National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-03-27 00:00:00, page 2

denfome means of preparing tb's force
which ihuii be particularly deliined to fa
vour the maritime expeditions. 5. The
committee of the marine/hall present llate
ments and el timates of the expences necef
faryfor carrying these plans iiiio execution.
6. The diplomatic committee fliall make
a report 0:1 the tituatiou of the feverat a
ge its of the republic, in governments
where they (till remain. 7. The execu
tive council (hall lay btfore tils Conventi
on a memorial 011 the respective interests
of the Englnh and French nations, and
this memorial, after being, approved by
the Convention shall be addressed in the
name of the French people to the people
England. 8. The coinmifEoners that lhall
be sent to the maritime departments fliall
ina.ve an enumeration of the persons capa
ble of serving the republic in the naval e
ftablifhment,and shall allure the inhabitant
of the coalls, and the teamen, that a large
fliare of the prizes taken from the enemy
fliall devolve upon them. 9. The com
mittees of war, finances, the colonies the
marine, the diplomatic, and of the conlti-
Cution, fliall each of them name three of
their members, . whu lhall meet together
infome dated place under the name of the
committee of general defence. This com
mittee lhall be con (lan tly employed, in
connexion with the miniflers, in forming
such plans as the approaching campaign
and the present posture of affairs lhall re
quire, and their reports fliall always be the
order of the day."
M. Kerfaint hiving concluded, it waspro
pofed that the last article Ihould be imme
diately put to vote. Char'ier and Thuriott
opposed this motion : they thought that
establishing a committee of external fafe
ty would weaken the responsibility of the
minilters. Marat said, he wanted more
time to reflect on the matter. Robaud&
Rouyer dwelt much on the topic of gen
eral fafety, and the necessity of instantly
forming a powerful naval force. The lat
ter observed that even now 15 English fliips
of war were ready to set fail.
The last article proposed by M. Kerfaint
was then decreed.
FOREIGN ADVICES.
Amjlerdam, Jan. 8. The last letters from
Newrembourg, bring advice, that the
Prince of Saxe Cobourg, commander in
chief of the Austrian army, fixed his head
quarters at that place, whitfl 38,000 iinpe
rialifts, of which 12,000 were cavalry, pas
sed by 011 their inarch to the Rhine.
Dublin, Jan. 19. Yesterday evening ar
rived a mail, dated London, January 15. —
It brings intelligence that the Dutch have
laid the environs of Bois le Due tinder wa
ter ; that the inhabitants of the provinces
of Utrecht,and Friefland having displayed
the French cockade, troops had been sent
to those places to prevent tumults.
The Prince of Caftlecicula, now Neapo
litan ambaflador at London, has received
orders from his Sovereign, the king of the
two Sicilies, to take his departure to Paris,
in consequence of being appointed Ambas
sador to the republic of France.
London, Jan. ij. The three manly and
honorable men, who divided against a
war in a court of common council of Lon
don, have a right to be groud ; we pro
phecy, that in three months from this
time they will receive the thanks of that
very common council.
There are 110 fewer than two hundred
indictments prepared by the crown officers
to be presented to the grand juries
throughout the kingdom, for libels and
seditious words. They are of all kinds,
some against newspapers, some againfl
pamphlets, and hand bills. &c. and of the
seditious words some were uttered from
the pulpit and some in the ale-houses, in
moments of jollity and inebriation. On
the slightest computation, the trial of these
indictments in law cods, and Ihe value of
the time of the imprisonments that may
follow conviction, cannot be less than
50,000!. to fay nothing of the utter ex
tinction of free opinion.
Leghorn, Dec. 19, We have further
accounts of the departure of the French
fleet from the bay of Spechia ; ten of them
;<regone to Toulon, where there are said
to be sixty transports, with 15,000 troops
on board, waiting for them to convoy.
Eleven other French fliips of war, with
some bomb ketches, are gone .to Corsica,
to take in 4,000 men. After this the fleet
will unite again, and, it is said, will fail
to Sardinia.
Admiral Truguet has declared that as
Tufcany has observed a very strict neutra
lity, it fliall not be molefled.
Calais, Jan. 5. "A number of priva
teers are ready in this harbour to ifl'ue out
immediately on a declaration of war.—
Troops are railing very fad in the depart
ments. lam ferry to observe the day be
fore yesterday. several chests of hard mo
ney were landed out of three Englifli vcf
fels, and immediately proceeded under a
strong escort, to the national treasury at
Paris: several carriages of this kind have
been landed within these three weeks."
[Probably the Patriotic Contributions
from Jeveral farts of Great Britain anil
Ireland.J
Ratijbonne, Dee. 30, Twenty two bat
talions of infantry andiß squadrons of ca
valry,have set out by order of the court of
Vienna an their march towards Manheim,
probably with a view to cut otf Gen. Cuf
tinc from Alsace. Gen. CuUine's fituati
■ 011 nt Mentz is critical. He has endea
voured to get the court of Munich to con
■ tinue its neutrality, and has made every
preparation to secure himfelf at Mentz.—
The inhabitants however lhowed tokens
of discontent, which accalioned Gen. Cuf
tine to iffite an edict threatening death to
1 ail who ihould talk of a surrender of that
• capital. The clergy and old magistrates
are said to be the chief inflriiments in fo
menting popular discontent, who have in
confequencc had a fine imposed upon them
of 500,000 florins. The defence of Mentz
is to be entrusted to Gen. Wimpfon. The
whole army of Gen Cuftine consists of
22,000 men, 10,000 of whom are at Callei.
For the National Gazette-
No. I.
To the FREEMEN of the UNITED
STATES.
Fellow-CiJizetu,
■\/OUK attention has been drawn at the
late fellion of Congress, to two subjects
of great national importance, and deeply
interfiling to the feelings of freemen—"J'lie
one an invetligation into the conduit of
the War Department, lb far as it related
to the failure of St. Clair's expedition :
the other relating to the unfaithlul use,
and application of the public monies, made
by the head of the Treasury Department
Enquiries have been had as to both these
very interesting fubjeits; and you have
been told with all the effrontery and disre
gard to facts so usual to the sycophant editor
of the uazette of the United states, in his
paper of the 6th instant, " That two of
the great departments of the government
have been scrutinized in the course of the
session ; and that on the feverej} investiga
tion prnjecutcd by the firjl abilities, ill the
opinion of a very large majority, not a spot
or wrinkle was found to fully the official'
conduct of the high and responsible charac
ters concerned."
Shanielefs and unfounded as this afler
tion is, are you disposed to afl'ent to it,
and thus permit the currency of untruths
and public imposition through such a
polluted channel ? Is it not true that
a contmittee of Congress have made
a fecoml report relative to the causes of
the failure of St. Clair's expedition, in
which the conduit of the War Department
is implicated in much stronger terms than
in their firfl report on that fubjeit ? Is it
not equally true that Congress have had rfc>
proceeding whatever on the report of tMt
committee, and consequently that 110 ac
quittal of the head of that department ex
ists, except in the Gazette of the United
States ?
And upon a candid review of the pro
ceedings as to the charges againfl the Se
cretary of the Treasury, does his boafled
acquittal Hand upon much better ground ?
What was it more than this J Certain pro
pofiiions expressive of the mal adininiltra
tion of the Secretary, brought forward
three days before adjournment, referring
to numerous fails and documents, the ex
amination of which required much more
time than Congress had to devote to that
objeit—thefe propositions without the fails
being inquired into by a feleit committee,
which is the usual and proper course of
bufmefs in ali legislative bodies, forced into
discussion before a committee of the whole
house, and after two conversations upon
them, voted by a majority as disagreed to.
And that majority content with this mere
negative vote, not venturing to bring for
ward any affirmative proposition to declare
or eitablifh the innocence of the Secretary.
Where then is the man who from a re
view of these proceedings in Congress in
relation to the maladministration of the
Secretary of the Treasury, can lay his hand
upon his heart and difp.iffionately fay /
believe him acquitted? If he be a b-nk
director who pronounces him innocent—
if a flockholder—a paper man of fix per
cents, three per cents, or deferred debt,
1 who has furidenly flarted up poflefl'ed of
accumulated thousands acquired by the in -
Hiumentality of speculations founded 011
large discounts by the bank of the United
States, at times when by the direct and po
litive inflrumentality of the Secretary of
the Treasury, hundreds of thousands of
dollars of the public money lay in the hands
and at the disposal of that bank, without
being palled into the public Treafury—lf,
I fay, he be a man of either of these des
criptions, will you receive his verdiit, and
admit it as the verdict of a man impartial
and disinterested!
And if you will not, nay cannot, let me
beseech you to look with a critical eye at the
names of that majority, who voted 011 what
has been erroneously called an acquittal of
the Secretary of the Treasury. Three of
those names {tand in the lift of bank direc
tors ; and fifteen or twenty more are re
puted to be flockholders in the fame bank
of the United States. Can these men be
admitted as judges—men who in fail are
parties in the cause—members ofthatvery
inAUiition, the bank, to whose benefit the 1
■ public money in question, has been almost
■ foleiy and excluiively applied ? Strike
i them out then from the pannel of this in
quelt, as in honor and coufcience they
ought to have liriken themselves out ; and
ofwhomdothe remaining portion of the
forty acquitting votes comilt ?—it cunliits
of men who with the belt intentions for the
' public good, fuffered motives of polity and
• humanity to direst that, vote, which never
> could have been given had time ior ihvef
■ tigation and due deliberation to guide their
< better judgment been allowed. Humanity
: laid, if we err let it be on the fide of mercy
> J —ami policy seemed to dictate that it were
j better to hand over to the next Congrei's
i ; the ultimate impeachment of a criminal
i i public officer, without deciding any of the
■! preliminary points of his guilt, \\ hen it was
' | manifeftly iinpuffible for want of time, then
to prosecute his impeachment ; and more
especially as acontrary conduct at the dole
of the feflion might have involved great
confufion and public inconvenience.
It mull alf> be remembered, that of sixty
odd members present in the courie of the
enquiry, fourteen voted against the Secre
tary, and ten or twelve absented thein
felves avowedly to avoid the giving a vote
011 a fubjett which they had not been al
lowed time to inveltigate. But after all,
what has been the finding of the majority ?
Is it not in the merciful language of an
inqneft in a criminal cause ?—" Ignoramus
—We are not informed—We cannot a
gree." When at the fame time had those
: v_erj*n been called upon to vete affirma
tively that the Secretary was innocent, it
is not polfible that any ten of them would
have given fuck a vote.
This then is the boaffed triumph of the
Secretary of the Treasury—temporary and
Ihort-lived indeed must be its elfe£t —vain
and illusory Juch an acquittal. There re
mains an appeal to the impartial tribunal
1 of the public—as alio to that patriot citi
zen and upright chief magistrate, whose in
tegrity and virtue are above all praise—
He will equally disdain and reject all per
sonal prejudices or attachments, all sepa
rate views or party animolities ; all private
interelfs or corrupt speculations—lie wiL
take care according to the solemn injunc
tion of the constitution, " that the laws be
faithfully executed not less by himfelf
than by nil the public fun£fionaries of his
appointment—He will take care that the
mal-adminiliration of unfaithful public
servants shall be visited upon them by me
rited disgrace and punishment.
In prosecuting this appeal then, and
fliewing the fallacy of a supposed acquittal
from any proceedings which have yet been
had, it is important to review the circum
stances which have been brought before
you in relation to the Secretary's mifcon
diifl. as rhey now appear, after the belt
defence his friends have made lor him.
And here my fellow-citizens, pause, re- .
fleft, & weigh well the firft consideration 1 ,
shall present to you.
The Secretary is charged with having |
violated law, and inftrudlions, in drawing <
over to thi;>[countryout of monies borrow" ,
ed in Holland, upwards of two millions of
dollars; that this drawing was carried on ;
for a period of two years, in a fccret and [
unauthorized maimer; and that no part of !
it was ever uled to any public purpose (
whatever ; but that it was wholly, and ex- ;
clulively applied to the emolument of (
banks, bank direcloi s,and their favourites. ,
The defence of the Secretary is, That he
is not conjcious of having violated law or (
injlrullions, but that if in any part of his
conduct, he shall appear to have done Jo,
there is a complete rejponfibility upon him
in all in/lances where Jpecial exceptions do
not appear; and tileji in purluance of this
idea of responsibility, he goes into several
elaborate treatifes,w hich together contain
about 200 octavo pages, and which he was
four weeks in preparing; (fating the many <
and great public causes of necejjity which r
compelled him to draw the money over; c
and finally, that in the uje of the money he ■
was guilty of no favoritijm to the bank. r
Now then, my fellow-citizens, if re
sponsibility implies a violation i f law, and r
inltruftions, if causes of public necessity |
are urged by the Secretary as paramount to 1
the Ihiit letter of law and inltruction, and t
to jultify a departure from them—what a c
strange and lfriking contradi£tion doe the c
defence of the Secretary made by himfelf
afford to the fpeeclies and votes of the bank J
directors, and his otherfriends in Congress, t
who have said, " that he neither violated t
law or initriictiuns, and from the beginning a
to the end of the business. did nothing but t
what he was clearly authorized aiid im- j]
powered to do."—For, if it was clear that v
he did nothing but w hat was authorized", n
was it rjot very absurd to maice an apology t
for having done his duty ? 'Nay more, to
write an elaborate defence for ha-vingdone >g
; to detain Congress fix weeks in an en- c ]
quiry about nothing ; and finally when a n
partial and equivocal hearing has been had, ii
to exult jn an accquittd.! f,
But the friends of the Secretary thought tl
it fafer and ealier, to gloss over a violation l
os law and inilructiorit , or even boldly to a
deny it altogether, althq' the Secretary has p
expressly acknowledged both, than to ha- ti
zard the enquiry, what use the two mil
lions of public money li2d been put to by t<
the Secretary. In the firft cafe they only n
exposed him to the sbfurdity I have ftatcd';
ft Pbi:t in tlie latter, tliey could not so clearly
e exonerate liim from the charge of an un
- t.iithful application of the public money—
y Unfortunately for them, as well as ior
'1 himfel , he was obliged to acknowledge,
i- that notwithstanding all those cogent and
Is pressing public necessities, which in the pe
riod or two years had irrefutably comptiUd
'I him to draw over tlie two millions ot'riol
r lars from Holland, yet at the end ot'the
(aid two years, after all these cogent and
pr effing } üblic ntceffities had beti.'provided
y tor by the ordinary revenue, there remain
y ed oil hand, on the firft cljy ot' January
e lait, the funi of 2,333,770 dollars and 66
s cents, confifiing of Dolls. Cts.
' Can' in the treasury at the end
e ' 79 0 , ■ / 8 3>444- 51
1 Do. in Bank, arising from
l! loans, and not pafied into
e the treasury, . 605,883.08
e Do. proceeds of bills drawn
t on account of foreign loans,
account not fettled, 614.593.02
Y Do. deposited in the bank of
i North America, - 177,998.80
- Do. in the hands of collec
■ tor£ , - - 151,851.25
2,333,7-/°- 66
A sum exceeeding by thirty thousand
1 dollars, the whoJe amount of money drawn,
s over from Holland.
The money then being on hand, and
- manifeftly not one (hilling of it ever used
■ lor any one of these great purposes of co -A
\ £ ent and pressing public nectffity, {fated bf
1 the Secretary, it became a natural and
necefl'ary qneftion, to' what uj'e, and for
• what purpose the money had been reall/
1 applied ? Since there was 110 man either
1 in or out of Congress, who had so far loft
■ his senses as to believe in the conjuring
charm given to this money by the Secreta
ry, namely, that it could be played about
tor two years in the hands of the banks,
■ as agents for the public, and hy mere in
chanting force of its inflrumentaiity and
applicability, without touching one {hilling
of it, could latisfy and difciiarge all the
cogent and pressing public necejjities, which
occurred during the said two years, and
'. yet at the end of that time, the v. hole of
the fame identical money be found undi
minilhed, and untouched in the public
treasury. Here then the Ihoe pinched, and
the enquiry prefled ; for altho' the Secre.
tary had acknowledged that the ban ks
were his agents, respecting the whole of
this money, which of course made bank di
rectors and stockholders parties in the
cause before Congress; as ill truth, they
had been the only and happy few who had
fenlibly felt the real and actual in fir tnr.cn -
tality and applicability of it, yet there were
realons of the moment which rendered it
neither convenient nor proper to pursue
very clyjely this part of the enquiry ; and
therefore when the honeftFINDLEY in his
fpeechf came to that part of his argument,
he was ciamoroufly (topped, and called to
order faz AJr, Mercer had been 011 the lame
occaiion before him.
Such my fellow-citizens, are the plain
and simple facts on which rests the firfk
point of consideration offered to your view,
and if in the perusal of them you feel your
selves injured and imposed upon by the
actors in this business, remember t. h atjure
at the great and impartial tribunal of ihe
public, there is no calling to order, no
flopping the current of free enquiry ; and
chat as truth is mighty lhe will prevail.
TIMON.
March tosh, 1713.
For the National Gazette.
Mr Frf.neAu,
A S no pains are spared by expiring aris
tocracy to vilify ami abuse the i'fench
revolution, the following instance will elu-<
cidate the views of men, deprived xn the
power of prolonging their too long endu
red perfections.
A member of the national confe.ition
proposes to deltroy the prejudices of the
people, as an obstacle to the progress of
liberty ; he offers a morality freed from
the gross images of superstition, and is in
consequence immediately denounced an
open Atheist.
Some Philadelphia papers aflfert that Mr.
Dupont had avowed himfelf a Deist, o
thers, an Atheist. Well—let lis admit
this last denomination, since the writer of
a paragraph, inserted in the Daily Adver
tiser, will needs have it so ; and add*, that
if he had avowed himfelf an aristocrat, he
would have been hifi'ed or perhaps dis
patched, whereas his confeflior. gained him '
the plaudits of the Convention I
I have no objection to granting the-para
'graphift all he fays ; but after all, what
does it prove cxcept that an aristocrat is a
more dangerous animal than either a
ift or an Atheist ? The Aristocrat oppres
ses the moral andphvlical faculties of man,
the Deist, or Atheist, onprefs 110 body.—
His opinions are his own, and alk not the
aid of rich and cruel priests ; he ereOs 1111
piles, stakes, hpr fires, nor kindles the def
truftive animosity of religious warfare.
Without aiming, or even attempting,
to juftify the principles of Atheism, might
not one a!li. what ideas can tyrants have
of the yxiftenve of s Supreme Being, when