National gazette. — Philadelphia [Pa.], 1793-05-18 00:00:00, page 4

F.Xtrafls Tranjlated from a French pamphlet
entitled, Opinion of CONDORCET,
on the trial of Eouis the XVlth.
Printed by order of the National Convention
" an occasion where a whole of-
Vy fended nation is at once accufei
and judge, it is to the opinions of mankind
and posterity that they ought to be ac
countable for their conduct. All the
general principles of jurisprudence, recog
nized as luch by the enlightened men ol
all countries, (hould be refpe&ed. Tliey
ought to defy the blindelt partiality to
adduce any maxim of equity which they
have not ftriftlv observed j and when a
king is judged, kings themfelvesin the fe
cret of tneir hearts, (hould he compelled
to assent to the jnftice of the sentence.
It is necessary for the good of mankind
that the cor.dust of the French in regard
to the man whom they too long called their
king, (hould put a finding ilroketo thefu
perftitious hom :ge of other nations to luch
chara&ers: above ali things we (hould be
careful not to increase this fuperflition a
mong those where it (till reigns. All na
lions do not acknowledge those eterna'
truths upon whose impregnable basis the
French repu lie is founded; and whillt
•ur ph lofophers and our soldiers arc
spreading them among foreign nations,
while tyranny trembles alike before our
armies and our principles, it might be im
prudent to altonifh, perhaps to Itartle, by
the ralhnefs of our proceedings, those who
Would pay refpe-t to (evere but impartial
equity. We mult submit our decisions
then to the laws of t at universal justice,
Common to all constitutions, immutable in
the mi''ft of the (hock of opinions and the
revolutions of empire.
„ Tl e question is, can the ci-devant king
be tried i Aw adtion cannot lawfully be
punished, unkfs a former 1. w had expressly
made it criminal; nor bysny other mode
of punishment than what had been decreed
by a 'ormer law also. This maxim is the
voice of humanity and jultice. but if in
the catalogue of crimes the law may not
have diftindtly marked ont those which
cir umltances of aggravation render more
highly criminal, we ought not to conclude
from thence that it meant they (hould gc
unpuniihed, but simply that these circum
ftanccs of aggravation (hou'd not appear
to enjoin the eflablilhment of a particulat
punilhment. The laws of Solor. said not
a word agaiuft murder : but are we to con
clude from thence that the monger whe
wis guilty of such a crime would have 50m
unpunidied ?—No, he would have furfe-ec
the punishment due to a murderer. II
the laws of France are silent stc
the punr'iment of a traitor king, altho :
much more highly criminal than a citizen,
it does not follow from thence, that he
ought to be spared, but only that tht
compilers of the laws did not mean to dif
criminate him from other traitors. If ther
he has not been made a formal exception
of by f me particular law, it follows that
he may be judged by the lawi
But, was an exception made in his fa
vour in the constitution ? Citizens, if fuel
impunity had been decreed ; if the Conlti
tuting Assembly could have b«en guilty o)
such a crime against the world ; if the
tion had been weak enough, by its silence,
by the choice of its representatives, by the
oaths which it required of them, to conferil
to so dilhonorable a law ; as the friend ol
liberty I would fay, The king can neithei
be judged orpuuilhed.—But such a scan
dalous impunity was not mentioned—atic
only two articles in the constitution make
it credible that such a thing was in'en ed,
In one the person of the king is declared
inviolable and faired ; in the ot er it is de.
clared, that, for crimes committed aftei
his lagal abdication, he (hall be tried like
other citizens.
It is necessary then to discuss the mean
ing of these two articles, and however mi
nute the difq.ifition may appear, I hope
I (hall be excused for entering upon it
when it is considered that there can be no
liberty in a country where pofuive law i:
not the only rule of trials. The social
compidt does not e-ffentially consist in the
consenting to submit to the antecedent and
common rules of moial relation between
man and man, the natural rights of whom
are the basis and limits of legal principles.
The law pcfitive ought to be nothing
else, in a wife legislation, than a conse
quence or an application of these rights,
adopted and agreed to, or at lead a'ready
known arid understood by those fubjedfed
to thit law. Soj the queition would not be
whether a sentence should be declared, after
natural law, or after an arbitrary law, but
whether adtions ought to be judged accor
ding to what was thought to be jtift when
they were committed, and not according
to what was deemed to be just at any
succeeding time.
J he person of the king was declared fa
cred. Either this woid has no meaning
at all, or the fame as is attributed to the
principles of relit-ious feftauans. Unjust
violence is a crime against religion, fttper
added to a crime atfainfl society ; in legal
f ntrnces of criminality, degradation pre
cedes judgment, in otder thereby to in
pire more refpeft for a chnrafier in fomc
fo-t fupernattual. By this expression the
constitutional king was compared to a bi
; (hop or a priest, whose persons weie also
sacred altho' notw thftanding amenable
to the laws for their conduit.
I iie authors of the constitution, in their
making royalty one of its principles, erect
ed a power out of the order of nature, and
thought it necefTary to have recourse to the
terrors of superstition for the better secu
rity of kings; but the only result of the
expression is, that if royalty had not been
abolished, the king's sentence of forfeiture
might have been pronounced by a fcpa
rate decree
1 he word inviolable, is not defined in
the conftitution,where it treats of royalty ;
but it is defined in another place, where
it speaks of the repreftntativct of the peo
ple.
Their inviolabil'ty includes two condi
tions, perfectly dilliriift, and both appli
cable to the king ; the one, that thev
lhall not be prosecuted f.r any thing said
or done in quality of representative ; and
after the appointment of a king, it was
thought neceflary he Ihould partake of the
chara&er of inviolability.
This prerogative being extended to all
the acts of th • executive power, ifTued by
the king, presented fconfequences of dan
ger veiy different from that of the repre
ientatives ofthe people. It was neceflary
that the king should have those acts fign
:d by a miniller responsible for their le
gality ; the nation was not without a
guarantee ; and if they had it not so com
pletely as the principles of rigid jufticc
Teemed to demand, it was as much so a!
was compatible with the absurd intermix
ture of royalty.
Thus then, all the a£ls of the king as
the truilee of the national power could
not be imputed to him ; but he was ac
cused by the public voice of crimes whol
ly disconnected with royal fun&ions It
was not in hl3 kingly charafler that he
paid for libels calculated to destroy the
national credit ; that he furnifhed monies
to the enemies of France ; that he for
med in concert with his brothers, a
league with the enemies of his country,
It was not as king of France, that in di
rect contradiction and contempt of lawi
approved by himfelf, he armed foreign
soldiers against our citizens.
Another condition annexed to the in
violability of the representatives ele&ed
by the people is, their being exempted
from prosecution, except in virtue of a
decree of the legislature. So, when in
the con ft it lit ing a(T;mbly, the question
was agitated on the king's inviolability,
a motive was allcdged, and with some
reason, that from the nature and impor
tance of his station and duties, he could
not be fubjeft to answer at the tribunal
ot jufticc, at the requisition of those very
officers whose comluft he himfelf was ap
pointed to guard. It was proved that
the man who had authority to suspend
the enaction of laws, the head of the ex
ecutive power, of the army, and of the
marine, ought not to be exposed to arrest
from the great duties of his office, by the
will of any particular tribunal. Other
reasons were used, and with like success
in his favour, to fectire the representa
tives of the people from being fubjeft to
the common mode of judicial profecutio-is.
Thus it appears that a method was traced
out forpunifhing a reprefen'ative of the
people, which they did not dare to apply
to the king ; at the fame time it must be
confeffed.that the constitution of France,
made at a time when (he was but h .If
rid of her fetters, never admitted so b:,fe
a principle in direst terms, that a king
who proved a traitor, an incendiary, or
an assassin, should go unpunished. ' Can
any one believe, that if so base a princi
ple had been in the text of the
constitution, the nation would have adop
ted, or assented to the constitution, oc re
garded it es binding upon them I Or
would we have dared to have held it up
to mankind as a constitution less debased
by cv-.-y gross violation of" natural right,
than tnc conflitut'ons of mo!t other nati
ons ?
Will any one fny that the inviolability
of the king ought to be sacred b'.'cault
in rcfpedi to hitn thete can be noimparti
al judges ? Th s is faying, the greater the
crime a man commits the Icfa does he
merit punifliment ; and that attempts
upon the fafety of the whole people
ought to be exempted from the attaint
of the laws. According to this reasoning,
any king at the head of a conspiracy, who
had endangered the liberties of his CCUII
- might fay to a nation—" You can
not judge me, for I have offended you ail ;
there is not one of you but I havs put in
his rights, his property, or his
life. In this cafe every individual has a
right to provide for his own fafety, and
becomes independent, since the law ceases
to protest him. Such a refinement on
u ice would be the lignal for every, fpe
jcies of arbitrary vengeance and difordei.
Will any one bring as a proof of this
absolute impunity, the article by which
the king, in cafe of legal abdication, is to
be tried for crimes afterwards committed,
like other citizens ? but, for crimes com
mitted after their dedtion, the representa
tive, being now inviolable, as legislators
are judges as well as other citizens.
1 he inviolability of king and represen
tatives, being exprefTed by the fame word,
should be undei flood in the fame sense,
with this sole difference, that the constitu
tion has prcfcribed the mode of trial for
the latter, but is silent with regard to the
king ; and such silence was doubtless fuf
ficient to rouse the indignation of men
who carried in their breads the fenti
ments of liberty and equality.
Thus we fee the impunity of the king
was not established by the constitution :
neither has it fixed the mode of trial. It
has declared, that if he had ceased to hi
king he might, for crimes fubfeqnently
committed, be prosecuted and tried like
other citizens ; but has determined no
thing on the mode of trial and profecuti*
on for anterior crimes.
I might finifh my examination cl
the constitutional articles. In fact, if a
ftrift adherence to the letter of the law is
nectflary to the prosecution or puntfli
men: of an individual ; if he cannot be
prosecuted and brought to trial when the
law it not positively and formally agaiuil
him, is it not equally jjft, on the con ra
ry, when exceptions are to be made and
especially exceptions eppofed to the com
mon ideas of justice, founded on political
confederations, not to extend fuclt privile
ges beyond the precile text of the law :
If these exceptions, as including the wholf
body of individuals, do Hot fall upon fom<
persons in particular, unless at a rifle equa
to all, they ought to be conflrued in the
moll favourable sense."
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATION'S.
Mat 1793*
D - Weather*
Tuefrlay, 7. 6 30. 4 50 N. E. C /Wy
May. 3 1Q- 4 08 | do. Fair.
Pf'edmjday, 8. 6 30. 35 5g [calm Chuj.
:J. 5 |5- W. fair.
Tturjday, 9. i 30. 35 61 a.m.
3 2 W. Fair.
Fnaay, ,0. 0 70. 5 OJ b. Sbotvc's
' 71 do. Hazy.
Saturday, 11. 6 3 c. ,1 55 V. E. CUu7y~^
; 3°. 3 75 SS. K. fair.
Sunday, is. 6 30. I 61 5. Ctouay. '
3 "I- 76 W. Shiver,
Monday, 13.6 29.95 57 N. FWT~
3 *!>• 95 78 1 E. Fair.
I Have claims to about two hundred and
fil'ty ihoufand,acres of LAND in the (tare o!
Kriltuckey, in different parts of that country
some of which 1 know to be equal to any ; al
f wheh 1 am inclined to dispose ~t", either bv
entire sale, or by a Quitting one, or two partners'
to whom the agency on the whole wilt'be com.
mitted.
One fourth of the contrast will be required ir
hand, eithr.r in rash, nierchandile, or such after:
as may be converted to afliveufe,- t 1 rsfidu.
may be apportioned in convenient inrtalwer.ts,
ihe purchafcrs to give security, on the land,
or otherwajs.as suits them.
Knowing that there is a prejudice against the
titles of land in that (late, which is more general
than just, J am willing to stipulate in the ctn
tuft, that a discount, or drduclion, be
made, where anylaud may be loft, by realon o: 5
'kfeflive title.
Any person inclining to such a purchase, is re
queltcd to write to me by port, 'in a-if' er to
V.bom; more particular information will be given,
H R N R r BANKS.
Richmond March 20, 17J3. aj w:f
IN TIMATION
RejpeEiing James Fairruealh r, sometime ir.
the fourth brigade of Rritijh artillery.
David fairwlatki.r, ia-e feed fm an
■I "> »* PjeaUnce of Edinburgh, tforth Bri
c-iii, having oied in the moot!) of November last,
tiu aforefaid James Fairweather, his only Ton,
iucceeds to his father's heritable and personal et
tatr, which is ronlideiable. His relations are
anx'ous it he be alive, that he th ;uld immediately
return to Edinburgh, and on applying to Mr.
William Whyte, writer, in Charles Itreet, Edin
burgh, he will be put in pofiriiion of his father's
citare. Ihe aforelaid James Fairweather, it is
believed, was left at New.York, in North Ame
rica when the Rritifh army evacuated that city.
It is requested that any person who has leen or
heard of him lince, or knows of his piefent refi
uenf, or of his death, will Cranfmit any intelli
ence concerning him to Mr. Robert Campbell,
b jokfeller in Philadelphia, or Mr. Samuel Cimo.
be!,, bookseller, in New-York. Any shipmaster
or Oiher person, who will bring the said James
. L airweather to Britain, or advance him money for
that purpofc, will b - repaid by MeflVs. Campbell,
'T Why re. It the said James Fairweather be
dead, his children if he left any, are entitled ti> the
afoie faia fucceliion, on proving their propinquity.
May 4. Jt
TO BE RENTED,
And pofl; ilion fciven in J il\ next.
A Merchant MILL,
si, LSO, a COUNTRY and a SAW MILL,
X X either leparatety or together, with all the
c >iiveniencifs thereunto belonging, of a
good framed dwelling honfe, store house, granary,
Coopers thop, ftaolits, &c. all i„ perfect good or
oer and almost new, Stuate in a fine wheat coun
ty, on a .onftant and plentiful dream of warer,
■t the head of a navigable creek, called Mifiipi -on,
from whence the lha lops ti»nf„nrt flour to Phila
delphia wi'hout any trouble to the miller, and ad
' "nmg a flonrilhing village that always affords a
very ready lale for the offal of the merchant mill,
and an abundance of custom to the countrv and
.aw mills. Thole advantages tender these mifls
rtlrior to none in this country j and the fituatioa
'or a ltore is equal to any in the Hate. The
merchant mill is three dories high with two pair
or burr flones, double gear'd, a rolling fcreene and
fann that cleans wheat into both hoppers, two
bolting cherts, and a machine for hoiOing that goes
by water. This mill fnanufadlures principally
foDei fine flour, that is much elteemed as such in
Philadelphia For terms *cply to Robert Lewis
and Co. merchants in Philadelphia, or the sub-
Icribers near the premises.
ELIZABETH THORNE,
PETER CAVERLY.
Milford, Kent County, State of Delaware
May. 1, J793. 2a wt
JUST PUBLISHED,
And to be fold by ThomasDobson Wil
liam Young, Robert Campbell,
MeflVs. Rice and Co. and John M-
Cullocii, No. 1, North Third-street,
A N EXAMINATION of the late pro
* ceedings in Congress refpe&ing the
official conduct of the Secretary of the
Treasury ; with Observations, &c. on the
application of loans from Holland, neooci
ated tinder the ads of the 4th and 12 th of
Augult 1790. —The price of the above
pamphlet is three sixteenths of a dollar, or
is 4d. 1-2 April 24. 2aw tf
i.
Journeymen Saddlers >
WANTED,
By the Society of Master Saddlers of the city
of Philadelphia—Filtten or twenty work
man ofthe above profcfiion,willmeet with constant
employment and generous wages, by applying to
WILLIAM JONES, Sccietary to the society, at
No. 3, South Front-Iheet.
A P ril 24" zaw 6t
JUST PUBLISHED,
And to be fold at the refpeflive Book Stores of
Jofepb CrukJJjank and Thomas Dcifon, and may
be had at the Printing office. No. 2C9, Mar
ket-Street. *[Price one eighth of a dollar.J
LETTERS
Addrefled to the Yeomanry of the
United States:
Containing some Observations on Funding
and Batik Syflemr.
By an AMERICAN FARMER.
Harrijbxrgh Mail Stage.
STARTS every Wednefdav from Mr. Henry
Epply's in race ctree , between third and
fourt* ftreers, and arrives at Hariilburgh on tll«
Saturday morning following—Starts, from Mr.
Crabb's, innkeeper, Harriiburgh, on Monday
and arrives on Wednelday at Philadelphia
N. G. The Reading stage ft.irts from Retdii/g,
at John Witman's, innkeeper, on Monday, arid
arrives at Philadelphia on Tuesday morning—
Then starts from Philadelphia on Friday morn
ing at 4 o'clock, and arrives at Reading on Sa
turday morning. The grea'.eft care and attenti
on /hall be paid by the publics' humble iervant.
WILLIAM COLEMAN.
N. B. A light stage upon springs, with two
horses, or without horses, with complete g'eers,
may be had at any moments' warning, for the
accommodation of ladies and gentlemen, by ap
plying to the above named Wm. Coleman, living
n the borough of Reading.
PRINTED BY
CHILDS and SWAINE
AT THEIk OFFICE NO. KJGH>STRE£T/
NEAR FIF TH-STH t£ T,
p HILAD ELfH I A,