National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-06-22 00:00:00, page 1

To the Author of " VERITAS."
S /A.
ry ii r ;t letter was written and sent to
press on Friday lalt, too late to have a
chance of appearingjn Mr. 1" reneau's Ga
zette of Saturday, or according to the ge
neral rules of newspaper writers, I Ihould
have fe;it it to him tor publication. as your
jetters came out from his press, and the an-
Aver ought to folk w the lame course :
but lir, tne subject was important; your o
pmiuns, confined in the origin to a few,
were in danger ot spreading among that
uleful and valuable class of the coniniunity
who are not versed in the art of decepti
on, who not meaning themselves to de
ceive, are too apt to be imposed upon; lor
that realon only I deviated from a good
general tine, which always admits of ex
ception', and for the fake of ipeedy publi
cation fcnt my letter to Mr. Dunlap—l
now proceed through the fame channel to
take some notice of your third letter.
Your tirit paragraph is exactly in the
stile and manner of your two preceding
favours ; puffed up with your own imagi
;-iry importance, you think you should be
guil tv of treafou if you did not volunteer
it, by otf.ring yonrfell" as the l'relident's
counsellor, to warn him to dtfmifs those
whom the conllitution acknowledges, and
whom tue Senate of the United States
hive approved. You remind him that he
)•> a servant whose conduct is to be govern
ed by the will of rile people, as expreil'ed
in the laws & the conltitution ; and with
out entering into any argument, or giving
him anv advice, you proceed to examine
a id cross-examine him, as if he were a
witness in a court of juflic*, in order to
get from his own mouth something to cri
nii late his character and dellroy the force
of his evidence, or by his silence, to pre-,
fume his guilt.
I liave never been intruded with any
secrets of the (late, nor can 1 anlwer any
oueition which relates to the internal con
tiuft of the cabinet; but 1 think your quef
tio is are of such a nature, thai any mail
who had been in this country but a (hurt
time would not have alked them, nor could
have been at a loss for answers to them.
We know, lir, th3t the emperor of Ger
many and the king of Pruflia, who engag
ed in the war witii France some time ago,
never sent an armed (hip into the Ameri
can seas, and that America hns net Tent a
Ihip of war into the European leas ; so that
there could be no poflible need of a pro
clamation of neutrality in 1792. But, lir,
in April 1793, after France had declared
■war againlt Britain, Holland and thefove
veign city of Hamburgh; when a like de
claration was hourly expected aj-ainlt
Spain and Portugal, and which have since
come out, all of those.nations with whom
the United States have a constant inter
course, whose liiips are frequently vilitino
our ports, and ours, theirs—l fay, lir, tha:
in \pril 1793, the French frigate PEm •
b ifcade arrived at Charleston, and landed
Mr. Genet, ambaH'ador from the republic
of France to wurs. Advices received Irorr
thence announced, that private vessels were
taking commitlions from the French am.
balFad'or, to cruise in our Teas, against al
the enemies o> France, many of whon:
were our allies. This was the moment
when it became the duty, of the President,
the guardian of the honour and fafety oi
the United Hates during the recess ot Con
gress, to come forward with a proclamati.
011, warning the citizens of the conse
quence of their joining in hostilities againtl
any of the belligerent powers. This, lir.
is a good reafou why the proclamation was
not i(Tiled before, and why it was ifiued al
the time it bears date.
You fay, "The onduct of our govern
ment, with relpect to Great Britain, has
*or some years part been (hamefully pufil
-1 r.imous," and immediately proceed tc
acknowledge that you do not know what
it has been ; you boldly call for a publica
tion of their councils, in order that you
m;*y know whether you have charged them
wiu'i or without foundation ; and then hold
out the idea, that it w ill be juitifi ble for
the people to take the law into their own
hands, and make war without the leave 01
the persons to which the constitution has
cnti ulVed that prerogative. This hint, lir,
approaches much nearer to treafou than
your not warning the firft magistrate, as
mentioned in your exordium
Your next paragraph is an extraordinary
one indeed. You fay that, "Since writing
your lull,you have learned with regret that
Bhofe citizens who complain that oiy trea
ties with France were violated bv the pro
elaniation, couitl'ued it "Pray, fir,
Numb. 68 of Vol. ll.]
By P.FRENEAU: (at No. 20), Market Street) Publifkcd Wednesdays and Saturdays, [Three Dollars ptr annum'.']
let me afl; you how you dare to write you
two preceding letters, before you at 4e.i(
enquired, whether ilie proclamation reali;
was a violation of the treaties or riot:
Had you made the enquiry fill 1 , and beei
uiilintormed, you might have the excufi
>f ignorance, which, tho' a lame one
night have keen given as a palliation
ut 11 )w, in your th rd letter, to come lor
ward and acKiiow ledge that your informa
ton « ,:s polVerior to your 111 ode It atra<l
upon the J'refident. deferv'es a severer re
proof chan I am accustomed to give to anj
Dddy.
\oi r ignorance of treaties, of the law
ofnat c and nations.of tile condtV&of go
veriiifi. t, and of tlie wefckrefs of your
own tfii ts. would have rendered youi
perforni.il.ces mm orthy of any answer, .1
there was not lomithing due to the mi
vary citizens, vt ho might have been mi fief
by fonie 'igh founding phrases, which yot
have borrowed from other wii*er c l ir.ai
thprefore p oceed, inttead of folljwinj
your aMurdicies, to inform my fellow citi
zens. us well as I am able, on the lubject:
you seem so incapable to treat of.
By tile 17th articl- of the treaty of an i
ty and commerce w i France, provifioi
is made that, "It Ihouid be lawful lor tlif
Ihips of war of i irlier ir; , and privateer:
freely to carry wliitherlofrver t ey please
the ihipi and goodo : . u!r m their ene.
mies, without being n.-r to pay an)
duty to the office- ol li. admiralty oi
any other judges, i.oi li.il tuch prizes be
arretted or fuz i ii hen itiey come to, o,
enter the port# oi niipr party, ner 1i• aI!
the fearchee o i. officers otthofe place:
search the faun ( make examination con
cermng tin I,' V uluefa ol Inch prizes ; bul
they may -oil fail at anytime, and de
part and carry their prizes to the places
expreiled in th ir coniinifhons whe 1 the
coiiinai ders of fu-h Ihips of war ill all be
obi i,c ;l to (iieW
Now, fir, there is no lung in all this that
iii.thoi izes a Freiuh fliip of war or priva
teer to bring or P'lid her prizes into any o
our ports tor sale, but o lyforfafety, and
to proceed away with theiw, when they
(hall think proper ; tliey come in, in po«-
fellion of thein, and we are not to enquire
mto the legality of their pollitllions; we
are to suppose they h*ve aright to them
because they are the oflenlible owners;
and if tiiey t ike them away as they came,
there is an end to the butinefs. But ii they
will land the cargoes and advertile those
and the reffels for sale, the cal'e is altered.
No man can prevent another, in any free
neutral country from demanding or filing
for his property ; if therefore the captors
of those prizes have gone further than the
treaty authorizes, the former owners or
their agents, being here, have a right to go
into our courts of law to claim their pro
perty; and this is all that I can learn has
been done. In the very paper that con
tained your third letter is a paragraph in
these words "the (hip Willam captured by
the French privateer. Citizen Genet, and
the brig Fanny, a prize to the Sans Culot
tes have been libelled against by their for
mer owners as illegal prizes." This in
formation you might have had before yon
wrote, as it had been in prior papers ; and
altho' no man is bound to enquire, or know
all the tranfaclions in a large city, yet it is
certainly the duty of every man to inform
himfelf well upon any fubjeft on which he
is about to w rite and make a clamor ; bad
ynu taken this precaution, you mult be ex
tremely ignorant indeed, it you would not
have been (atisfied that such a proceedinp
was according to the law of nations, ant:
not incowlifteiit with any treaty, by the
law of nations foreigners have a right tc
sue and may be sued in the courts of justice
of any civilized power: and the only plea
that can be made to the disability of the
complainant in this refpe.fl is, that he is ar
alien enemy : if we did not admit this pri
vilege, our country would soon be the afy-
pirates, robbers, infolveiv
debtors and fugitives from jullice, ot al
other countries. As this fubjett appear:
now to be before the proper tribunal to tri
the legality of the capture, I am not at li
berty to treat of it ; it is contrary to law tc
bias the public mind by efl'ays or diflerta
tions in newspapers. The cause is to be
tr.ed in court, and not by the people in the
campus martins ; the court is to be open ;
the people may attend in as great numbers
as the walls of the house will contain :
council will be heard on both fides, andthe
court will publicly pronounce a decree ;
this is the mode pointed out by our conlli
tution, and the laws of the land, and no
S A T U E. D A Y, June 22, 1793.
country can be denominated free cither
w here juflice is administered in private, or
where the catife can be drawn from the
judges and tried bv the people at large ; or
in newfpapcrs. I am warranted in this
doctrine by the decision of our supreme
court anil general allembly in the cafe of a
printer in this city of a recent date.
The fame reaion prevents me from en
tering into the cafeof the '-two men, for
merly citizens of the United States, but
lately in the lervice of France, who have
beenfeized and thiovvn into jail, to be tri
ed hy our laws for a violation of the neu
trality declared in your proclamation.
The law will determine whether they have
violated it or not, and i Ihoulil not attempt
to pubiilh my opinion, if I had formed ont
on the subject which I have not. But 1
cannot pass over your manner of bringing
this matter forward ; your
tiat it is fur breach "of the
dared by the Prelident s proclamation,'' is
equivocal, and may b< iwiirtrued in two
ways ; I should have taken the mod fa
vourable one, to have been your meaning,
if you had not otherwise coiiltrued it
yoni I'elf in the fame letter, w here you fax
"permit me to afkfir, whether you think
yoiirfelf verted with legal powers to an
not folemw treaties by proclamation ?"
Thisevidcntlj'fheus that you meant to in*
(innate tlvat the offence charged oil these
men the proclamation, and not
againd the neutrality ; and is a proof how
little you know, or how little you regard
truth, which >ou have afiumed as your fig
rnttnre. 1 told you, in my former letter,
that proclamations did not make law, and
tnat the Prefideni had attempted 110 such
tiling ;& I (hali not rilk, with any body but
join fclf, or your coadjutors if you have a
ny, the being called a sycophant" by fay
ing that.this is a base attempt to cajumi-
charafler that, 1 trull, is above the
reach of anj of your pc/'foneil arrows.
The treaty with Britain pnd the conduff
of the British towards us would require an
efiay or perhaps a volume by itfelflotlo
the subject judice; and I have neither time
nor inclination to undertake the work;
the truth is that I ?m of opinion with Field
ing, ' that a man may either write or fptnk
the better for underdanding the fubjefl,''
and it would take a good deal 0} time, to
collect ftfhcient materials for undertaking
filch a work ; but I can fee plainly enough
that you know nothing about the mattei.
The treaty Sir, contains reciprocal engag
ments, and I have heard that they have
been the fubjeft of much corre'pondence be
t« een theminiffers of the tw opowers; that
much arguments has been uied 011 both
fides, and that neither can, or does, boast
of a compleat victory over the other. The
subject is an extremely delicate one for a
newspaper; and as I am too good a citi
zens, to betray any interest of my country
for any confederation whatever, I don't like
to repeat, even what I have heard of, the
arguments nfed by the Briti'fh; especially
in a controvcrfy with you, lead in my
warmth of anf\\ering you, I might con
cede more than is proper for any private
citizen to do ; for a private citizen, tho'
wholly unknown, may drop a hint or dart
an argument, that the other fide may make
some advantage of. I fliall therefore only
fay, that the Britilh have given some rea
sons for not evacuating the north-weflern
ports, that have at leart plausibility on their
iide, and that they have been anfvvered by
persons, who underlland the fubjeft with
great ability. Wherefore I think that you
and I had better leave the matter to be
fettled, by those to svhoin the constitution
and laws of the land, haVe intruded the
important duty of making treaties; we can
do them no good by our canvassing the fub
je£t, and we may lay them under tmbar
raflinents.
And here Sir, I fliall dismiss you alto
gether had not 1 seen your lart w orus in
the National Gazette of yederday, and
your request to have your works republilh
ed in the Daily Advertiser. What you
could expert from this but to render your
enmity to the government, under -which
yon enjoy the liberty of doing it, more
confpicucus, I cannot conceive, for there
is not through the whole course of your
labours a scattered fragment, of truth, in
formation or argument. Tlie w hole are
a pompous farrago of nonfenle, mifmfor
mation and daclamation, wholly inapplica
ble to the present date of the Union; there
are 110 such lordliligs and sycophants as
you describe ; there is 110 attempt to shac
kle you from Ipeaking your mind upon
my fubje£t, and vor.liung up the gall
which overflows from your disordered
bladder, there is no cry on the part of go
vernmant, that it is In danger, nor any art
used to mislead the people in its favour
"Good wine needs no bufli" and a jjood jc
vernment needs no panegyrists, hence every
thing goes on quietly, its friends reicice i s
this quiet; &tho' they have no objection to
any man writing and publifhiug his senti
ments, yet for the reputation ot the coun
try, they wilh and recommend truth ami
decency to accompany them ; this is all
they wifii or have ,a right to recommend.
And now Sir, I am ready to give you n<<-
last words, they are upon the base attempt
in your last performance to mislead unwa
17 citizens into falfe jealousy, upon the fub
jeft of an entertainment given by the Bri
tilli minister, on his king's bit th d/.y, anil
the toatts there given. I fliould be nlait
Sir, to know, what bufineU it is to you,
nr-oi? that occalion ? It is trip
. onlfant custom cf British fubjedi, every
where, to give the king, whose pay they re
reive, for their firft toalt after dinner ,
md upon the occalion of his birth day, it
would have been conflrued into diiafcei
tion, and marked difrtlj to have o
mittcd it. if they had the politeness to
i>ive the President of the United States al
terwnrds, it is plain you would be behind
:hem in 1 his instance of refpe£t to him. Sir,
your sentence on tiiis fubjeft, is contradic
tory to itfelf ; you firft approve the senti
ment, which yon fay has been adopted bv
some lately, "that principles and* not men,
should be the object of republican attach -
ment," which plainly proves that your ob
jection was to drinking the 1 resident all;
Mid you immediately beiome so careful of
l her President's dignity, that you csll it ail
r.fult to drink him in such company ; Jiere
Sir, you fliew the cloven foot: what riglic
lave you to talk of insulting the President;
your letters pnbiifhed in the A. Dai. Adver
ser of this day, answer the qi.eftion to your
frame.—Kvery thing Sir, fhotld be taken
as it was intended. The British minlnfter
.bought he was paying refpeft to the coun
ty in which he enjoys the rights of hofpita
ity by giving its President in Inch company
it his master and family; no\v, tho' there is
e*Hy nothing in it, but a token ot good
« ill, I think if you and I don't (pel h;*ps for
<ery different real'ons) civufe to drink the
President's health, ourselves, \\ e ought rot
:o prevent those who chufe to pay him this
mark of refpeft, by eflablifhing an inqui
ition over the table, and convivial char or'
ill the foreign fr.bjetts and citizens and of
di the ciubs, focicties and convivial meet -
ings among us, for they all do what gives
you so much offence, that is they give theii
"overeigivainr, nation or patron for the fir.'i
:oa(t, alter which mojl of thcin give the
Pretident of the United States.
I Ihould not have thought this fuMrfl
worth mentioning amidst such a croud of
irtpoi'tant ideas as your publication excite,
had your sentiments been confined to this
lountry; but having appeared in two
newspapers, which travel the world over,
1 thought it would conduce to the honor
of the 1 nited States to fend along with
your's the opinion of a citizen differing
from von in the principleof foreign liberty',*
and while 1 am asserting the liberty of
"peech, & the liberty of the prefs.todrop a
tew words in faviAir cf the liberty of the
:able.
I dismiss you now with a short piece of
id vice ; in your next attempt at writing,
Jo not ape the Itiie and manner of Junius';
or you are -wholly unqualified to fhiuc in
t- four's&c. 1
A Friend to Peace.
June 13
Foreign Intelligence,
•via Boston.
uGMDON, [From the ORACLE, May 3.3
OFFICIAL. Of the SORTIE froth
CASSZL.
Communicatee' in a Utter from Lieutenant
General Schonficlci to'the Duke o^'Brunf
wick Lunenburg.
" \ Our highness has probsbfy been in
formed by major Schce ,of the artillefy,
of the late affair of the I.sth, according t(i
the latest adyices of the day, and the ii.j
formation obtained from the priloners aii'l
cieferters from the enemy, their Sortie
wasdepofetl in three columns compr.t'. ?
atlealtof 12,ce0 men. Their prhicjl' 1
object of attack was Koilhemiand tti'e grai 1
redoubt of Mafliback. when the e.'.'. i.'
fucteeded in penetrating the t
[Total Numb. 172.]