National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-01-19 00:00:00, page 3

are by no means entirely of madern inven
tion) they shuddered even at the thought :
Expertus vacuum Datclalus aera
Pennisnon homini riatis.
a. Let us profit therefore from the er
rors of those that went before us, and al
tho' the art of tailing in the air be now in
its firft dawn of infancy, it is reasonable to
iuppofe that a century, or left, may ma
ture it into something of solid benefit to
civilized man. It was remarkable, upon
the late occalion, that many persons repro
bated the aerial ascension as somewhat
profane, and asserted that the aeronaut
was intruding into regions where he had
no bufmefs ; these persons not considering
that the air is our legal property, and that
when a parchafe of foil is made on the
furface of tlie earth, the purchaser's right
extends, in strict law at!Jupernaetinferna,
i e. to aiy distance above and below him.
3. 111 Europe the danger of ascending in
a balloon is now reckoned so trivial that
even have accompanied several of
the aeronauts, and descended again in
l'afety; and hence it would seem worth
white to determine by a few experiment?,
whether the human raceifgeneratedinthe
higher regions of the atmosphere, would
not partake of a more exalted nature, more
inclined to virtue, and less to evil, than that
which we now poflefs, and communicate,
confined as we areto our woodsand vallies.
4. The public are much indebted to M.
Blanchard for gratifying their curiosity in
the manner he has done ; and as a small
tribute 011 the occalion, the following lines
were composed soon after his return from
his excurfiort.
By science taught, on silken wings
Beyond our groveling race you rife,
And soaring from terrellrial thing*
Explore a pafiage to the skies—
O, couid I thus exalted fail,
And rife with you beyond the jail !
Whoe'er (hall thus presume to fly
While downward with disdain they look,
Shall own this journey through the Iky
The dearest jaunt they ever took,
And choose, next time, without reproach
A humbler feat in lnfkeep s coach—
Ah ! when you rose, impell'd by ear
Each bosom fwellM its thousand sighs ;
To you each lady lent a tear,
And held the kerchief to her eyes •
All hearts still follow'd as you flew,
All eyes admir'd a fight so new.
The birds that cleave th' expanse of air
Admiring, view your globe full-blown,
And chattering round the painted car
Complain your flight outdoes their own :
•yor.d their track you proudly swim
«. jr tea* the loss -of life or limb.
How vast the height! how grand the scene
That your enraptured eye surveys,
V.'hen towering in your gay machine
You leave th aftonilh d world to gaze,
And wandering in the etherial blue
Our eyes in vain your course pursue.
The oki of day I how da zling bright!
In glittering radiance gleams the m > n ;
And terra, whence you took your flight
Appears to you—a mere balloon,
its noisy crew no longer heard,
Towns, cities, forefts, difapp ar d.
Yet, travelling thro the a ure road,
Soar not too high for R • a 5 ota 's ken ;
Reflect, our humble fafe abode
Is all that Nature meant for men :
Take in your fails before you freeze
And fink again among the trees. —
CONGRESS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Tuesday, Jan. 15.
Read the third time and palled, the en
grofied bill, relative to claims against th<
United States barred by any ast of limita
tion, and not heretofore ac'jufted.
A bill was reported from the commit
tee, authoriiing a loan payable in the cer
tificates of slates that have balances due tc
them on a final fcttlement with the Unitet
States—Read twice, and made the ordei
of the day for next Monday,
A report was read in favor of the petiti
on of William Seymour for apenlion—laic
on the table.
Mr. Greenup renewed his motion for
appointing a committee to report a bill for
placing on the lift of penlioners such mili
tia officers and soldiers as may have beer
disabled in the service of the United States,
and not provided for by law—Referred tc
a committee of the whole nex: Thurs
day.
The house then consider
the bill for regulating trade and intercourse
with the Indian tribes—an amendment was
proposed as a substitute to the Bth feflion,
by Mr. Madison, which was laid on the
table.
A petition was read from several South-
Carolina merchants, particularizing theii
lofies inconsequence of depreciation of pa
per money, and the inconvcniences the)
labour under from the 4th article of the
treaty of peace with Great Britain—Re
ferred to a committee of the whole on the
petitions of the officers of the late army.
The house then, in committee of the
whole, took into coniideration the petiti
tionsofthe officers—Mr. Clarke havinj
withdrawn his motion (made yefterday'j
for rejecting the prayer of the petitions;
Mr. Gerry moved a propolition, in sub
stance, That provilion ought to be made
for the petitioners to the amount of the
difference between the value in the mar
ket, of funded and unfunded debt. An
amendment was moved by Mr. Clark to
incorporate in the propolition these words
—AllJuch citizens who have receive,l li
quidated certificates for services perfirtnea
a"dJupplies furnijhed on account of the V -
nited States - This amendment was agreed
to—the committee then rose, and had
leave to fit again—and the house adjour
ned.
Jan. 16.
The house, in committee of the whole,
refilmed the coniideration of the me
morials of the ollicers of the late ar
my. The propoiition offered yeflerda)
by Mr. Gerry, and amended by Mr. Clark
was read. Mr. Boudinot opposed the
j.'opofition in a lengthy speech ; and the
itieltion being put. it palled In the nega
:ive. The following refolutioa was then
offered by Mr. Giles—Resolved, as the o
jinion of this committee, That the prayei
;>f the memorialists is reasonable, and thai
jrovilion ought to be made for the pay
lient of such sums to the original holder:
of the proper debt of the United States, a:
may have been saved by the terms ot thf
loan made under the act to provide for thf
debt of the United States, calculating!
per cent, at iof. in the pound, and othei
I'pecies of paper at a proportionate value
provided that where any original creditoi
(hall have fubferibed to the loan propolet
by the act to provide for the debt of the U
nited States, a fuin not less than the sum o
riginally stipulated, such creditor (hall no
be entitled to the benefit of this provilion—
And that when a less sum /hall have beei
so fubferibed, there shall be a proportion
al reduction of his claim to such benefit.
After debating on this proportion, Mr
Clark moved for dividing it; which mo
tion being seconded, the question was ta
ken on the firlt clause of the refolutioa, a
far as the word " reasonable ihis was ne
gatived, oidy nine members riling in th<
affirmative—lt was moved, to refolv
as the opinion of the committee, that th<
prayers of the petitions from the officers o
the several lines cannot be granted. Thi
motion was agreed to, when the commit
:ee rose and reported the last resolution—
:he yeas and nays for adopting this refolu
:ion being demanded, are as follow : —
AySs, Messrs. Ames, Benfon, S. Bourne
Boudinot, Bourne, Clark, Barnwell, Find
ey, Fitzfimoils, Gilman, Goodhue, Gor
Jon, Grove, He'rfter, Hillhoufe
[acobs, Key, Kitchell, Kittera, Laurence
Learned, Lee, Leonard, Li verm >re, Macon
Vloore. Muhlenberg, Orr, Sedgwick, J
Smith. W. Smith, J. Steele. Sterrett,Stur
;es, Sumpter, Sylvester, Thatcher, Tuck
■r, Venable, Wadfworth, White, Wil
amfon
Nays, Messrs. Afhe, Baldwin, Gerry
jiles, Green;ip, Hartley, Madison, Mer.
:er, Page, Treadvvell—43 againlt 10.
THURSDAY, Jan. [7.
Several petitions, prayingcompenfations
!cc. were read and referred to theSecre
:ary of the Treasury.
The house then, in committee of the
ivhole, took into consideration the bill foi
:ontinuing in force for a limited time, anc
amending the ast providing for the mean:
of intercourse between the United State;
and foreign nations. Afcer debating or
the bill, and on dmeridmfcnt being proDO
fed,the committeerdfe and reported—Or
dered to be engrolfed for a third reading.
The house proceeded to consider the bil
for regulating trade and intercourse witl
the Indian tribes—A lengthy debate com
menced on the amendment proposed b)
Mr. Madison, last Monday, which, witl
some alterations, was adopted, and the bil
was ordered to be engrossed for a thin
reading to-morrow. The time of its con
tinuance in force is limited to two years.
The house again resolved itfelf into s
committee of the whole, Mr. White in the
chair, 011 the bill to determine the northerr
boundary of the territory ceded to the U
nited States by the itate of North-Caro
lina.
After some time spent therein, the com
mittee rose, and reported the bill with a
mendinents, which were twice read, aHd
agreed to by the house. The bill was or
dered to be engrossed for a third reading
to-morrow.
PHILADELPHIA.
Januartt 19.
In consequence of an arrangement just
adopted by the government of the United
States, at the requelt of the minister of
France, the consul-general of France, re
lident in this city, has notified the public,
that he is to be fucceflively provided with
funds, for the discharge of the drafts of the
administration of the French colony of Hi
fpaniola, from No. 173, oftheiothoj
September, to No. 379 of the nth ofSep
tember last, inclufivi-ly. He informs tiie
holders of the said drafts that they will be
paid by him as tiiey become due.
Authentic accounts fr»m Cape Francois
state the numbers killed in the late dispute
between the whites and mulattoes, at a
bout sixty. The engagement lasted seve
ral hours ; the mulattoes finally retreating
and taking pofl'eflion of some forts in the
country. It is ("aid, they have fmce con
sented to a treaty. An embargo was laid
on all veifelsat the Cape, and still continued
when the last accounts came away.
We have important reasons to believe,
that one of the articles agreed upon by tlu
French comuiilEorters now employed in the
negociation at Longwi, is the delivering Us
the unfortunate General de la Fayette.
On the Bth of December last, died at hi:
South-Carolina, Henry Laurens,
Esquire, formerly Preiident of Congress.
Extrafls from a late dijtinguijlied publi
cation.
" How ineffectual are all our efforts to
preserve the morals of a people, if the
laws which regulate the political order,
doom the one half of mankind to indi
gence, to fraud, to servility, to ignoratice,
to ' iperftition ; and the other naif to be
the Uaves of all the follies and vices which
result from the insolence of rank, and the
felfilhnefs of opulence !"
"Of those who have speculated on the
fubjeit of legislation, by far the greater
part fee in to have confulered it asafci
ence Jui generis; the firlt principles of
which can be obtained in 110 other way
than by an examination of the conduit oi
mankind in their political capacity. The
oeconomifts, on the contrary, have search
ed for the causes of natioaalprofperity am!
national improvement, in those arrange
ments, which our daily observations (hew
to be favorable to the prosperity and to the
improvement of individuals. The former
refeaible those phdofophers of antiquity,
who, affirming that the phenomena of the
heavens are regulated by laws peculiar tc
themselves, elifcouraged every attempt tc
mveftigate-theft phylical causes, which was
founded upon fails collected from com
mon experience. The latter have aimec 1
at icconiplifuing a reformation in politics,
litnilar to what Kepler and Newton ac
complilhed in aitronomy; and by subject
ing to that common sense which guide;
mankind in their private concerns, those
[ueftionj, of which none were supposed tc
be competent judges, but men initiated in
to the mysteries of government, have gi
ven a beginning to a science which has al
ready extended very \\ idely our political
prospects ; and which in its progress, may
[irobably afford an illilftration, notlefs ftri
kingthan that which phylical astronomy
exhibits, of the fiinplicity of those lasvs by
which the universe is governed."
r _From the Harrijbttrg Advertiser of lafi
Monday.
" The excise law is disagreeable, and
reprobated by the community at large, I
mean the eiTential part of it, the farmers.
Why is it not repealed ? There are vari
ous cogent and powerful reasons to support
it. On the present occasion, I shall or.ly
nbferve one : Men of fortune have engrof
led immense tracts of land, in order at a
future day to become more valuable. The
happy excise law exempts them from pay
ing a tax on their own property, and
Ihoulders it over on others, a? if they \frere
beads of burden, and insensible of the im
position. Did ever felf interelt appear ir
a more glaring, conspicuous light, than ir
the formation of this excise law ? Can any
man suggest a fufficient reason u the pub
lic, why all gentlemen of opulence, real
property, and fortune, in the United State:
of America, should be precluded from pay
ing a tax on their own landed interest,
which is the only thing that can be called
permanent and valuable, and the propel
cbjeft of taxation, when a tax is absolutely
necefl'ary ? Yet this favourite exotic excise
law shields them under its protecting, cour
teous wings ; while the poor farmer, whe
struggles with every difficulty to fuppori
his family, and when occasions require it,
repeils, with sword in hand, every enemy
of the state, is not even privileged to con
vert his grain tofuch uses as he thinks mod
advantageous,but on the terms of paying a
tax for a property to which he has 110
legal claim. Pefpotifin itfclf hardly ever
ventured to stride beyond this. Yet there
are zealous fupporterr, of this do&rine to
be found in America."
[A new character of Mr. Paine 1 s writing;,
from a Connecticut paper of Jan. 1 4. j
" The writings of Mr. Paine have ne
ver been justly appreciated either by his
friends or his enemies. Though from the
want of early education, he neither puf
feffes elegance oflangnage, nor clafiical or
historical lejaning, his talents as a writer
are infinitely superior to liis merits as
a politician. In vivacity of imagina
tion and flrength of es.pr ■ '"on. in force
as well as fophi.fry ot argument, in
the talent of flattering the native pride
and inflaming the pa.Tions of the mul
| titude, and of expofmg the (lavish doc
[trines and absurd practices of the Eu
ropean courts, he has certainly no fuperi
for among the writers in the present age.
But his writings are merely temporary
| and local—calculated to the meridian of
the plr.ee, and the momentary political as-
I peel of the planets. They wear out like
the last year's almanack, and grow per
-1 fectly threadbare inthe third edition. His
wonder- working psmphletj entitled Com
mon Sense, was of excellent life at the
time in reconciling our minds to the de
claration of independence—but at lead:
twothirds ofit cannot be read at the cool
er moment, without exciting a smile at its
ignorance and extravagance.
Indeed it is hot nftw read at all, but alrea
dy occupies its quiet Ration in oblivion.
In his latter writings he never appears for
a moment under the influence of calm re
flection ; he is always in a passion, and at
tempting to excite or flatter the pailions
of his readers. He has no political sys
tem, and the engines he employs for the
downfall of tyranny, are equally calcula
ted to destroy all subordination in govern
ment. But as he tells us, that he is
" waging war againfl the whole hell of
monarchy," we mud excuse the ardor of
his attack, and pardon him for showing so
little coolness during the heat of the ac
tion.
He has now a feat in the National Con
tention of France, and is a member of
:heir committee of constitution. May he
ender important services in that station !
But he is formed both by nature and by
labit, not to establish, bilt to pull down
empires. To employ him in framing a
permanent system of government is as ab
"urd, as to appoint the deftroyiflg angel for
:lie guardian genius of the kingdom."
[Connetticut C our ant. ]
A correspondent informs lis that it is
the intention of some of the government
al gentry in '-'upland, to have the follow
ing changes made by a£ts of Parliament,
which will prevent the people (when they
feel their ownftrertgth) from riling : n bo
dies, and doing It for themselves, as they
ha ve done in France.
i A reform in the representation of
Parliament, so as to make it equal,—And
then
2. "so repeal or alter the gafne acts, or
at lead to take off the penalty and the
tranfportution part.
3- To repeal the ted laws, so as that the
members of all the different religious foc:-
eties be on an equal footing with those of
the established church.
4. An alteration of the tythe acts.
5. An ait to extend equal benefits to
their fellow fubjefts -in Ireland and in
Scotland, &c. equal to thole enjoyed by
Engliflimen, as well as to reprefeatation
and taxation, as also to trade and com
merce.
6. An act to prohibit the {lave trade.
7. An act to reduce the number ot place
men.
8. An act to lower all salaries.
9. All ast laying the Ealt- India trade o
pen, and no longer to 6eheld by a compa
ny,—Monopolies beingdigraceful in afree
country.
10. An act to appropriate the income
of the dlltcHy of Cornwall, [which the
king now holds] towards the reduction of
the national debt.
11. An a£t to dispose of all the crown
lands &c. i» fmail parcels to farmers, that
they may be cultivated. And the monies
anting Irom such sales to be applied to
wards the discharge of the national debt.
12. An ast making a thorough alterati
on in the land tax laws, so that they be no
longer taxed by the old custom from
Dooms Day Book, but that every edafe
should pay a tax in proportion to its annu
al valhe.
13. An ast to lower the land tax, the du
ties and excises, &c
*** At a dated meeting of " the Penn
sylvania society for promoting the aboliti
on of slavery ; the relief of free negroes
unlawfully held in bondage ; and the im
provement of the condition of the African
race"; held on the 7th indant; the follow
ing officers and committees were elected
and appointed to serve for the present
year. viz. Prelident, James Pemberton—
Vice-Prelidents, William Rogers, and
William Bingham—Treafurer, John E
vans—Secretaries, John M'Cree, joseph
Sanfom—Counfellors, William Lewis,
John D. Coxe, John Todd, Jtin. Miers
i'ilher, Joseph Thouias, Thomas Rofs—
Electing Committee, Thomas Harrifon—
John Warner, Joseph Budd, Joseph Shoe
maker, John Todd, Caleb Attmore, Jo
seph Moor, Ifaa; Pearfon, John Oldden,
John Letchworth, Benjamin Kite, James
Whiteall—Committee of Correspondence,
James Pemberton, William Rogers, Sa
muel M. Fox, Samuel P- Griffitt?, John
Kaig'nn, Joseph Sanfom, Caleb Lownes.
W A T CTH K S.
ROBERT LESLIE,
CLOCK and WATCH MAKER, No. 167,
Market-ft reec.
AFTER returning his sincere thanks to his
friends, and the public in general, tor the
great encoufageme'nt he has experienced since thd
commencement ot his bufinels in this city, takes
this opportunity of infornunjr them that, in con
sequence of his intention of going to Loudon in A-
next, he is feliing off, at very reduced prices,
his (lock in trade, confuting of a very large and
geiicrai nfiortment of enamelled and plain
and tliver, capr, capr and j-v-elled
warranted WATCHES^
Mod r.f which are of the latest importation and
n ewe ft lalhion,—Alfo a variety of the highest fi
niCied cm (ted, and gilt, ladies and g;ntlemen'«
Watch Chains, Seals, Keys, and Trinkets, toge-
I th-r with a few Cdld Charm, K«ys and Seals.
I'lv.'ad. Jan. 16, 1793. ef.lf.