advantage that positive religions possess
by their maxims. They have practices and
rights, which form a new tie, for men are net
to be led by abftra dions and cold calculating
precepts. There must be difeipfee by morali
ty, as well as order by ideas. If there was
nothing to unite those who profefs the fame
principles, we fliould soon fee avast diversity
of religious systems,
It is the intcreft of Government to protea
religious inftitutions,fiuce it is by them that the
mod effcntial truths are torn from the spirit of
system, and become the public conscience. The
positive religions, far from encouraging super
stition and fanaticifm, as has been thought, put
an end to superstition. Men are necessitated to
become believers that they may never be cred
ulous. The Philosopher, as well as the multi
tude, has need of courage to be ignorant, as
well as of wisdom to believe, for he cannot
know every thing. It is to positive religion we
owe the civilization of the human race. Cite
a single founder of Empires who has not called
in religion to his aid. Numa made Rome afa
redcity, to render it an immortal city. It is re
ligion which consoles the inequality of ranks &
fortunes, and all our disappointments and mise
ries. In the country the religious temples are
the places where the villagers come to repose
from their fatigues.
Why, it will be said, has no one thought of
a religion more suited to our measures and
our ideas of liberty ? If the force of law a
rises from what we fear, that of religion springs
from what we believe.—Human laws may
change, because they rectify abuses. It is not
so with religions; their belief is strong, as their
origin is remote. Wisdom then prescribed to
Government to adopt a religion which exists,
and which is Sanctioned by time, and the re
fpe& of the people. The Catholic and the
Progeftant Religon are only two branches of
Chriftianicy, which has had so salutary an in
fluence on the manners of Europe, and of other
countries ; and it may be said, that if the com-,
,afc has opened the Univetfe, Christianity has
rendered it sociable—it retards not the pro
gress of the human mind—it allies itfclf with
all the arts. It is in the temples of religion,
that music has had her birth ; the ebfd'auvres
of painting have there been deposited. It is
religion which has produced our greatest Ora
tors. Who could abjure a worship which has
produced Boffuet and Fenelon?
It affects no particular mode of Government.
I fee in Chriftianity,not the religion of a nation
but that of men; not the religion of a state,
but that of the world. Let her have a Priest
hood ; let all the nominations be taken from
her, and her ministers are nothing more than
the ministers of peace and morality. Religious
institutions might be left to their own force, or
we might fix them by rules. The firft part was
irreconcilable to philofopy and politics. Tole
ration which is a virtue between man and man,
becomes in the system of public right, a Support
of the guarantee which the government owes
to be governed,by the obje&s of its veneration.
The government ought then to have this pow
er in its hand, to terminate the feifm which
reigned in the Church of France. It wa, necessa
ry either to make the Chief of the State, Chief
^ Re-ejlabli/hment of Roman
Catholic Religion in France.
PARIS, April 7, 1802.
ON Monday the Concordatum was fubmitced
to the Legislative Body.
0 By late arrivals at Borton, from
Great-Britain. Dates to 24th April.
European News.
LONDON, APRIL 21.
This morning, bfr. Pierrepoint ar
rived at the Secretary of State's office,'
with the ratification of the Definitive
Treat, of Peace ; which was immedi
ately dispatched to his Majesty at Wind
fir. —There will he no illuminations
until the Proclamation of Peace is issued
France has concluded a favorable
treaty with the Regency of Tunis.
- APRIL 22. Mr. Pierrepoint brought
only the French ratification of the De
finitive Treaty.—Some informality is
said to have been the cause of his not
having brought the Spanish and Dutch -
Ratifications.
Three per cents were at 76 this day.
APRIL 24.
The Spanish and Batavian Ratifica
tions had not arrived when our paper
was put to press, but they may be ex
peded this day or to-morrow, and on
Monday it isjuppofed the Proclama
tion of Peace may be made.
[Sot.
•f the Religion, or to make a national Patri
arch ; thus would have been created a danger
ous political Manicheifm.
It was then necessary to have recourse to the
head of the Universal Church, whose voice
makes itfelf heard from afar, and who, as a
foreign Sovereign, can give no inquietude,hav
ing only the refpe& inspired by hi s temporal
weeknefs, and by religion.
Io faying that the Catholic religion was the
religion of the three Consuls, it is not meant
that it is the religion of the State, bur only the
religion of those who govern. In Saxony, the
chief is Catholic—the people Lutheran.
Another clause states that the acquirers of
national domains are incommutable proprietors.
It was not thought possible for. the Pontiff of
Rome to break bona-fide contrasts ; but it was
desirable to re-alTure the acquirers of this prop
erty.
The ministry of the Church requiring an af^
fiduous and constant labour, it has not been
thought compatible with the embarrassments of
a family: The celibacy of the clergy is there
fore maintained.
It is a reproach upon the Catholic church,
that Ihe curses all those who are not within her
fold.—Portalis replied, by citing from Montef
quia, " that a religion which gives us an idea
of the choice made by theDivinity,and of a dif
tin&ion between those who profefs it;and those
who profefs it not, attaches us ftrongiy to it."
Regnault de St. yean d' Angel, then read the
Convention passed at Paris, on the 29th Meffi
dor, and exchanged on the 23d last Fruaider.—
It states, that the French Government acknow
ledged that the Catholic rcligon is the religion
of the great majority of the French. His Ho
liness equally acknowledges that this religion
has withdrawn, and now waits for the grand
eclat of the establishment of the Catholic wor
ship in France, and of the particular profeffion
of it to be made by the Consuls In conse
quence it is proper that the Romifh religion
Ihall be freely and publicly exercised in France,
in conformity to the regulations of police which
the Goverement may judge fit to publilh.—
There will be made by the Holy See, in concert
with the Government, a new arrangement of
dioceses.
By the Concordat, there are to be ten Arch
bishops, and fifty Bishops, in France.—The
clergy are to dress in black; the Bishops with
violet colored flockings. The new Calender .
which begins in September, is preserved.—-
The names of the days as in the anticnt calen
der. Sunday shall be the day of rest for the
public functionaries.—The arch-bishops shall '
have 15,000 livres annually, the bishops 10,000.
The bells shall only be rung for divine service.
The archbishoprics are of Paris, Malines,Befan
con, Lyons, Aix, Touloufe,Bourdeaux, Bourges,
Tours, and Rouen.
The worship of the Reformed Churches is
permitted. o——
LONDON, APRIL 24.
From the Gazette.
Extrafl of a Letter from bis Excellency
Lord St. Helens to the Right Hon.
Lord Hawk^ur,, dated Peterfburgh,
April 2, 1802.
I have the fatisfaction of transmitting
to your Lordship the Swedish Ad of
Accefion to the Convention of the 17-
sth June, 1801 ; which was figned(with
its duplicate) on the 30th part, by my
felf and the Baron de Stedingk ; and in
struments of a like tenor were at the
fame time interchanged, between that
Minister and the plenipotentiaries of his
Imperial Majesty, I have moreover the
fatisfadion of being enabled to assure
your Lordfliip, that the Swedish Am
bassador has been diftindly informed
by the count de Kotfeboubey, that as the
motives which had occasioned the late
revival of the system of the armed neu
trality were now hapily done away that
system is considered by this Court as
completely annulled and abandoned,
not only as a general code of maritime
law, but even in its more limited mean
ing of a Specific engagement between
Russia and the other confederates..
APRIL 10. The Cardinal Legate of the Pope
had his audience of the First Consul the 9th.
The government carriages were feat for his
Eminence to his palace ; he was preceded by a
detachment of grenadiers and gendarmarie, with
martial music. There were in his train ten car
riages full of eclefiaftics, and the procession was
closed by a body of 200 cavalry. - The cross
was, as usual, carried before his Eminence,
The Cardinal Caprara is acknowledged by
a decree of the Consuls, as Legate a latere; but
he cannot publish or execute any ad of legation
without the permission of government. He
yesterday confecratedin the Met ripolitan Church
of Notre Dame, three Archbishops, two of
whom were the Abbes Bernier and Camber
ceres, % Deum, on the return of peace, is to
be celebrated at Notre Dame, the 18th, in pres
ence of the government: Sixty pieces of can
non, are to announce the progress to, and re
turn of the Consuls from church ; and in the
evening there is to be a general illumination.
In the midst of the religious music, the troops
preceded by their trumpets, are to enter the
church with their standards, and the songs of
the warrior arc to mix with the hymns of the
choir.
[Tbefyflem was adopted. It wasoppofed by ,
only in the Tribunate, and twenty-one in the Legis
lative body.] 0