The American herald of liberty — Exeter, N.H., 1793-09-17 00:00:00, page 1

Meffrs* Hudson and Goodwin,
has been said and written on the
fubjed of the French revolution. Americans
appear to be deeply concerned for the fate of
the French ; as the progress of liberty in Eu
rope seems to depend much upon the event of
the present ftroggle. A great proportion of
Americans however lament the fate of Louis,
the Ute king ; and almost all parties concur
in censuring the outrageous proceedings of the
mobs in various parts of France. Yet few, I
believe,Of the people of this country, even of
* .
my neighbour, Cornelius Water fpcut, or my
trusty friend Slop-tcp, were at the helm of as
; Hits, we would have other guels work o’nt—
But no odds, some of them are determined to
offer their service. Mr. Willis—the nation
of Great. Britain— -found it. Sir—ls it more
harmonious than the nation of the United
States ? —The Fleet of Great- Britain—-com
pare it—is it more numerous, or more power
ful, than the Fleet of the United States I And
as to our armies, experience proves what vast
Bodies of valliaat heroes we can mußer, And
now. Sir, all true Patriots cry WAR ■ War
with Britain. The neceflity and utility of
WAR, I ihall evince^ by a few varguroents
which cannot be evited.
As ift, all good governments have found it
necessary to their well being, to prevent the
tntroduflion of an over proportionate quanti
ty of riche—well knowing that riches intro
duce luxury, sloth, effeminacy. To engage
in war hath been found an excellent expedi
ent to prevent this—now the Americans being
amazing wealthy, poffefiihg vail riches, and
moreover, being in great danger of falling
in o the forementioned evils, it becomes high’
ly necessary that they (hould be impoverished
— and that by engaging in WAR—For that
this is almnft the foie end and proper effedof
War, is plain ; and yet it is equally plain,
that this defirableend will not be accomplish
ed quick enough, by the present Indian War—
hence the neceflity of WAR with Britain.
The neceflity of WAR may allo be argued
from the neceflity of certain individuals a
mongst us. Many of our mercantile gentle
men, have been unfortunate in trade: they
have contrafled debts with Britijh merchant-,
which they are now unable to pay ; but War
will pay Britijh debts. Men of courage and
enterprizing spirit will make rare work a
meng the enemy’s merchant-ships. They
will repair their fortunes— restore the honour
of their insulted country add to this, Sir,
that honour, national honour—calls loudly for
WAR. ' ■ *
Further, Sir—WAR would Idwer the pre
sent enormous price of grain, by keeping it
in the country ; the Farmers would be reduced
to reajvn, and we would be egually well serv
ed with European good?, coo fi deri ng the great
number of Prizes that would be captured, by
our men of War and Privateers.
And now, Sir, what is the proper inference
from all this ?—Why, let us gird our swords
on cur thighs, and smite our enemies, the
Britijh. Let os conquer Canada, and fubjefl
A’wtf- Scotia ; like the : greatß? M in Daniel's
viilon, let us push Northward and Southward,
and Eafiward &nd Wefiward. We are ham
pered in our possessions -our populations is
too great for our territory. Let our Grana
Fleet block up the enemies in port, while hun
dreds of our privateers cover the oeean and re
turn fafely home, laden with the spoils of our
adversaries ; and, let us never return our
, swords into their scabbards, until we have
Sufficiently humbled the little sooty ijland of
Bntrin i and established the liberty of our
great good friends the French—For alas 1 with
out us they can do nothing.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.
A FIERY DEMOCRATE,
, From the CONNECTICUT COURANT.
J[ CONFESS I can no longer rcftrain my a
jMzemtnt at the cowardice and bate spirited
ness of us Americans. What I let the Biitilb,
& conquered enemy, who heretofore was but
a mouthful for us,now intuit u?,—injure —
bang us like Tories ! Ah me, Mr, Willis ! if
\The following will /hew, in A certain degree,
to what a ft ate of misery and wretchidnds
the people of FRANCE were reduced, under
the old Government, which was administered
by imperious and haughty monarchs, and a
difiipated, ambitious and cruel Nobility j]
Volume VIII.j
kjx xAX*
ARISTOCRATS.
Berkley County, lsc.
From the Potow mac Guardia n.
MR. WILLIS,
The American Herald of Liberty.
EXETER ( New-Hampshire) Printed and Published by Henry Ranlet, in Main-Street) at fix jhiillngs and eight pence per annum.
alias
the more learned, know the extent of the a
buse of the old Government, or the wretch
ednefsof the great bodv of the people. The
fevefe and multifarious despotism exercised o
ver the peafantiy of that immense country
under the monarchy, if it will notjuftily ev
ery outrage, will at leaf! apologize for the
most detoerate efforts of the people to rid
themselves at once of the tyrants and of the
tyranny. To enable the peopleof America to
form some estimate of the neceflity of a refor
mation of government, and to judge with
candor of the violences committed in France
in prosecuting this business, I beg leave to
communicate to rhe public a fhon abftraflof
that fyflem of defpotifm,which has been over
turned by the French, under which the mass
of the people in that country have groaned
for ages. The fnbftance of what is here offei
ed, is taken from a writer of unqueflionable
authority.
I. Tne Baffile, that engine of oppreflion,
during some reigns had been filled with pri
soners, who without even knowing the cause
or author of their arrest, have been doomed to
darkness and chains for life. At some periods,
despotism had risen so high,that blank lettres
de catcher have been fold to be filled up with
names at the pleasure of the purchaser.
2. But lettres de catchet though formidable
to individuals, were among the le^ft instru
ments of tyranny. Some of the heaviest taxes
were levied wholly on the poorer tlajjes of peo
ple ; the rich nobility and clergy being ex
empt from paying them. These taxes were
coHcfled with unfeeling rigor by the intend
ants cf generalities and th. Tub-delegates, wlo
were vested with absolute authority to enforce
the colleflion.—ln addition to this, the ine
quality of the duties and taxes was such as to
mark an astonishing degree of corruption in
the whole Tyftem. Some provinces had, during
the expensive wars of former kings purchafcd
an exemption from the Gabelle, or duty .on
fait—fome paid a small excise of 8 or 9 livres
on the too cwt- and perhaps the next province
paid 50 to 60 livres.—Such an immense dif
ference of duty in provinces, separated only
by a river, or an imaginary line, encouraged
smuggling, and smuggling was punilhed with
unheard of Teverity— -fines, condemnation to the
galleys, and death. A well informed writer
on finance, calculates the number of men,wo
men and children,annualb lent to the galleys
to tvork like slaves, for a breach of the reve
nue laws, to be between 3 and 4000 5 whose
property was seized and confifcated. Yet
there were poor people, guilty of no crime but
that of attempting to smuggle a little fait for
their families, to avoid the. monstrous tax of
eight or ten dollars on the bushes. Yet ail
persons fubjefl to theTAiLLE, in some pro
vinces, were enrolled and obliged to buy ylb*
a head of fait annually (exclu sive of fait for
barrelling meat) whether they wanted it or
not.
3. There were numerous edifls for preser
ving the game, which prohibited weeding
and hoeing, left the young partridges' should
be disturbed ; steeping feed, left it should in
jure the game ; manuring with night foil, left
the flavor of the partridges should be injo ed
by feeding on the corn so produced ; mowing
hay before a certain time, w"hich was so late
often times, as to spoil the crop, and taking
away the stubble, left the birds should be rob
bed of she n er. These capitaineries extended
over four hundred leagues of the country, and
such was the tyranny exercised in them, that
in the late revolution, almost all classes of
people concerted in demanding the/uppref
fion of them. 7
4. By a barbardufly inhuman and oppres
sive law, the people were bound to grind their
corn at their lords mills only, to press their
grapes in his press and bake their bread in his
oven. By means of thi&reftriflion, they were
often obliged to wait ’till their bread was
Spoiled, and their grapes damaged. They
were not indulged the privilege,of using hand
mills, for grinding their jorn ; even in the
modern times the barons have ordered the
h^nd-milk of their peasants to be broken,and
have obliged them to purcbafe the right of brui
sing their buck vsh^at and barley between two
fiones. •
5. The corvees or police of the roads, by
which the laboring people were called out to
work on rhe roads at the pleasure of their
masters, was an engine of extreme oppreflion.
Many hundreds of farmers were ruined an
nually by it, and 300 were reduced to begge
ry, in filling one vale in Loraine.
6. Nothing could exceed the oppreflions
/offered by illegal and arbitrary exertions of
the judiciary p .wer. The judges ignorant
—holding courts in taverns—dependent on
and Fubfervient to the lords of manors ; ap
peals endless, augmenting litigations favoring
every Species of chicane, ruining the parties.
TUESDAY, September 17, 1793.
FRANCE. !
Marseilles, A FEW days af‘er the in- j
may 30. flallarion of the Judges, ]
of thePopularTribunal established in this C’ty, ;
several persons convifled of having levied for- 1
ced contributions, were condemned by this 1
Tribunal to fuffer death. ।
The Procurator of the Commons, who was
tried an^acquitted, communicated a horrid ]
plot, which was <0 have equalled in its execu
tion the infamous msffacre of St. Bartholo- 1
mew. ]
For this diabolical purpefe the municipal I
-Council had an extraordinary Meeting, at i
which all the members were fwern to fecrea 1
cy,as totheobjeft of their intended delibcra- i
tions. i
A member now presented the infernal pro- I
jefl, which was carried by a majority of voi
ces, and the purport of which was, that the
city trumpets should be founded at an early
hour in the morning, and a Proclamation
made to forbid the inhabitants to quit their
houses on pain of death ; all those who were
fufpefled were to be conduced to the Church
of St. Homobon, and Fort Sait t Jean/ there
to be massacred, and their houses pilla- ।
g ec ^- *
This depofioon made by the Procurator of
the Commune, was confirmed by four Muni
cipal Officers; and an Inflate number of hon
fes were found marked with red chalk. In
consequence of the proofs of this abominable ।
plot, the popular Tribunal iffied a great num
ber of Mandates of Arrest ; but a great num
ber of the Conspirators made their tfcape.
At the house of one of these, llzoard, was 1
found a trpnk, containing about 50 marks of
silver. Another ionfpirator, Hague, wssim
prifoned and his interrogation began to
throw a considerable light on this mysterious
affair, when he contrived to strangle himfelf
in the prison with the ribbond that tied his
hair, Lezard a Municipal Officer, on hearing
of the apprehenflon of Izdard, blew out his.
brains at the fort of Notre Dame de laGuard,
where he was stationed as a fenrinel over the
expences and loss of t’me, the provincial par
liaments were ucblufhingly corrupt, interest
was openly made with them, and wee to the
man who had nor money or a handfoime wife'
ro procure favor. A
7. A heavy fine of an eighth, and feme
times of a Sixth was paid at every Sale of pro
perty ; besides a fine at evejy change, wheth
er in the dire& or collateral line of dekent.
Feudal redemptions, tyrannical cuftomc, and
arbitrary afleflments would fill the catalogue
of oppreflion ; but the very terms cannot be
translated- We have neither the ideas nor
words to express them. • •
I will however just mention one feudal right
caard in French, Silence des ^renouilles, by
which, when the lady of the manor Jay in, the
peasants were obliged to beat the water in
marshy places ! to keep the frogs silent ; that
the lady need not be disturbed. This op
prefliveduty was afterwards commuted to a
Sum of money.
A man who can ccoly reflefl on the wretch
edness of 20 millions of peasantry, fubjefl to
all the foregoing and a hundred other cruel
defpstic laws orcuftoms, and yet censures the
outrages of a mob which murders a single ty
rant,or burns a chateau, without apolcgizing
ip his own mind for their licentiousness, niuft
be void of principle or feeling. To whomfhall
we impute the crime of murders and ccr.fla
gratibns ? to rhe the people who are the in
firuments, or their oppreflbrs who have driv
en them to desperation r Those who choose to
be fetved by ill treated slaves in every part
of thf world, hold their lives and properties
by a very precarious tenure. Witnels the
late catastrophe in St. Domingo.
Infutreflions are always charged upon the
ir.furghnts as a crime ; and juilly, but they
are nine times in ten, more imputable to the
tyranny of the master, than to the cruelty of
the Have. The murder of a master, and the
burning of his house are recorded in every
newspaper; but who records the private fuf
ferings of the poor slave ? who hears the tale
of his wee ? Ofthcufands and thousands of
forlorn wretches who die beneath the
feoerge of despotism ; of the thousands that
have died in France wirhin the space of tour
years, where is the register ! Who knows the
fa& ? I am no ft ieijd to the violence of a Faris
mob— Ideteft every violation cf property and
law ; but lam persuaded that Americans who
pronounce pcfinvely on_the merits or demerits
of parties in France, would be more sparing
of censure, if they were bititer acquainted with
the whole detail of fafls.
Foreign Intelligence.
[Numb. 11
Bourbon Family ; and the Secretary of the
Jacobin Club tbiew himfdf out of a window
and was killed on the spot. We have appre
hended several of rhe conspirators and have
difeovered that the plot ex.ended to the neigh
bouring villages.
London, June 18. a letter from Ha
nover, dateo June 5, fays, “intelligence
ban been received here* that their High
Mightinesses the States of Holland and Weft
Friefland, have charged their Ambassadors at
London : Vienna, and Berlin, to propefe a
Congtefs upon the present circumstances of
rhe war, which is to be held at the Hague,
being a place meft convenient for the parties,
and adjacent to the theatre of war.
*• The resolution taken cn the 21 ft nit. pur
ports, t( That their High Mightinefles flatter
themselves to give the most convincing
proofs of their desire and readiness to co-ope
rate in thore measures which are to be taken
by the belligerent powers against the common
enemy—that at the fame time they will aifo
t?ke care nor to involve themselves more than
their strength will allow ; that for this reaion
they wish for the formation of a Congress, to
agree bo h on the meafurts which the future
effeflive operations of the war may require,
and to come to a right underflandirg with
regard to the proposals and overtures that
might be made by France to acomplifh a ter
mination of the war.
Fifteen hundred of the patriots who had
been taken prisoners by the Roya’ifls at Sau
mur, were completely flripped raked, and
difchargtd, upon {wearing never to bear
arms agaiufl Louis XVII, and the Catholic
Religion. A considerable number ci thole
who escaped have since deserted.
DUMOURIER.
The Ex-general driven from Switzerland*
where his intrigues were dreaded ; expelled
from Bruflels for having deceived Prince Co
bourg, to whose Court he endeavoured to at*
tribute the ill success of his wild scheme to re
efl^blilh order in France, where for many
years he had made it his business rd few the
feeds of difeord ; arrived in England un
der the fidliticus name of La Cofle which he
aFumed in open defiance of the late Alienßill,
that expressly prohibits the aflumprion of
falfe names. It was. however, not natural
to exped he would find a farfluary in Lon
don,as the agreement made by the allied pow
ers expressly states, that no asylum fhouldbe
granted to a regicide. Adroit in the choice
of his poGtions, has thought proper to {end
his friend Valence to reconnoitre this country.
The protection afforded to this gentleman,
itduced and emboldened Dumourier to fol
low him hither. He was accompanied by his
aid ee-camp acdValet-de-Chambre Baptifte*
who in vain knocked at the Minister’s doors,
to announce the great and important news of
the arrival of the ci-devant heto of the
Fiench, Belgic, Licgois, and Batavian Jaco-
bins.
It has been said, that Dumourier ought not
to be clafled among the regici cs, becaufe,ir\
his address to the French nation, he loudly
blames the murder of Louis XVF. However,
it is not less true, that on the 10th cf August,
when regicifm began to fp?ead its horrors, by
imprisoning the King of France he appeared
in triumph in the regicide club of the Jact*
bins, at Paris, ushered in by Danton and Rc
berfpierre, the two principal authors of the
(laughter cf the zd of September, and of the
royal murder on the zift of January. It is
not less certain that on the very fame night,
he supped with the illustrious rascal, Egalite, .
the chief promoter of the horrid deed. All „
the declamatory invtftives which Dumourier
is now heaping upon this monfler, will never
obliterate bisfotmer ccnnefticn with him, at
a time when, better than any cthdr person-he
knew the depravity ofhis fenyments, and his
abominable projects. It is not less incontro
vertible, that he received the command of tie
army from the hands of regicides ; that he
continued to fight in their name, under their
banners, and for their cause ; tHat, after they
had consummated their crimec,be retained in
their interest the troops of the line, in whom
this crime had roused the bictereft indignation
and whose defection would have accelerated
the downfall of the regicides.
His having afterwards ferfaken their party,
moll by no means be attributed to the gene
rous fenti then'S which he now exprefles ; bur
to that cringing policy which always carries
him from the weakest to the fhongeft fide.—
He has betfhyed the regicides as he betrayed
his king. When did he desert their cause ?
—At that period when the viflories of the
ARRIVAL ^DEPARTURE of
ENGLAND.