The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-11-30 00:00:00, page 2

[*X Hr guidance of human
t. " Ttotag* in which we live has decided tbIP
t point, and put the question to jest, I trust
| forever. 10vas been reserved for our day v
I and fay eur hratroctiun, to see how civilised
men,Ran acl *hen withdrawn'from the
salutalry restraint and benignant influence
J of Religion. They have acted. The voice
of unutterable confusion has echoed back
their deeds. The groan of nuiversal car
nage ascended to the throne of the Dei
;y. 'They have borne fearful testimony to
the value of Religion—they have raised as
evidence to its necessity, monuments that
never wilibc erased from the mind of tnan.
The lesson was an awful one. Heaven
i grant that we may profit by it. But Ido
nut rest on the follies or the miseries of the
present day, when I assert the dependence
of human happiness on Religion; I am
borne out to the truth of that assertion by
history in every age, and by man in all the,
varieties of his condition. When we trace
the cheerless map of man in those portions
of the world, where the voice of the Evan
gelist has not yet been heard, what pros
pect offers Itself to oqr attention?—We see
the earth covered over by countless hordes
of Ravages, dark, unsocial and hostile,
without God, without hope, without hu-
' t inanity, rotting away, generation after gen
- eration, Hke the vegetables on which they
feed, or the beasts with whom they resort,
* Passing from this humiliating view of our
epeclrs, and directing our attention to those
regions where the light of Christianity has
dawned upon man, we see him softened,
humanised, enlightened, and lest any doubt
should exist respecting the Cause of his im
provement, we discover social happiness
and national prosperity, growing with the
growth of Religion, qnd declining with its
fall. Thus we find those countries which
first received the advantage of Christian!
ty, adorned by every virtue, improved by
every art, illumined by every science;
holding on a bright and unblemished course
through long succession of ages, till pride,
* corruption and ingratitude rendered them
unworthy of the Gospel, and provoked the
Almighty to withdraw its light from them.
Sad reverse I A long night of misery* ig
norance and barbarity, has since over
spread these devoted countries ; and, fallen
from the high character he had borrowed
from Religion, man has sunk into a state of
abasement, little raised above the brute
I. 1 that perishes. Europe offered a refuge to
the exiled remnant of Eastern greatness
and Religion ; and Europe was amply re
warded for her hospitality. The track of
the barbarian was blotted from her soil;
the torch of science blazed through all her
nations; mao rose and flourished in every
quality that assimilates him to Deity, in
reason, in piety, in virtue. The blessings
of Heaven were not merely manifested with
liberality, they were scattered with profu
sion; but the fountain from which these
blessings flowed on the nations of Europe,
has been dried up, by the folly and impiety
of its inhabitants. They have loaded the
Gospel of Christ with dishonour. They
have broken the chain that bound them to
the Deity, and they have sunk, the dupes
and victims of a proud, shallow, presump
tuous philosophy. The storm of Almighty
vengeance has burst over their heads: but
from the centre of its devastation, the an
gel of wisdom has proclaimed this great
instruction to the world : they who are
false to their God, will be traitors to
their Country—the bosom, which hat felt
the withering touch of infidelity, will not
be the foremott to thield the sacred rights
<f society—the heart which is inspired by
the genuine spirit qf Christianity, will,
prove in the day of trial, the abode of pa
triotism, qf honour, of every quality that
enables man.—These are not the visionary
ravings of a heated fancy ; they are truths
incorporated in the history of Europe, and
written in imperishable characters on its
toil. And can the diffusion of such a Reli
gion as thia among our fellow creatures be
deemed a thing of indifference ? The man
that could hazard such an opinion, is
neither intelligent nor humane. He is
equally a stranger to the motives that cre
ate rectitude in the human breast, and to
- that power which lifts man to a greatness
above his nature ; for these motives and
that power can be found only in Christianity.
The general diffusion of that blessed/Reli
gion, is therefore a general benefit confer
red on man; the best Ser .rity for virtue,
the only security for happiness."
About 15 years ago, two men In the town
of Moukton, in Vermont, were digging for
iron ore, and about 4 feet from the surface
of the ground came to a while substance,
which from its resemblance to white lead,
they supposed would make putty. They
accordingly made trial of it and found it to
answer their best wishes. They after
wards penetrated the bed about 25 feet,
and observed the material to grow more
pure, the farther they went down. Con
siderable quantifies of putty have since
been made and carried abroad for sale,
and, by those who have used it, it is prefer
red to any other. A house in Vergennes
was also painted with it, about 10 years
since, and stid exhibits a hard coat, imper
vious to the weather.
.Owing to the narrow circumstances of
the then owners, and thr doubts and scru-
FROM THE WASHINGTONIAN.
; pies of the people abrtxt kttfeg a certainty
go for an uncertainty, as they called It, this
material was rather talked of as valuable,
than put to the telt of experiment, though
it was still used In towns in the vicinity of
the bed; 'and It was not till 'little mor/
thim a year ago, that any adequate ideas
were entertained as to the real properties
and value of the “ putty stuff,” as it was
called. The friends to American manu
factures will be pleased to bear, that this
so long neglected material is now ascer
tained toAff Argllla Apyra, or porcelain
clay, and that a company is now forming,
with a view of manufacturing it into
Crockery and China Ware.
A very excellent kiqd of stone-ware is
already made; by mixing it with a certain
proportion of .common blue clay. This
clay is found on the eastern side of a hill
rising in an angle of about forty degrees,
and is deposited in strata having a variable
number of degrees, of northern depression,
and the strata are intersected by veins of
pure flint sand, valuable io the manufacture
of flint glass; flint stones are also found.—
The soil over the bed is generally loose
meager earth, free from ledges ; and from
the examinations, which have been made,
the bed may be said to be nearly inex
haustible*
In an analysis of one hundred grains,
they yielded fifty-six of pure silex, the re
mainder were pure clay, a little water,
and a very small portion of oxyd of iron,
though scarcely perceptible. When sub- (
milted to a strong heal, it forms into a solid
procelainous mass, without fusion, and re
tains its whiteness.
It has a great affinity for oil, and it is
found that mixed in equal parts, it even
improves the whiteness of white lead, and
adds greatly to Its power of resisting the
action of the atmosphere. It must, of
course, be a very useful article in paint
ing.
■Wf
hor thi freeman’s journal.
THE FRENCH PARTY.
He who qan now doubt the existence of ■
a French Party in the United States, must
be wild and weak beyond all hope. The
democratick papers again venture to tell
us, not merely that the Emperour Napo
leon is just, but that he is more than just,
that he is generous and magnanimous.—
The latter is precisely the epithet that the
principal editor of the Gallick Faction ap
plied to the conduct of the Emperour, his
most gracious master, when he declared
war between the United States and Great-
Britain ! Of the magnarfimity of Bonaparte
the world has ample evidence, and certain
ly America has had a tolerable share of the
proofs. It is magnanimous in him to pre
vent an adjustment of the boundaries of
Louisiana, unless we will pay Fifteen Mill
ions of Dollars more. It is magnanimous
in him to require Us to abandon and destroy
our commerce, that we may help him to
conquer the Freedom of the Seas. It is
magnanimous in him to blockade the ** fast
anchored isles” of Britain, by a paper ship
of war, and to interdict to all the world a
commerce with his enemy, which at the
same time he carries on himself, in a con
siderable degree. It is magnanimous in
him to proclaim to the world that we are
destitute of honour and of honesty, and
more the slaves of England than the colo
nies of Jamaica. It is magnanimous in him.
to rob .us of Forty Millions of Dollars, upon
pretexts which a'pirate would blush at;
and to repeal his base and barbarous
edicts, on condition that we will ally our
selves with him in his ferocious and inter
minable war with England, is indeed tre
mendously magnanimous-!
And there is a party—and by no means
a powerless party neither—a party, in these
very " good old United States,” composed
of men who justify all these “ magnani
ruous” enormities, and proclaim to us their
authour as a prodigy of political honour
and diplomatick virtue. They tell us that
Britain is ambitous and perfidious, but that
France is moderate in all thing*, and a
bright example of good faith and justice.—
Mark, say they, the contrast I •• The con
trast between thd\ motives and policy of
France, and those of Britain, and the con
trast between the real friends of this coun
try, and the British party.” By the way,
must we eternally labour to dissipate and
destroy this idle phantom of a British par
ty, that continually fills the eyes of the ig
norant and the weak with horrid shapes
and sights unholy ? What evidence of the
existence of a British party in the United
States has ever been produced ?*Have not
the wrongs which we have experienced
from Britain, even those which have turned
out to be imaginary, as well as those which
were real, been unequivocally reprobated
by the great body-of Federalists ? Who has
forgotten the publick emotion consequent
on the attack upon the Chesapeake ? Who
will dare to assert that the Federalists,
upon that memorable occasion, were less,
spirited or less indignant than their politi
cal opponents? Descending to the time of
the imaginary insult of Mr. Jackson to our
Executive, did not a solitary and in itself
unsatisfactory paragraph in the National
Intelligencer, stimulate the immense ma.
jqHty of the Federalists to censure and
condemn, in the most unqualified terms,
the supposed insulting conduct of a foreign
I 1 Minister, respecting which they could not
Away, then, with this vain chimera of a
•• British Party.”—But a “ French Party”
is no phantom of the imagination. History
can produce no instance, in a nation whose
pretensions to character and spirit were so
high as have once been ours, of equal
apathy and silence* under great and ac
knowledged wrongs, as have been witness
ed in the United States under the aggres
sions of France,- Vast number* of the de
mocrats, almost all their leading and in
fluential men, have laboriously palliated,
where they did not dare to justify the
enormous outrages of Napoleon. Let it be
admitted, and we will make the admission
with pleasure, that the great body pf the
democratick republicans are honestly at
tached to the honour and the rights of their
country, and are ini this instance merely
deluded men, still their leaders and man
agers alone form a. ” party” of no incon
siderable consequence. These men “ wield
at will the fierce artillery” of American
Democracy. Managing with peculiar art
jhe old prejudices and passions of the peo
ple against England, and their old feelings
and sentiments of attachment and grati
tude to France, they impel them to lan
guage and measures inconsistent with cool
reason and correct information. Great-
Britain is represented as the great ori
ginal aggressor, although the repre
sentation is at war with Jefferson's own
book of documents upon this subject. Thu*
a “ French Party” is formed, which, al
though it is composed of discordant mate
rials, and embraces, from adventitious cir
cumstances, vast numbers of men who art
not Frenchmen at heart, is yet dangerous,
and may ultimately prove destructive.
bmt fce eemjfa irtt they had no precise
and definitive Mbrmjrtioo ? bitnot'per
fectly recollected that those who bad thus
condemned the conduct of Mr. Jackson,
upon thte faith of a loose article in the gov
ernment Gazette, were extremely reluc
tant to abandon those impressions, when
the democrats themselves appeared ? Have
not the democrats boasted of the apparent
negletft. If not contempt, with which Mr.
Jackson was at first received, in some of
our principal cities ? In fine, have not the
Federalists, upon every occasion, when it
was evident, or supposed to be evident, that
the national independence, or the national
honour, was endangered or injuriously af
fected, instantaneously sacrificed their just
prejudices against men, and in a great de
gree against measures, and rallied around
the stardard of.an administration, in which
it was impossible for them to repose much
confidence, to which they could feel no af
fection or attachment, except as is repre-
sented the government, and was intrusted
with the interests, of their country ?
BALTIMORE, November 14.
With the greatest regret we have to
state, that a most afflicting event occurred
at the fire of Saturday night. Mr. Peter
Straw, a respectable stranger, and trader
from Wythe county, Virginia, who had his
lodgings at Fulton's, perceiving the hazard
to which all the property of that square
was exposed, removed early in the alaim
his effects to an opposite neighbour's, out
of immediate danger, and then proceeded
to a ware-house adjoining Fulton's, where
he had been dealing, for the laudable pur
pose of assisting in the removal of proper
ty. In a few seconds after his entry into
the ware-house, being, with others, undet
the well-hole, engaged in removing pack'-,
ages, the rope of a heavy bale, (which was
descending by block and tackle, and had
got about half way down from an upper
story,) gave way, and Mr. Straw was al
most instantly killed by the weight which
struck him on the neck and shoulders. He
was immediately removed to Dr. Craw
ford’s for medical aid; but alas! it was
unavailing.
The Editors of the Federal Republican,
have been favoured with the following ex
tract of a letter from Buenos Ayres, dated
the 14th of August last.
"Great political changes have taken
place here within the last three or four
months, with which you will no doubt be
acquainted ere this reaches you. The par
ty of the natives is completely triumphant,
and their ultimate object, whatever their
professions may be, I doubt not, is inde
pendence, and I as little doubt of their at
taining it. The late Viceroy, Ciznaros,
after being first quietly deposed, then elect
ed President of the Junta of government,
which new honour he held only three days,
was with a few others shipped on board
a small Guernsey Cutter, and sent to Spain.
Liniers, who opposed the measures of the
advocates for independence, is seeking for
safety In the inter four, and trying to rally
a party in favour of the old system, while
a son of his is held prisoner in Buenos Ayres,
and the city of Cordova, which took that
side of the question, has been reduced by a
force sent from hegce, Io come into the
measures of the patriots. To conclude, a
congress of deputies from the cities and
districts of this government, are about to
meet here, to settle the government on a
permanent basis; which is, in the mean
' time, administered by a Junta consisting
I uf five persons, all.il believe, natives.”
25p tfte jOßailF.
November 22.
November
LATB FROM LONDON AND POR
TUGAL.
The ship-Portsmouth, arrived this tnorn
, ing from London, brings papers to the 23d
of October, containing accounts from the
armies in Portugal to the 14th, 11 days
later. There had been no general battle
since the last dates. The combined Brit
ish and Portuguese armies were concen
trated, and had possession of the strong
fortified lines at Mafra, fcc. The French
army had advanced to within 40 or 50
miles from Lisbon. Such measures were
taken at Lisbon as would enable the army
to embark, in case of defeat in the deci
sive battle every day expected to be fought.
It appears by despatches received from
Lord Wellington, received from Lisbon in
the remarkable short passage uf four days,
that Massena was in a most critical and
dangerous situation. The Portuguese mi
litia, under Colonel Trant, had surprised
the French in Coimbra, where they cap
tured 5000 men. Lord Wellington was
posted in front of the French army, in his
strong lines, with his right at Villa Franca.
He had been but faintly molested in taking
this position. Massena's army was inferi
our in number, and its retreat without the
loss of baggage and artillery, was supposed
impossible, whilst famine would probably
arrest their retreat. Every circumstance
indicated the policy of Lord Wdiiogton.to
be what is emphatically called Burgoyning
the French. The next news, we may con
fidently expect to contain their surrender
or destruction.
The alarm among the merchant's at Lis
bon, bad subsided in consequence of this
favourable state of affairs, and they were
determined to wait the event with confi
dence.
. London, October 22.
The anxiety produced by the retreat of
the allied army, and the rapid and confi
dent advance of Massena, was almost
wholly removed by intelligence which ar
rived on Saturday. Despatches were re
ceived from Lord Wellington, (brought by
ths Apollo frigate, after an uncommon
quick passage of four days from Lisbon to
Spithead,) the substance of which was
circulated in the following Bulletin
*• Despatches have been received from
Lord Wellington and Mr. Stuart, of the
date of the 13th instant, by which it ap
pears that the allied qgpnies had reached
within their lines, their right being at
Castanbero and Villafranca, and their left
«t Torres Vedras, on the 7th and Sth in
stant. They had not been molested in their
retreat, but some affairs had taken place
between the cavalry of the two armies in
which the British and Portuguese cavalry
distinguished themselves.
“ The Marquis de Romana was on his
march with a part of his army to join Lord
Wellington. On the 13th he was expected
.»t Montemer. •
The rains had began on the Bth ; the
British army is represented as being pro
tected from them in the villages and under
huts. The French army is severely ex
posed to them.
** Colonel Wilson had occupied the po
sition of Busaco with a Portuguese brigade
on the 6th, and it was reported that Colo
nel Trant had entered Coimbra on the 7th,
and had taken the French garrison, with
their wounded prisoners."
The imporymt event alluded to in the
last paragraph of the Bulletin, merely as a
i timour, is fortunately put beyond all doubt
by concurring advices from Corunna and
Oporto. At the first of these towns the
fact was announced in a Diario Extraordi
najio on the 14th instant; a translation of
which appears iq, a subsequent column.
Several letters were also received from
Oporto, confirming the official communica
tion transmitted to Corunna, from which
we select the following, as being the most
explicit and circumstantial
“ We have great pleasure in acquaint
ing you, that we have received a very
pleasing and important piece of intelligence
by the arrival of Major M. Crohen from
Coimbra, this morning, viz. that the divi
sion of the army, under the command of Co
lonel Trant, had entered that city last Sun
day evening, and after some resistance,
took 5000 prisoners, the whole of the force
left there by the French army when they
advanced to the south. Of these 2200 men
are now on their march for this place, to
»e embarked, and are expected here the
day after to morrow. It is said the-French
rear-guard left Coimbra last Thursday;
and a rumour was also current there, that
a battle had been fought at Leyria, in
which the enemy had been worsted, with
the loss of 8000 men. We hope this dash
ing and brilliant affair at Coimbra is the
forerunneFof others equally important.”
“ P. S.—The Lisbon mail came yester
day round by sea, and as the wind is now
strong S. we look for another hourly. All
the vessels that were outside the Bar, got
under weigh yesterday, and are probably
gnne to Vigo, till the equinoctial gales are
over ; they will be severe."
< " Since writing you this morning, I have
just learned that our governour, (Trant,)
had taken 3000 prisoners at Coimbra, hav
ing entered that city with only the militia
Another Letter, same day.
“ Porto, October 9.
of his district, about 6000, They will ar
rive here on Friday. We have taken all
the medicine chests; surgeons, Bcc. and
about 30 officers are amongst them; but
Colonel Pampiona, the Portuguese traitor,
who was appointed governour by the
French, escaped. We are All, as you may
naturally suppose, very much elated;
the bells are ringing, and every demonstra
tion of joy.is shewing. The militia enter
ed Coimbra on Sunday evening at five, and
the few cavalry immediately took posses
sion of the bridge ; the infantry dispersed
all over the city, and took the French by
surprise. We lost about 20 men, and Co
lonel Serpe, of the Pennafiel Portuguese
regiment, was wounded in the arm ; Colo
nel Trant had several shots fired at him,
but escaped. The French, by their own
accounts, plundered Coimbra most cruelly,
and destruction of property there warvery
great. The officer who brought this ac
count declares he never witnessed such
horrid scenes.”
These bold operations in the rear ot the
'French, we should suppose, disconcerted
Massena extremely. We cannot other
wise account for bis apparent inactivity
from the sth, (when the head-quarters of
the allied army were at Arcobacco, and
those of the French at Leyria,) to the 13th,
the date of Lord Wellington's Amt de
spatches. It was not by allowing tKe allied
army to settle in the fortified and almost
impenetrably position as it is stated to ba
extend Torres Vedras to the Ta
gus, that he could expect to fight to advan
tage the battle that is to decide the fate of
Portugal and his own. The sooner this
was brought on, the better for Massena.—.
Expedition was every thing to him ; de
lay, almost positive destruction. His rapid
advance after the 28th ult. when he turned
the position of Busaco, shews that he was
anxious to bring on a general eng igement
as soon as possible. His subsequent hesi
tation proves that he relinquished or de
ferred this plan, either in consequence of
the precautions prospects of success from
an attack on Lord Wellington’s position,
or the alarming movements in bis rear.
Othter letters mention that upwards of
20,000 Portuguese militia were on the
march from the left bank of the Duoro for
Coimbra. The division of Colonel Wilson
is stated, in the Bulletin, to have occupied
the position afa,Busaco on the 6th, (a,fact
not noticed in the Oporto papers,) and on
the 7tb, that of Trant obtained possession
of Coimbra by a most brilliant coup de
main. General Miller's division, 4e learn
by a letter from Oporto, under date of the
9th instant, arrived at Coimbra after the
re-capture of that town, and immediately
crossing the Mondego, pushed on to Con
deixa in the rear of the French army. Of
the division under Generals Siberia and
Bucellar, we have no accounts.
Should Massena decide on a retreat,
there is, we understand, but one route
which presepts itself that affords a reason
able hope of saving his baggage and artil
lery, namely, that through the valley of
Moodego, by which the allied army re
tired ; but this is so devasted, so complete
ly stripped of every thing that can contri
bute to the subsistence of an army, that un
less the enemy carry their provisions with
them, it is almost impossible they can live
through it. There n indeed another route,
the difficulties of which are so great, as to
be supposed insurmountable by an army se
numerous as Massena’s.
NEW-YORK, November 22.
“ France wants money, and must have iIF
* Madisojt.
It appears by all our late accounts from
France that the sequestered American pro
perty in that country and its dependencies,
will never be restored to the lawful own
ers. If there should be a show of restora
tion, it is only the balance which will re
main after deducting the enormous duties,
which have been laid since the seques
tration of the property. And every one
knows that the duties and expenses of
sale, &c. will swallow up the whole of the
property. This our democrats will say is
entirely right. Bonafiarte wanted money
and must have it. Since his. friends in this
country could not persuade the people to '
pay tribute direct, it was proper that the
Emperour should take such measures to
collect it as were in his power. The mer
chants, said an illustrious friend of Bona
parte, are “ the moot worthless part of so
ciety and it is no more than right that
they should pay all the contributions. They
pay all the taxes at home, and why not pay
all the tribute abroad. We shall soon see
essays in the Aurora and Whig to prove
that the taking the American property was
an act of magnanimity and liberality in the
Emperour, and that our government ought
to thank him for such meritorious conduct.
That so far from resenting such conduct,
we ought to be extremely gratefill to the
Emperour for taking no other measures to
collect his dues. That it is not half so
much as this country ought to pay as her
proportion of the expense of the liberty of
the seas. That the merchants ought not
to complain, for as they are to have all the
benefit of the glorious freedom which Bo
naparte is about to give to the world, it Is
no more than renewable that they should
pay for it.