Republican ledger, and Portsmouth price current — Portsmouth, N.H., 1802-02-09 00:00:00, page 2

polfeked by the United Sates. All these
governments except the United States, made
certain grants of land in the territory, and
certain fcttler ; spread their confli&ng patents
over the country. The different titles will
open a wide field for litigation, which will
require able tribunals to decide upon Sup
pose, then, Cpngrefs ihould eftablith special
tribunals to continue three, four, or five
years to fettle these claims. Judges would
be appointed* They would be the judges of
an inferior-court. Ifthe conftruaion of the
confutation now contended for to be estab
lished, what°would the judges fay, when the
period tor which the, were appointed expir
ed ? Would thev trot fay we belong to ? infe
rior courts ? Would they not laugh at you
when von told them their term of office was
out rWuyld they not fay we, in the language
of the gentleman from New-York, though
the law that creates us is temporary, ive are
in by the conflitution ? Had we not heard this
d)£tri ne Supported in the memorable case of
the mandamus, lately before the fupremc
court ? Was it not these said that though
the law had a right to establish the office of
justice of the peace, yet it had not a right to
* abridge its duration to fire vears ; that it
was ri'ht for makingihe jußices, but uncon
stitutional in limiting their periods of office ;
that being a judicial officer he had a right to
held his office during life (or what is abopt
, the fame thing) during good behavior, in
defoite of the law which created him, and
'in the very act of creation limiting his offi
cial life to five years.
I may notice another case more likely to
happen, to shew the absurdity of this con
ftruaion. Congress have assumed juriftiic
tiqfover the Mississippi Territory, and have
established a court compofert of three judges,
which court is as much an inferior court, as
the circuiuor diftria courts. Os this jurif
diaion Georgia 'denies the validity. The
contest is in a train of fettlemenf. Suppose
it shall turn out that the United States are
convinced of the injustice of their claim, re
linquish it, and restore the territory to Geor
gia, what becomes of the judges ? Their of
fices, their duties are gonr ! Yet they will
tell you we arc veiled with certain conftitu-
> b ° >nal rights of which you cannot deprive us.
bis true the territory is no longer yours.
%, have no jurifdiaion, and we have no
rower vet-we arc judges by the constitution,
ty. hold our offices during good behaviour,
and we will behave well as long as you will
Jet us. Is not this a strange situation : You
have judges in a territory over which you
have no jurifdiaion ; and you have officers
which are peifcd sinecures, pensioners for,,
life. Such an absurdity lam sure the ccra
ftitufion never meant to jqltify. It is an ab
surdity equally repugnant to the letter and
the g^ius of the constitution.
Suppose another case. Suppose what I
trust will never happen, a war should take
place. Suppose that a pars of the United
States fliouid be conquered, and that we
should be compelled to cede it to a foreign
nation. In this diftria your jurifiliaion is
gone :, your power is gone ; the office of a
judge is destroyed, and yet the officer holds
his appointment for life : This case may
be confilered inapplicable to the United
States. It may be said that we have no right
to cede a date or part of a date.—Bit I bi-
Ijeve a different sentiment has been enter
t-ainel, and perhaps in this house.
But suppose this event to occur in relation
to territory not attached to a State. Sup
pose the government should find it ne^elUry
loeftabliih an inferior court in an inland of'
L?.ke Superior f Sip''de it (haull be the'
fortune of war to place in the poffedion of
the enemy, one of the State; ; and the quef
tinn (hall be, will you give yp this territory
in the frozen regions of the lakes, or fuffcr
the Slate to rcmvn in the poffefJion of the
enemy, you being unable to take it from
him ? If you give up thp territory, your
court is annihilated, yet the judges claim a
tenure in their offices for life ; and this in
a country thet no longer belongs to you—
— not fus a refult'ftrike every mind as
abford r Is it not apparent, that whatever
claim fitch men mfght have upon the gener
osity of the government, they can have' no
claim tooffices that do hot cxift. Nay,
further ; it might upon the.conft ruction now
contended for be infilled, that the Constitu
tion forbids you to make a peace upon those
terms ; that by ceding'an inconsiderable ter
>ritory which you did not want to fecore a
whole state, you would abdiilh the office of
a judge, which the leghlature had there e
reaed ; that this would be a,n express vio
lation of your Conftituion ; and therefore
von muff leave a whole State in the posses
sion of the enemy, unless this judge would
give you leave to make terms by.refigning
his office. 3
I believe, fir, that we should not differ
much, if we.came to a proper understanding
of the true principle on which this question
depends. If we establish the principle, that
from the nature and tHence of public infti
tntionc, they are made for the good of the
people, and not fur t^at of the individual
But it would seem, that the argument urg
ed on this occasion, and the general Course
of our legislation had been grounded" more
on the convenience and emoluments of those
appointed to office, than on grounds of pub
lic, utility. ' firft we appointed fix judges of
the supreme court, divided the United States
into three circuits, twojudges to ride each
circuit, in which with the district judge to
form a court. The law fixed the duties and
the compensation, and gentlemen of the firft
character were ready to accept the places.
I he salaries indeed had been then thought
high ; in fume parts rtthe Union they were,
thought enormous. But a little time palled
before they complained of the hardships of
their duties ; and the law wa^ altered, not
so much for public good, as for their per
sonal convenience. Where twojudges were
required to bold a court, one was now de
clarecbfthficienc. Thus you continued their
full salaries, while you lopped off half their
duties. Shortly after yon assigned them un
der the pension law, inconsiderable duties ;
they adhered to their falarics. Next came,
the law of hit .feflion which takes away all
their duties. It leaves them limply a court
of appeals. And what have they got to dor
To try io suits ; for such isthe numbernow
on their docket, as appears by a certificate
just put in my hands ;4nd the average num
ber of their docket amounts from 8 to io.
Thus for the trial of the itnmenfe number of
eight or ten suits, you have fix judges, one
with a salary of 4000, and five others with
salaries of 3'500 dollars each.
I fear that if you take away from these
judges, that which they ought officially to
do, they will be induced from the want of
employment, to do that which we ought not
to do ; and'it they have no good to do, they
may do harm. They may be induced, per
haps, to set about that work they seem so
find of. They may. as gentlemen have
told us, hold the Couflitution in one hand,
aad the law in the,other ; and fay to the de
partments of government, so far Ihalt thou
go and no farther. This independence of
the judiciary, 'fo much desired, will I fear,
Sr, ii encouraged or tolerated, Jon become
lumething like supremacy. They will, in
deed, form the main pillar of tail goodly
fabric ; they will soon become the on'y re
maining pillar, and they will presently be
come so firong, as to crush and absorb all the
others into their solid masc.
We have been told, that no State in the
Union has presumed to touch the judiciary
establishment except the State of Maryland.
I will Tioranfiver for others ; but with re
fpecl to Virginia, I will answer that she has
touched it. Her constitutional provision for
the independence of the Judges is nearly sim
ilar to that ofthe United States, arid yet the
has eftablilhed, modified, and entirely put
down particular departments of her system.
[Here Gen. Mason went into a' particu
larifalion of the different changes the judi
ciarv system of Virginia had undergone.J
After the particularifatice, Gen. Mason
proceeded.'
who administers them,, we (ball experience
no difficulty, Gentlemen, in fpe^king of a
judge, had emphatically called it bis office.
But, it is not bis office, but the office of tile
people. He is only the person appointed to
perform Certain services required by the pub
lic good, and when those (eryices are nolon
ger neceifary for the public good, "his duties
are at an end, his services may bd ^fpeufed
v iith, and he aught to retire to private life.
The case had beet; atiim. ated to ? a bridge.
Bit he who builds abridge does 'public good,
ffiat entitles him to a growing remuneration
for ever. But here the good is temporary.
The truth is, the judge is the man who col
lects the roll, ^nd whu'receives the promise
of an annual payment, as long as he Jifchar
ges his dirties faithfully. But a flood comes,
& fwceps away the bridge ; will the toll ga
therer, like the judge contend, that though
the bridge is gone, and the owner ruined,
that he ihall notwithstanding receive his
compensation for life, though he cannot con
tinue those services for which his annual sti
pend was to be the compensation and re
ward. ’
And yet our judges who are extremely
tenacious of their rights, did not complain.
They thought as I think, that they thould
riot be retpoved from their offices that others
might be placed in them, andthat while they
did continue in office, their fabrics thould
>c preferred to them# And J believe the
whole of our confytutional provilion amounts
to this ; that unlike other officers appointed
by the President, they ihall not be removed
by him ; that their salaries (hall hot be
dimifhed by the legislature, and that wh'ile
the legillature may continue, any parti
cular judicial establishment under which
a judge is appointed, he Shall hold' that ap
pointment in defiance of both the other de
partments of government. A judge may
fay, I am not to be turned out of office by
the President bn the om. hand, or Starved by
the legifature'on the other. He mayffay
to the legislature or the President, and to bot'n
of them combined ; yen Shall |not turn me
out of this office as long as it exists, to grat
ify your enmity to me or your favoritism to
^ Mr. Tallamage reported,from the com. appoint
ed, on the resolution of the Senate, respecting
lieutenant Sterrett—that it would be expedient to
disagree to said resolutions, and to adopt others in
their room. The tirtt proposes that Congress ex
press the h^h sense they entertain of the gallant
conduct of li&it. Sterrett, and the other officers,
crew of the Enterprite ;—the fecund, reqcells the
President to piclfent It. Sterrett witba sword com
memorative of the heroic action, —Ind recom
mends allowing one months pay to the other offi
cers and efe;v.
The question was then taken by v,as and nays
on the motion of Mr. Bayard to firike out “ time
brigadier, and one aide de camp," loll—Yeas 36,
Nays. 54.
Some other amendments were proposed, but not
carried ; and the bill was ordered to be engrossed
for a third reading to morrow.
Tkurjday, Jan. 21.
The bill for fixing the peace ellablilnment ofthe
U. States, was read a third time and puffed —Yeas
77, Nays r 2. This bjli reduces the present milita
ry eflablifnment togooo men ; and confills bl 1
brigadier-general, 1 adjutant and iufpettor, 3 mil
itary agents, 2 surgeons, 25'fiirgeoDs mates,—!
regiment of artilleries, ot 20 companies ; 2 regi
ments of Infantry of t. n companies each.
The house went into a committee of the whole
on the bill for protesting our Meditterranean
trad against Tripolitan cruisers.
When Mr. Bayard moved for an addition to the
bill, authorising the President ofthe United States",
to iffoe letters of mark and reprisal agaipit Tunis
and Algers, in tafe he shall hereafter think the ex--
illing nate-of things require it, as veil as against
Tripoli.
This motion was opposed by Mr. Giles as unseas
onable ar the present period.
On the question the amendment was loft, only 27
members fifing in favor of it.
The bill was then reported to the house, —the a
mendments proposed agreed to, and the bill order
ed to be engrafted for a third reading to morrow.
The House went into a Committee of the whole,
on rhebill for amending the act lay fag and correct
ing a direct tax. - <7
Tne firft section repeals the 13th feftion of the
act of ifyß,'which prescribes that lands on which
taxes remain unpaid for one year, frail be fold,
fubjett to the right of redemption within two years
after Tale..
Messrs. T. Morris and Shepard spoke in favor of
the motion, and Mr. Smile againtt it.
Mr. Nicholson, believing it important that more
information fhoukl be bad, moved the commit
ment of the bill to a fleet committee. On this
motion, Messrs. Nichohon. Bacon, Dana and
Mitchell spoke in favour of it^ and Messrs. Bay
ard, Rutledge, Tallamage, S. Smith and Varnum
againftit.
Mr. Giles delivered his sentiments, and moved
for a recommitment of .he bill to a committee ol
the whole—This motion superseded that tor a ref
erence to a fele& committee. M< ff'rs. ifoyard,
Elmer, Euhis, spoke ag'ainfl—and Messrs. Dana &
Goddard in favor of this motion. The question
w^ taken on the recommitment of the bill to a
committed of the whole, and loll—Yeas 37,
,Nays 46.
Wednejday, Jan. 19.
The house took up the amendments of the com
mittee of the whole to the bill for fixing the mili
tary eflablifliment.—Mr. Bayard moved so to a
mend the bill, as to firike out that part of it which
establishes the appointment of a brigadier-general,
For this motion Mr. g"fligned his reasons at fame
length, thinking the office entirely useless, and de
liring to avoid every unneceflary, expence, he
thought it would be proper to vacate it.
Mr. S. Smith made a ilat?ment of the successive
meafmes oh«he legislature, which all retained as
ueceffary a brigadier-general ; and he particularly
alluded to the retention of that officer under the
peace eflablithmeut of 1797, and 1796, when the
army was reduced to 3,000, the fame number now
propofcd.
Mr. Randolph Rated that the pruvifion proposed
to be repealed were unfnfceptible ot execution,
ir&fmuch as the expenses of advertising required,
exceeded in many cases, by four or five times, the
amount of the tax, and which exceeded the per
cent age allowed ; and inafinucii as no person,
would buy the land offered for file, when he
plight be deprived of it, By a redemption of it in
two years.
Documents were read which fubflantiated this
flatemenc. , v
„' - TueJda?, Jan. i§.
A memorial from Fidwar Skipwijh, consul-gen
eral ot the U. S. *r Paris, graying the liquidation
of a claims, tor official services rendered, and ad
vences of monev made, for the United States. —
Referred to the Secretary of State.r
A inemorial of sundry Ditlillers in Bolton, and
elsewhere in Maflachufetts, was presented, pray
ii^ the repeal of the law imp^fing a duty on dis
tilled spirits, and on dills.—Refered to a commit
tee tot Ways and Means.
Mr. S. Smith opposed the repeal as going to de
prive tire owners of land of the right of redemp
tion ; which he deemed a valunble^proviflon ;
without which the owners of land, particularly
non-residents, would be deprived of their proper
ty, without t|,e knowledge of the tax imposed, or
being able, hou ever desirous to pay it.
Mr. Rutledge alf? opposed the repeal as ircpof
ing hardships upon thofe/vho have not paid the
tj%, which were not imposed upon those who have
paid. He further dated that the non-payment in
the southern Rates had arifenpnot from indifpoli
.tion to pay, but from want of collectors to carry
the jaw into execution, the compenfctinn allowed
having been so inadequate as in many dittriCts to
have disabled the government from obtaining offi
cers. 1
another person ; so long as the interest and
convenience of the people require this insti
tution, they are entitled to my feivices, they
ibail have them, and I will be paid for thcin
to the uinoll farthing in spite of youi dif
plealure ^1 caprice.
° Friday, Jan. 22.#
,A bill for the protection of American Commerce
and Seamen in the Mediterranean and adjoining
Teas, was reads third time, and puffed without a
division. This bill authorifes the President to e
quip thenational veficls agaudt Tripolitan corsairs
to seize and capture Tripolitan veflels—and; to
Mefl'rs. Grifwuld, Milledge, Stantly and Morris
delivered their femiments agai&it the firft fettion,
wh n on motion of Mr. faacon the committee rose
and asked leave to fit aggin which was granted.
Hetfr of Repreferlaiives.
(To be continued.)
; tmthorife tWr capture by private Al'
] sols.
The House went into a dammitve of the whnt^ -
^n the bill tor altering the act to 1^ d un c „ rr f
the direct tax. A motion, tq lirke^oo^ dr ,
section, which takes away the right of redeem
within two y<ars, land laid for taxes, was acre 4
10. The comrjttee then rule, and a'fked Irak,„
(t again, which was roofed ; and then the i.;
was recommitted for amendmenttu tb c commit 'c
of ways and means.
Mr. Rutledge moved that the committee of w^
and means be inttrnfted to enquire into [h e cxn ,
dieuby of reducing th-? duties on brow ~ sugar cob
fee and bohra tea. This motion produced a de
bate which occupied the remainder of?he fitt;n
^f^ 7'"^ '~ ^ e7i ^ ^^ ua , ,^i
I hole who supported the reference Were M<^r r
Rutledge, Dana, Gfitwoid, Bayard, Goddard Pn°
n s and T. Morris., Those Who < ppofed
M<rs. S. Smut, Claiborne, Smilie,
Giles, Elmer, and Nicholson. '°' '
• NtW-TOEK, FFB. T.
Intelligence from Smyrna, under date ot Sept.
17th, fays—" A vefkl has lately been purebred
here by tiie Tripolitans, far tle purpose, it is laid
,if arming her on a cruise against the Americans ;
she is an Idraatte hull, with three polack mass,
mounts ten gurs on a tide with two Bern chafes;
has a yellow fleeak about t 0 feet broad at the
highett of her ports; five cabin windows that t,s'
and two falfe ones, with a Phoenix painted at the
cenrreof her flcrn, Rand ng upon the top of a
tree furrunnded with a blaze of fire, as if just ril
ing out of it ; a bird head di a middle size, Hand
ing upon a level, and painted white."
BALTIMORE, JAN. 23.
, A gentleman belonging to a respectable mcr--
chutile home of Alex indria, non in this town,
deceived a letter from his partner lalt night, dated
the 2111 inYtant,which fays, “ I am furry to n,.
form you Touflaint is no more. He has been
caught by the blacks aid burnt alive !"--Tlie let
ter mentions noth.ro further on the fotjett :b;
from the gentleman's connexions in trade at Cape
francuis, there is no doubt but his information i&
from the mod unqueftiunable lource.' His letter,
probably came byway ot Norfolk, where capton
FurgUfon, whofc packet left tlure on TudJar
last, dates the fame report of Toi flhint being bunk
was current, though not generally credited.
Touflaint was probably way-laid by tome of Mo<
yes' party in his nfual tour frofo the Cepe to Port
Republican,^ hico he moffly made without any
guard. And as a retahstioD for the death of them
general, and to prevent, as they fufoeded, betray
ing them to the whites, it is net unlikely that they
-'have inflicted this favageand excryciating^orture.
Should this news unfortunately be true,"a feio
oious resilience will be rn de to the troops embar
ked for that colony, and much blood will be Ihed
before the Blacks can be subdued.
Extras from an Ff/lolary Correfioodence on
tie Republican Syfem of Government.
Perhaps rheic nas never, in any civilized
country, an inßance of an abusive set of.
men so patiently buine with, as those who
are vent^ig flinders against the President cf
the. United Spates and against both his and
the people's friends. What is it those men
can be after r what end do thev prnpefeto
ihemfelves by bold dander and injurious niif
reprcfcniatioobr mill ferirus tederalifts up
hold or countenance them in their billings
gate ? Far from it. They have expressed
their disapprobation and difpteaftire ; fenfiblc
that thereby their canfe is more injured than
promoted ; that abuse and defamation be
tfay a want otreafon and argument anddit
grace human nature. Are there not evils
enough in the world, without the addition
of party fury'and its disorganizing effects ?
But those who delight in (lander, and who
are never in their proper element but when
they are promoting difeord, have no ears for
rational motives. However, as the politics
of reason and humanity are prevalent, and
encreafing in our country,'the time is not
far off, when scurrilous and abvlive language
will find no place in a public paper in the
American Rate.
\Can it be possible, that, in 3 country fa
enlightened as this, and so remarkably fa
vored .by divine providence,any countenance
thould be afforded to men who delight in
sowing the feeds of civil diflehtion, and who
would glory in kindling up the flames of ci
vil war ; —to men, who care not what be
comes of their country, if thev can but grat
ify their malignant and mifchi: vous difoofi
lions, or gain, by its ruin, a present advar
tage to theuifelves, But Inch is the con -
plcxion of those who are employed in abnf,
ing the administrators of government and
publishing things they knowto be fade.—
htjlraa of Barid Humphrey, F[q°rs letter, dated
Madrid. Oil. 24. ißoi. - '
“ I am juR advised by the Charge des Affa : rs
of His Swedish Majelly, at this Court, that he has
received intelligence from the Captain^f a mcr--
chant vessel of his nation, dated 24th tit. at Ma
hon, that a Tripoline corsair had gone out of that
port, and that two others were prrp?rinv to fail ;
ail ui riieiii having English colours and Minorcan
crews, for the purpose of avoiding, under that
inalk, the fearcbes of the American frigates. Eis
information adds, that these three corsairs are
furnifhed with Englifli documents.
Capt. Hall, arrived yerferday in 38 days Iron
Gibraltar, informs; that at the* time of bis failing
there were fix Tripolitan croifeve laid rp there in
ordinary ; and that ihe U. S. frigate Essex was
cruihug off that port.' Captain Hull brings dis
patches from the American Consul at Gibraltar
to the Secretary of State.
On the p;e t i ,0s queflion being t.-ken, as fy.
lows: “ Shell the main quediou be put ?" ft WfoS
carried in the negative-Yeas 45, ha^s^.
For tae F.EPUSILICAM LL DvEL.
By tie Mulls.
FFB. 2.