Oracle post — Portsmouth, N.H., 1804-02-14 00:00:00, page 1

OF ALL THE DISPOSITIONS AND HABITS
WHICH LEAD TO POLITICAL PROSPERITY,
RELIGION and MORALITY ARE INDISPENSA
BLE SUPPORTS. Washington's Legacy.
The folly of Protraflinalion.
U . Begin, be bold, and venture to be wife,
He who defers this work from day to day,
Does on a river's bank expelling Ray,
Till the whole flream that ftopt him {ball be gone,
Which runs, and as it runs, forever fall run on."
Cowlev.
THERE is nothing in which people more
frequently deceive and cheat themfeives,
than in their purposes and plans for the future
regulation of their lives. Few live at present in
such manner as gives them rational ground of
fatisfaftion , yet mod people intend or think theyl
intend to live well, at some future period. The I
sons and daughters of mirth, who life life merri-I
iy at a frolicsome holiday,look forward in th:/
moment of reflexion, to some distant time when
they design to treat life'as a furious thing. Sen
fuaiids Hatter themfeives that, after a few more
years of indulgence, they will break the fatal en
chantment and live as becomes rational beings.
'I he rich man of even threescore, whose whole
foul has through a long life been absorbed in
constant and eager efforts to accumulate wealth,
fays sometimes in his heart, " I willyet give my
fclf a little refphe from worldly cares, aad#ll
employ a final! remnant of days in securing my
title to the unfading inheritance."
Thus people lull themfeives with ineffectual
rcfolves and hollow promises; on the altar of'
deceit,they make thei< oblation of ain incenfe,fuch
as the great tragic poet calls " limber vows."
There is always a fallacy in resolves of amend
ment, when some future time is assigned for be
ginning the work. Whoever ate unwilling to!
give attention to the business of felf-cOrretien /& I
day cannot be sincere in refolding to>attend to itl
hereafter ; because, if possessing the fame dispo
sitions, their repugnance will be as great and their
objections as ttrong, to-morrow, next year, or at
any future time, as they are at present. Accor
dingly, the B ok, that teaches WiQom, solemn
ly exhorts and commands the children of men to
feck her NOW. [Balance.]
The following is from a foies of Letters now pbiifbing in tori,
ros parts of the Union, under the fiance of the "Braith Spy"
— They it ere Jou nd in tbe bed chamber of a hording buufa in a
fra port town of Vsginia, Tb^gentlerm tube bad fereLouA, os
copied that chambers is reprefated by the raiftrefs of the House
to have been a meek & baraitfs young man vbo meddled very little
tvitb the affairs of others, and concerning Qom no one appeared 1
Efficiently interested, to make any enquiry. A; it fems from the I
•%aftufaipt that the name by which be pffid was not bis real 1
name, and as, moreover, Jbe knew nothing &j bis re,dense fa that I
foe was totally ignorant to whom and whither to dire^ it, foe \
conjidered the waufript as lawful prize, and made a present of !
it to me. It ferns to be a copy of letters, written by a youno En
glfbman of rank, during bis tour through the United States,to a |
member of the Britifo Parliament. They are dated from aim, l
every part of tbs United States, contain a great deal of Genera-|
pbisal defeription, or delineation of every :bara&er of note among ;
us, some literary difpjitions, with a great mixture of moral and
political obfer nation. The letters are prettily written. Perfan
of every defers, t;on will,nd in them a light and agreeable enters
tainment ; ml to she younger past of your readers the, may not
be uni,ru&roe. For the present, I feleEl a few which were
•written from this place, and byway of dijlir.aior., quill give them
to you under the title of Tur British Spy.
Richmond, Oft. io.
T HAVE been, my dear )»***<**, („) an cxcur
-1 finnthoughthe countries which liealongthe east
ern fide of the blue Krige. A general description
of that country and its inhabitants may form the
fubjed or a future letter. For the present, I must
entertain you with an account nf the most lingular
and interetling adventure which! met within the
Couric of the tour.
It was on Sunday as I travelled through the
county of Orange, that my eye was caught by a
drifter of borfes ried near a ruinous old wooden
house in the sorest not far from the road fide. Hav
ing frequently fern such objeds before, in trav.
effing through these States, I had no < ifficulty in
voderftanding that this was a place of religious
worship. Devotion alone should have flopped me
to join in the duties of the congregation ; but I
znuft confefs that curiosity to hear the preacher of
such a wilderness, was not the lesft of my motives.
On entering, I was llruck with his preternatural
appearence. He was a toll and very spare old
man — his head, which was covered with a white
linen cap, his (hrivelkd hands, and his voice, all
Shaking under the influence of a pally, in a few
moments ascertained to me tbit be was perft&v
blind. The firft emotions which touched my breast
were those of mingled pity and veneration. But
ah ! Sacred God ! How soon were all my feelings
changed ! The lips of Plato were never more wor
thy a prognostic swarm of bets,than werethe lipol
this holy man ! It was a day of the adminiftrftion
of the Sacrament, and his fubjeft, of course, was
the passion of our Saviour. 1 had heard the fub
jf& handled a thousand times : I had thought it
exhausted long ago. Little did I suppose that in
the wild woods of America I was to meet with 2
man, whose eloquence would give to this topic a
new and sublimer pathos than I had ever before
witnessed. As he descended from the pulpit to
distribute the myflic symbols there was a peculiar, a
mere than ufinl solemnity in his air and manner,
which made my blood run cold and my whole
some to (hiver. He then drew a picture of our
Saviour—his trial before Filat—his afeent up Cal-
Vol. XIV.]
vary—his crucifixion, and his death. I knew the[
whole hittory ; but never until then fed I heard the|
circumflances so feleded, so arranged, so coloured !
It Was all new ; and I seemed to have heard it for
the firft lime in my life. His enunciation was so
deliberate, that his voice trembled on every fyihble:
and every heart trembled in unison. His peculiar
phrases had that force of description, that the origi
nal feene appeared to be at that moment ading be
fore our eyes. We saw the very faces of the Jews —
the flaring, frightful distortions of malice and rage.
We saw the buffet—my foul kindled with a 'flame
of indignation, and my hands were involuntarily
and convulsively clenched.- But when be came to
touch the patience, the forgiving meekness of our
Saviour—when he drew, to the life, his bluffed eyes
Breaching in tears to heaven, his voice breathing to
iGod a foft and gentle prayer of pardon on his ene
-Im'us, " Father forgive them, for they know net w hat
Ithey do" —the voice ofthe preacher, which had 111
j a ' on gi grown fainterand fainter, until his utterance
I being entirely obdruaed by the force of his feelin,-;
ihe ranch bis handkerchief to hitieyes, & buifi into
a loud and irrepressible flood < f grief. The effed
is inconceivable- The whole house ^founded
with the mingled groans and fobs and flirieks of the
congregation. It was feme time before the tumult
bad subsided so far as to permit him to proceed. I
Indeed, Judging by the usual but fallacious standard
of my own weakness, I began to be very uneasy
tor the situation ofthe preacher. For I could not
concieve bow he would be able to let his audience
do AW, from the helghib to which he had wound
them, Without impairing the foltmnity and dignfty
of the fubje^, or perhaps (hocking them by the ab
ruptness of the fall. But—no: the descent was as
beautiful and sublime, as the elevation had been
rapid and enthusiastic. The firft Sentence with
which he broke the awful rifence was a quotation
from Roufleau . " Socrates died like a philof^pher,
but Jesus Civift likea God !”I despair of giving
| you any idea of she effe& produced by this Aloft
Ilenience, unkfs you could perfe&ly conceive tire
I whole manner of the man, as well" as the peculiar
I critic in thedifeourfe. Never beforedfri I complete
ly understand what DemoAheues means by hav
|ing such stress on delivery.
You are to bring before you the venerable figure
of the preacher --hs blindness, constantly recalling
to your recolleaion old Homer, Offian and Milton
and associating with lrs performance, the melan
choly grandeur of their geniutfs, you are to imag
ine that you bear bis flow, solemn, well accented
enunciation, and his voice of affecting, trembling
melody-..you are to remember the pitch of passion
and enluuuafm to which the congregation were
rrifcd---?nd then the few minrtekof portentous,,
deathlike silence which reigned throughout the
houfe—rhe preacher removing his white handker
chief from his aged face (even yet wet from the
; recent torrent of Ins tears) and slowly flretching
I forth the palsied hand which holds it, begins the
I feoience---Socrates died like a philofoplttr"—-and
I then panting, railed his ether, pressing them both,
I clafped together, wiih warmth and energy to his
Ibread, lifting big "sightless balls" to heaven, and
Ipouring his whole foul into his tremulous voice---
1' but Jesus Chrift--.like a God !"---If he had been
lindeedI indeed and in truth an angel of light, the effed
Icould fcarctly have been more divine. Whatever
1 had beNi able to conceive the Sublimity of Maf
fiilon, or the force of Bourdaloue, had fallen far
Aiort of the power which I feel from the delivery
of this Ample sentence, the blood which, just be
fore, had rushed in a torrent upon mv brain, and in
the violence and agony of my feeling had held my
whole system in fulpence, now ran back into my
heart wirba fenfition which I cannot describe ;a
kind of AiuJdering, delicious horror! The parox
ysm of blended pity and indignation, to QicL I
had been transported, fublided in the deeper felf
abafment, humility and adoration ! 1 had just been
lacerated and diSdlved by sympathy for our Saviour
as a fellow creature ; but now, with fear and trem
bling, I adored him as—a " God !"
It this description gives you the impression that
this incomparable minifl'er had any thing of (hallow
theatrical trick in his manner, it does him great
injustice. I have never seen in any other orator,
such an union of simplicity and majesty. He
has not a geflure, an attitude, an accent, to which
he does not seem forced by the sentiment which he
is expressing. His mind is too serious, too earnest,
too felicitous and, at the fame time dignified, to
(loop to artifice. Although as far removed from
ofkntation as a man can be, yet it is clear from the
train, the flyie and substance of his thoughts, that
he,is not only a very polite fcholar,but a man of ex
tensive and profound erudition. I was forcibly
•ttrut k with a short, yet beautiful charaaer which
he c rew of our learned and amiable countryman,
Sir Robert Boyle ; be (poke of him, as it "his noble
mind had, even before death, diveiled herfelf of all
influence, from his frail tabernacle of fiefh , and
called him, in his peculiar emphatic and impressive
manner, 6 ' a pure intelligence—the link between
men and angel, !"
Th s man has been before my imagination al
most ever since. A thousand times, as I rode a
l°% I dropped the reins of n.y bridle, Arttched,
forth my band, and tried to imitate his quotation
from Rouffean , a thousand times I abandoned the
attempt in despair, and felt purfuaded that his pe
culiar manner and power arose from an energy of
foul which Nature could give, but which no hu
man Being could juflly copy. In (hort, he seems
to be altogether a being of a former age, or of a
totally different nature from the rest of men.
As I recall at this moment several of his awfully
firiking attitudes, thechilling tide with which my
blood begins to pour along my arteries, reminds
ORACLE POST.
TUESDAY, February 14, 1804.
I me of the emotioi 5 produced by the firft fight of
Gray's imroduaorv picture of tris bard :
On a rock, whose haughty brow
frowns § cr old Conway's foaming flood,
rob'd in the fable garb of woe,
with haggard eyes the poet Rood;
(loose, his bird and hoary hair
dream d like a meteor to the troubled air !)
and with a Poet's hand and,Prophet's fire
struck the deep furrow on his lyre.
Guess my surprise when, on my arrival at Rich
mond, and mentioning the name of this man, I
found not one pefon who bad ever before heard
ofJAMES WADDELL. Is it not Grange that
such a geniuses this, so accompl died a scholar, (,
divine an orator, flaw'd be permitted to languifli
and die in obfeur.ty, within eighty miles of theme
tiopolis of Virgins ?
Ltyflature cf Delaware.
1 Jay :R, 1804.
V.efelved-by the Senate and &u/c of Reprefataiiies
of the State of Delaware in General ffembly met,
That the Amendment to the Conftrutton of the U
nited States prop.fed to the Legifoturts of the le
ve^&mby the Congress of the United States
f°° 'fe L ° 2 y °f in the year of our Lord
one thoJ,nd eight hundred andtbree, be and the
fame is hereby difapfroved of by the Legislature of
! this slate for the regions following.
ill—Bec^ufe 41 all times innovations of the Con
'," u "°° &re dangerous ; but more especially when
the changeaare direfted by party spirit, are design
ed for temporary purposes, and calculates toaccom
pliAi perfoml views.
2d —Bicaufe as rtprefentatives of a fmalj Bate,
we are fenfinle that in the nature of things, every
change in ih| constitution will be in favor of the
larger Rates, who will never be disposed to allow,
and will always have the means to prevent, a vari
atiqn favourably to the interests of the small stat&.
,1 —Because in fi& the propufed amendment
does reduce the power and weight ofthe final! states
in the case provided by the conffituti n for the
choice of Preffiient by the House of Representatives
by limiting the feliaion of three instead of five
candidates baring the greatest number of eltdoral
votes.'
4th— Because the present mode of eleaion gives
to the small fttates a cootroul and weight in the
election of President and Vice President which are
destroyed by the contemplated amendment.
,h —Because it is the true and permanent inter
est of a free people timong whom the relations of
maj vity and minority must ever be fluctuating, to
maintain the juh weight and re<pe&ability of the
minority byevey prop© provision not impeaching
, the principles that the m jority ought to govern,
and we confider the prefen mode of eltßion as cel
culated to reptefs the natural intolerance of a ma.
jority and to secure some consideration and for
bearance in relation to the minority.
6th—Because we view the exiting proviGon in
the couftitution as amongst the witeft of its regular
tions—Hiftory furnifhes many examples of na
tioHs^oY particularly of Republics,in their delirious de
votion to individuals being ready to fact ifice their lib
erty and dearest rights to the pefonal aggrandifemtni
of thoir Idol. The-exiftmg regulation furnithes
some check to this human infirmity by the occa
fional power given to a few to negative the will of the
majority, as to one man, leaving them every other
qualified citizen in the country for the range of
their [election.
7th —Because we are not fatisfied that the said
amendment has conftimtionally passed the two
houses of Congrcls : the Conflitution of the Unit
ed States requiring the concurrence of two thirds
of both houses, which in a case of such magnitude
and of designed precaution, mus tbe confidcred
as two thirds of the entire number composing the
two houses refpeaively, whereas it appears that the
laid amendment is not supported by the concur,
rence of two thirds of the whole number of either
house.
From the Boston Gazette.
BANKS.
A WRITER in a late Philadelphia paper, has given a
lift of fifty-two banks which he supposes to be the num
ber eftablifbed in the United States. There arc several
however which he has not enumerated—One at Westerly,
Rhode- Island—one at Albany—and three recently eftab->
lifted in New-Hampfhirc: These will make the total „
ty-feven ! It also appears that, of this number 38 ?re north
and east of Pennsylvania, 6 within that Rate, and 13 fouth|
of it The writer proceeds to a comparative view of the a
roount of stock in the national funds held refpeaively by
refi-dents in these twe fe&ions of the union.
The number of Stockholders, north and east
of Pennsylvania, is 7971 —who draw incereft
annually, 1)1,785,443
Stockholders fouth of Pennsylvania, 1371 —
who draw ... 340 435
Difference in favor of the
Eaflern States, ... 2)1,445 008
The result of the whole is, that the number of banks in
the Eastern States (including New-York) is to those in the 1
Southern as -_ - - - 3to 1]
Number of Stockholders, near - - 6 to 1 !
The funds they hold, more than - - 5 to x
This ftatemenc, (so much of which as refpefts the funds
is taken from Secretary Gallatin's report to Congrefa) will
serve among a multitude of examples to (hew which por
tion of the union is mod deeply interested in maintaining
an efficient and liable administration of government.
The Pbitantbropick Bonaparte has found himfclf in A
frait betwixt two. The miseries of England requiring his
benign presence on the one hand, and the ardent love of his
fallow citizens on the other. The sighs and tears and Sup
plications of his countrymen have prevailed, and he who
governs tbe definies of Europe, maugre all, declarations to
Lord Whitworth, has concluded to—fay vitb Madame
Bonaparte, —,
Account ofa Fire Ball.
From a Paris paper.
C. Eiot, member of the Nwor&. Institute, in
a letter to the French minitier ofthe Interior, da
£ed July 20, 1803, gives a detailed account of
his enquires, & c . lefpefting the Fire Ball which
fell in the neighbourhood of Laigle. From
this, the following description of the phenome
non is deduced :—
°° Tuefday April 26, 1803, about one in the
afternoon, the weather being serene, there was
observed from Caen, Font Andemer, and the en
v 11ons of Alencon, 1 alaife, and Verneuil a fiery
globe of a very brilliant fplenJor, which moved
in the atraofphere with great rapidity.
Some moments after there was heard at Lai
gf, ano the environs of that city to the extent
01 more than thirty leagues in every direction, a
violent ejplofion which lasted five or fix minutes.
At 6rQ there were three or fenr reports like
thf A of cannon, foFo^ed by a kind of difeharr:
which resembled a firing cf musketry ; after
which there was heard a dreadful rumbling like
the beating of a drum. The air was calm and
the sky serene, except a few clouds, such as arc
frequently observed.
The noise proceeded from a small cloud, which
had a rectangular form, the largest fide being in
a direction from east to wed. It appeared mo
tionless all the time th 1 the phenomenon lafted^
But the vapour of tluch ic was composed was
projected momentarily from the different sides by
the c£d of the successive explosions. This
cloud was about half a league to the north north
east of the town ot Laigle : ic was at a great
elevation in the atmosphere, for the inhab
itants of the two hamlets a league diftaat from
each other fawit at the fame time abovetheir heads
In the whole canton over which this cloud
hovered, a hiding noise like that of a stone dis
charged from a fling was heard, and a multitude
of mineral masses eta^l, similar to those diftia
guified by the name of meteoric Rones were feed
to fall at the fame time.
The dihiiC iin which the Rones fell forms an
elliptical extent of abouttwo leagues and a half ia
length and nearly one in breadth, the greatest,
dimension being in a direction from south-east to
north-weft, forming a declination of about zz
degrees. This dire&ton which the meteor mutt,
have followed is exactly that of the magnetic
meridian ; which is a remarkable result.
The largett of these ttoues fell ar the south-east
extremity of the large axis of the cilipfe ; the
middle sized one fell in the centre, the fmallelk
at the other extremity, hthereby appears thac
the largest fell firft, as might naturally be sup
posed.
The largest of all those which fell weigh 17
1-2 pounds, she fmallell I saw about two-gross
which is the thousandth part ofthe former.
The number that tell is certainly above two or
three thousand.
In this account I have confined myfelf to a
fimplerelation of fads; I have endeavored to view
them as any other perlon would have done, as I
have employed every care to present them with
exadnefs. I leave to the fugacity of Philosophers
the numerous consequences that may be deduced
from them ; and I thali confider myfelf happy if
they find that I have succeeded in placing be
yond a doubt the molt adonilhing phenomenon
ever observed by man.
0
COMMERCIAL.
The editor of the American Daily Advertiser
has been favored by the Spanilh Consul, refidenc
in Philadelphia, hthe copy of a Royal Order
received by him f : 2ourt of which the fol
lowing is a trar f: ' 11:
kvfdL ORDER.
In order that there may be an uniformity fa
the certificates, of the growth of foreign mer
chandize required by the Royal Order ofthe 19th
of Novembei, 1802. His majesty has been plea
sed to order, that in every instance in which there
(hall be no consul of his Majesty in the port of
the growth or manufacture whence proceed the for
eign produce or manufacture intended to be im
ported into the peninsula and adjacent inlands, k
I there should be any in the ports through which
the fame are laden, their certificates be brought
I with the fame proving the growth or manufac
ture thereof : but that in case none should be es
tablished in either, the certificates of the munici
palities, justice councils or governors of the port
or province to that effect, will be fufficient.
This order is to be underlined as extending
not only to the estates of the Emperor of Germa
ny, those of R.nflia, of the Kings of Sweden and
Denmark, from whom representations, on the
fubjed, have been received, but to all the other
powers similarly circumflanccd.
]And I communicate the sud Royal Order to
; you, that it may be carried into effect—God pre
serve you, &c.
Aranjuez, 18th June, 7803.
The following is the Royal Order alluded to ;
“ The King has been pleased to order as a gen
eral rule, that in all the Cuftom-haufes in* his
Kindom, Certificates fioll be required, that wol
prove the exportation or origin of allforeign mer
chandize intended to be imported into this penin
sula ; the said certificate to be given by the on
)fuls of his Majesty, resident in the re'pe&iv=
>provinces or departments, to which dtttiia the
'articles of produce or goods focerufied fhahhavc
_[No. 18.