The Columbian informer, or, Cheshire journal — Keene, N.H., 1795-02-17 00:00:00, page 1

SINCE you seem to be a good neigh
bourly fort of a man, and sometimes (how
yourfelt pleated with the prosperity of
your neighbors' and of your country, I a1
little wonder that you have not before now
pointed out some further particulars, in
wirich our advantages are so much greater
than they were formerly ^ and especially
with regard to taxes. We farmers and
mechanics used to be often grumbling, and
we thought we had reason, because we
had so much rates to pay; and that lo
much went to the support of ministers, and
that minilters were never rated. The
produce of our farms were often low, and
the taxes almost always high; and we had
to work hard, and pay rates, to maintain
others without labor. But now I find the
tables are agreeably turned, it is true,
we still give our minifies from 60 to tool,
a year. But then, where they paid us
two (hillings, or at molt two piftareens a
bushel for Indian corn, three and fix pence
for rve, and five (hillings for wheat, we
now make them pay four (hillings for
corn, five Killings, or five and fix pence,
nay fix (hidings for rye, and nine or ten
for wheat. Our meats are in the famel
proportion,and our butter is three tmes as
much as it was formerly. Our labor, too,
is cleverly up. So that, in this, as well
as other refpe&s, we have got a good hitch
upon them ; for if they want us, or any of
our boys and girls, to work for them, they
must pay us pretty well for it. They are
cleverly wiped up too, by the traders anc
mechanics; for now, if they drink their
rum and brandy, and eat their sugar
and molars, they must give such a
sweet price for it, as to make something
of a hole in their salaries large as
they are. It is true, the carpenter,
the mason, the blacksmith, the tailor,
the (hoemaker, and every body e!fe that
buys these luxuries, as they call them,
must pay for them as dear as the minister:
But then they can make one thing answer
another; but ministers can't for the foul
of them ; for we will not give them more
row for their labors, nor more bread and
cheese to eat, than when they could live
as cheap again.
The Baptists, you know, never liked
the (landing ministers, and used to call
them hirelings, because they wanted high
salaries to pay them for preaching the gos
pel. I remember, when I was a boy, I
heard my father tell of a famous baptist
preacher; who used to fay, “ When you
travel through a town, the fineft house that
you will fee is the minister's ; and when
you go into their meeting houses, the fin
eft dreft woman is the minister's wife." —
It seems to me that in this refpe& the two
tables are turned. I was riding a year
ago with a brother farmer, through a cer
tain town, where there were a good many
fine houses; none of them,though,belonged
to ministers, but all of them to traders
tradesmen, to tavernkeepers and farmers,
&c. One of them, that looked the
most grand, with fine gardens and bar,ns,
and flieds, and hen houses, and hogfties,
and privies, and the d -1 knows what,
attt died our notice a good while. At
length my companion broke out, " See
what a lawver can do !" But the cream of
it all is, ministers, who never used to pay
any rates, are now taxed higher than the
farmers. It is because they eat and drink
and wear more of those articles that pay a
duty, than the farmers do. If this is the
case, why fnould they not pay for it ! Me
thinks I (hall always like a republican gov
ernment the better for its being free and
equal as to tax the clergy. Liberty and
equality forever! I hope they will always
From Thomas's Mgi.hu/etts Spy, ^c.
The NEIGHBOUR. No. xc.
. To N £ 1 GHBOUR.
&o%^fo@toffin vj„, e#n vfr^
[No. 47. ofVoL. ll.]
THE
Columbian Informer;
Or, C HESHIREJOURNAL.
PRINTED and PUBLISHED by HENRr BLAKE, & CO. in KEENE, New-Hampshire.
fend such wife and just men to Cougrefs,
as will make no exception in favor of min
isters, more than other men. If ministers,
and their families, and their company,
cannot do without feafting and flaunting
on dutied articles, let them pay for them.
—ls they must have their chaise to ride
about in, let them know how good it is to
give two dollars a year far the privilege.
How nicely the tables are turned! In the
place where 1 live, 1 look round once in a
while, to fee how my neighbors get along,
and who thrives fafteft ; and 1 take notice
that several farmers, and two or three me
chanics, particularly a joiner, a saddler,
and a (hoemaker, who began the world
among us, about the time we fettled our
minitler,are now,every one of them,fingly,
andfeverally worth as much again as he is,
I know that some of us at the time were
uneasy because the town voted to give him
so big a salary ; but with all the money that
we pay him, and with all his prudence and
economy that he tells of, the farmers and
the mechanics have beat him out and Qut
in point of property. But no matter;
ministers have no business with much of
the world. If they themselves thud eat arid
drink, like other men, let their families
(hirk for themselves. If ministers were to
live easy, they would grow as fat and as
lazy as some other folks that! know of.
But keep them straitened, and they will
fel their dependence ; and it will make
them live snug, and perhaps they will be
industrious, and faring, and set a good
example. And if they were to work
aday^, and read their books and study
their fcr^^-- nxi9hs, [ don't know as
they, or their hearers, would be the worse
for it. I have heard that some parishes
are so foolifh, or so lavish, as to confide?
their minifters,as some did in paper money
times ; at least that they make a business of
fending them pork, and beef, and butter,
and cheese, &c. But they had all better
do as I do, fend all they have to spare to
market, now every thing fetches a good
price. But if our town (hould wake up,
and make an additional grant to our par
son, to be paid in money, I know there is
one remedy; I can join the Baptists, or
the Univerfalers, and then, d'ye fee I'm
fafe, and I save my money too.
THIS place is called Nimeguen, Nim
migen, or Nimegue, it is a very
ancient, rich, strong, and populous city,
situated on the fouth fide of the Waal, or
Wahal. It is said to have taken its name
from Magus King of the Gauls. It is the
capital of Lower Guelderland, and was
anciently the capital of the whole Dutchy.
It is allo the chief town of Betuwe or
Batavia, the country of the ancient Bata
via, so frequently mentioned in the Roman
hiftery. It has thirteen gates, and is de
fended by an ancient fortrefs called Valek-
Kass, supposed to have been built by Juli
us Csefar ; and several other fortifications.
It was anciently a free city.—The Empe
ror Charlemagne having rebuilt the cattle
in the year 775, made Nimeguen the se
cond Imperial city of Lower Germany,
Aix la-Chapelle being the firft, and Thi
onville the third. William Illd. King
of the Romans, separated it from the Em
pire,and united it to Comte of Holland in
the year 1247 ; but being in want of mo
ney, he fold it in 1270 with its territory,
for twenty one thousand marks of silver,
to Otho 111. Count of Gueldres, whose
successors remained matters of it till the
dates of Holland revolted against the
King of Spain.
DESCRIPTION of NIMEGUEN,
The late Head Quarters oj the Duke of York,
and probably novo in the hands of the French.
Your's, &c.
TUESDAY, February 17, 1795<
GEOGRAPHICAL
AN TIP ARSONS.
)^#%Q^fa tifo
THIS excellent %nan, whose name will
be ever de, r to the citizens of the
United States ,3 long ad virtue and pat-
The churches of Nimeguen are in ge
neral handsome ftrudurcs, and the town is
remarkable for its beauty and magnifl.
ce-.ce. The magiftrscy is composed of
twenty-four, of whom twoare burgomas
ters, changed yearly on the 1 ft January,&
twelve echevians : The other ten from the
common council. In this city was held
the celebrated Congress of Plenipoten
tiaries of almost all the powers of Europe,
who conduced a Treaty of Peace on the
goth, of July 1678, between Spain and
France ; on the 6th Sept, between France
and the United Provinces; and between
the Emperor and France, and between
the Emoeror and Sweden, in the month
of January 1679.
Nimeguen is twenty-fix leagues E. S.
E. from the Hague; twenty fix N. from
Maeftticht; twenty-one E. from Rotter
dam ; and thirteen S. E. from Utrecht.
Notwithftandiag r ; s Separated from
he Empire, it pays a small tribute, which
a according to Guicciardini,to fend year
y to Aix-la Chappelle a glove filled with
powder ; but Frederick Sanders reportsit
in another manner, and asserts that the
inhabitants of Nimeguen are free from all
cuttoms on the Meuse, particularly at
Liege on condition that they fend, the
firft Sunday after Ealter, a pair of buskin
gloves, with two pounds of pepper : this
was neglected for several years, and was
renewed under Arnold de Horn, Biffiop of
Liege, who died in the year 1577. In
the year 158,,. the citizens took arms a
grirft the garrison of Hollanders, and
dove them away from the town, being
refolded to defend themselves; but the
fim:,tar the Chevalier Martin Schenk
adapted to surprise it. He had entered
Be city with his troops io the night of the
rich of August, and had nearly become
m*fter of the place, when the inhabitants,
recovered from their consternation, repul
fi them with the loss of 503 men; the
rest retired in such confufion that the
most of them were driven into the river
and drowned. The inhabitants drew the
bodies out of the'water, cut them in pieces
and publickly exposed them, until the
Maquis de Varambon, Governor of Guel
deriand for the King of Spain, ordered
the 1 to be removed and kept in a tower :
Their remains, after the city was taken,
w^e depofi ed in the fepulchre of the an
ciert Duke of Guelderlard with great
mp, at which Prince Maurice, the no
'i<y m^oitirates, and principal officers
o> ,hc army, attended.
The inhabifants were besieged by
Prince Maurice of Nsffau, and compelled
to furre der on the 21st of October, in the
year 1591.
The Prince, the more readily to matter
rhe place, and hinder the navigation upon
the Wahd!, had the year before conftrufted
1 fort oppofne the ciy, which was called
Knotfemburg. Scarcely was this finished
when the Duke of Perma besieged it on
the 13th of July i„i; hut the garrison
made so stout a refinance that Prince Mau
rice had time to come to its fuccour. Af
'er this a part of the army of the Duke of
Parma, was defeated by the troops of the
Gates, on the 24th July, which haflened
the taking of the city:
Nimeguen followed the fate of the o
ther cities of Guelderland, being taken
by the French in the year 1672, in whose
h.nds it remained two years, when they
abandoned it. In the yerr 1702, the
Deke of Burgundy & Marechal Bouffiers;
commanders of the French army, mace an
attempt to take it again, but were defea
ted by a party orDutch troops, under the
command of the Earl of Athlone.
BIOGRAPHIZAL.
LIFE OF BARON STEUBEN.
c^f^^fa
HE Interest you have token in the
hiftory of the interesting Republic of Ge
neva, has been such, that J should be
wanting in not giving you the mournful
recital of its expiring convulsions. Such a
detail will be neither void of interest nor
utility to your prudent countrymen. May
they reflet on it with attention; end learn
by the disastrous example of the molt de
mocratical state that exiftson the continent,
of Europe, the extreme danger of foreign
influence; and above all, how rapid and
inevitable it is to transgress the feeble in
terval which separates the abuse of liber
ty from its ruin !
You know fir, that after the long dif
fenflons, which had chiefly related firft to
the extension of the right of election attri
buted to the body of the people, idly to
the degree of immovability or right cf
removal to which its magistrates were fub
jea, and jdly to the influence, which ih%
engagement the three neighboring powers'
riotlm (hall be refpeded, was a native
of Germany, where his merit had railed
him to places cf the highest trust and dif
tinaion. He was aid de camp to the late
King cf Prussia, and lieutenant Governor
to one of the circles of the German em
pire. These polls and ethers, he left to
embark with us in the cause of freedom,
la 1777 he arrived in America and imme
diately joined our army as a volunteer. —
In 1778 Cougrefs gave him the rank of
major-general, which was the highest
grade in their power, and appointed him
infpedor general to the army of the Uni
ted States. Under the disadvantage of
being a total stranger to our cufloms and
language, of encountering the prejudices
which existed against foreigners ; of redu
cing an army scarcely then formed, asd
continually changing, whose habits in ci
vil life had not been those of fubordinatron,
and who, at that moment, were combat
ing that they might be free—to reduce
such an army to the ftri& rules es difeip
line, was a talk which none but a brave
and virtuous man would have undertaken ;
to bring this army to a point of know
ledge, ex*aitude, and order, which ex
ceeded that of their veteran enemy ; and
at the fame time to acquire the love and
veneration of the officers and soldiers,
could have been efiaed by no other than
Baron Steuben ; and no other heart than
his could have repaidlo full' the reward,
which heaven gives to the virtuous
exertions of our army—the independence
of their country.
The baron was a volunteer in the a&ion
of Monmouth ; commanded in Virginia
withs handful of militia egai# ft Arnold
and Philips : And commanded in the tren
ches at York town, on the day, which con
cluded the druggies of America, cn the
day when lord Cornwalli? surrendered the
last hope of the King of Great Britain.—
To his military charadcr, the baren ad
ded all the virtues of the citizen, and the
accomplishments of the gentlemen. Hit
knowledge was exterfive, his understand
ing clear, ard his judgement found. —
His heart was formed by nature to be fl
pen to all her children, and he never clo
sed it.
This is a (hort, a feint (ketch of the cha
raaer of the excellent Baron Steuben, gi
ven by aenan, who had the honor to be
intimately acquainted with him fifteen
years, and who never knew him guilty cf
an unworthy aßion—who never knew him
to omit a good one.
BRIEF ACCOUNT of the ORIGIN
A NB PROGRESS OF THE REVO
LUTION in GENEVA— written
IN LETTERS.
REVOLUTION IN GENEVA.
Sir,
[Whole No. 992