Oracle post — Portsmouth, N.H., 1805-02-05 00:00:00, page 2

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Prom the Post Boy.
To the People of the South EaJlern Dif
tria of Vermont.
WASHINGTON DEC. 24, I 804.
I HAVE received Information that 1
am again honoured, by a great majority
of your fuffrages, with a feat in the na
tional legislature, This election, which
has been made in opposition to the in
fluence, not only of innumerable falfe
hoods and flinders, but also of a caucus'
of many of your representatives in the
General Aflcmbly, who listened with too
• great facility to the fade reprefenrat ions
of my interested enemies, have excited e
motions in my mind which I Ihould in
vain endeavour to express.
Almost at the moment when the elec
tion was commencing, my conscience
dictated to me a dissent from the articles
of impeachment against Judge Chafe, a
dopted by a great majorityot the friends
of the administration: And as mycon*
dud in that case has been represented as
inconfiftenfy and as the political madness
of the times, incertain diftrids, has poit
oned to their sources the ftrsams of pri
vate confidence, 1 shall confider it my
duty hereafter to explain my condud to
my constituents through the channel of
the newspapers..
In the course of the last session, Mr.
Randolph demanded the appointment of
a committee to inquire into the official
conduct of Judge Chafe, without pro
ducing a bugle accusation against him ;
and although at the time of making the
motion, the usual hour of adjournment
was approaching, he made every pohible
effort to prevent an adjournment, and to
produce an immediate decision upon the
question. In this attempt he was dis
appointed, but the motion ultimately
passed by a great majority. It was^p
pofed by myieif and others, from a con
viction that it was improper to delegate
to a secret committee, powers of an m
quifitorial nature, in relation to the con
duct of publick, officers, when no ipeci
fick accusations were exhibited.. The
committee, after several weeks spent in
laborious examination, reported to the
House, almost at the close of the session,
a' considerable volume of exparte testimo
ny, confining, in a great meal are, of the
rv??^ .:opn?'os % <limincv< $^ lawyers,
~, be.iici)
ty tee budge; with :.h; : . <<"• s evi
dence, however, were mingled many fa&s
of an important ouure. Tie? tefiimony
was immediately published in the news
papers, contrary to every principle of law
and justice and the effect of this publica
tion must have been, although the in
tention might have been good, to con
demn the judge in the public mind be
fore he ceuld have time to prepare his
defence ; this however, I do not charge
to the committee or the House. Ev^n
the report of the committee did not pre
lent any particular charge against Mr.
Chafe, to which he could apply his de
fence ; it only recommended an indefin
ite impeachment for high crimes & mif
demcanours, upon the volume of evi
dence. In this book I discovered no
ground of impeachment, except in the
conduct of the judge in the trial of Cal
lender, to whom I thought coaftitutional
privileges had been denied, and upon that
ground alone I voted for the impeach
ment. My speech on that occasion was
published in all' the newspapers which
have any considerable circulation in the
diftria, and appeared to meet the appro
bation of a great majority of my consti
tuents. —In this crude state, except that
articles were reported and not aded on,
the impeachment came over to the pre
sent session, early in which the articles
were recommitted. —The committee to
whom they were referred, without any
powers for that purpose, made a new in
quiry, and reported two new articles. As
in this report the conduct of the judge in
Callender's case was not considered as a
violation of the constitution, and as I had
always been prepared to fay that if it
were not such a violation, it ought to be
considered as a mere errourof judgment;
and the new articles, in my opinion,
were reported without authority, were
unsupported by evidence, and were in
fignificant in themselves ; and as it was
irnpoffibletombtain amendments, I was
under the necessity of voting against e
very article upon the fity quemonJ
These proceedings, ffom frft to last,
have appeared to me to constitute one
of the greatest Andes towards the eftab
liffimcnt of an aristocracy in our coun
try that we have ever witnessed. Being
in the minority, my views of the fubjedt
will probably be pronounced erroneous.
But when I reflect that one of the high
crimes for which Judge Chafe is impeach
ed is neither mo.e-nor left than the 4-
preffion of a political opinion, I cannot
but tremble, not only for the conforu
tional independence of the judiciary, but
for the liberties of the people.
I am accused of anting under the in
fluence of paffi n. It is falfe. No mem
ber of Congress can examine important
questions with more attention, or decide
upon them with more coolness, than my
felf. —I am charged with felfilh and am
bitious views. This charge is falfe also.
Had such been my views, as I early saw
that certain violent and ambitious m^n,
the more dangerous for being honest and
enthufiaftick Possess AN MOST IR
RESISTIBLE iNFt r >ON owl
politicks, an' er pr&ble
that the day wot ^^oCTwh~^
have in their ha .
offices and lion Urs, i the ration, I
Should have ente i their train, and
might have calculated upon receiving
the reward of my servility and apoftacy.
But I have chosen to pursue the path of
independence & integrity, a path plant
ted thick with thorns, but leading,
through the dark valley of poverty, to
the bright temple of honest fame.
Again it is laid that I do not follow
the republican leaders.—-This is true, ;
and I never will follow then )when I |
think them wrong. Legislators ought
io have no leaders ; we must not be led
at all, or we must be led to destruction.
' Whatever opinion the world may enter
tain of my difeernment, the people have
told rile, by their fuffrages, that I am not
to confider myfelf as (landing on inferi
nur ground to other members ; and I
should be a traitor to their dignity, as
well as to their interests, were I to ac
knowledge any leader. Were 1 doomed
thus to disgrace my constituents, I should
at least ask petmiffion to wait TILL
MEN OF SOLID TALENTS AND
CORRECT PRINCIPLES WERE
ELEVATED TO THE RANK OF
CONGRESSIONAL COMMAND
ERS. -The doctrine, that legislators
are to be difciplined?like soldiers, and
that we ought to support our partywhen
we think it wrong, is anti republican,
immoral, irreligious and detcftible.
My principles remain unaltered.
They never can be changed. Whoever
(hall hereafter govern our country, I
(hall support the general system of their
administration, as such, and not as a
party, so far as I (hall in conscience deem
their measures promotive of the publick
good and of c&iftitutional liberty.
I am preparing for publication, atthe
close of the present fefiion, a course of
letters to my constituents, embracing a
full view of my congressional conduct,
and of the political state and profpefts
of the nation. JAMES ELLIOT,
—®*»-.- —
The ,following production published in the Palla
dium, has given rise to a motion in the Massa
chusetts Legislature for taking' from them the
State Printing—The question was postponed to
the 10th of the month, and we may expect an
* interesting debate on the subject.
The MONARCHY of FEDERALISM.
THE Demnerals have railed a bugbear about
Monarchy, and by dint of reiterated falfh ooris bave
made many good.minded persons believe, that the
Federalists really wished to introduce a Monarch
into this country. The absurdity of this position
is so great as to have prevented any serious attempt
to refute it. It has, however, produced the effea
they wished, and they arc now in reality pragifing
jfe trick of that bold rogue, who charged Iris inno
cent neighbor with an attempt to pick his pocket,
and on the day of trial robbed his neighbour's
pocket of an hundred pounds. The Democrats
are denouncing the Federalists as Monarchies and
at the fame time are altering our republican gonfti
tution , making Presidents for life, and ruling the
people by an ariftoctatic junto, which has no re
gard but to its own interest, and no law but its
own will. When one contrasts their writings and
their conduce, it appears that there are different
kinds of Monarchy and Republicanism.
If Mr. Adams had been Governor of Virginia,
and when his state Was invade I, had, like a das
tard, quitted his Nation & hid his bead in a cave, he
would have been no monarchist, but a good repub.
lican.
If Mr. Adams had borrowed of a friend a sum
of paper money when it was nearly at par, and as.
terwards |>sid his friend the fame nominal firm,
when it had depreciated more than fifty per cent, I
be would have tan a clever honed man, no mon-j
archift, but a good republican.
If Mr. Adams had written a book, in which he
fecmed to fay it was no matter whether there were
twenty Gods or one, and if he had invited the vil.
est blafphemcr,nd infidel, that ever disgraced the
1 world to come to this country in a national ftiip,
-- ' - WIT
he would have betn no monarchist, but a good
chriftian and a tine frfferfonian republican.
If Mr. Adams had assailed the domeftick In ppi
nets of Mr. W—• , and after a failure in so
honorable an attempt, had taken to his bosom a fa
ble damsel, who secreted more by the glands than
by the kidneys, ha would have been ne menar.
chift, but a good republican.
If Mr. Adam,, instead of creating a refpe&able
navy, which might have been of great service to
his fellow citiz:n=, and proteaed th-ir property
from h^lets depredation, had dismantled an* fold,
at a g? • iofs, most of the few national vessels we
pofreffert ; if, from puGllanimity or any other con
temptible motive, he had let a large number of our'
fellow.citizens luffer for a considerable length of
time all the horrors of a Tripoline captivity ; if he
dad invehted dry docks to rot our (hips, and puny
gun-boats to scare crows and govern peaceful war
ers, he would have been no monarchist, but a wife
prudent, hum me, genuine republican.„
If Mr. Adams had hired abase calumniator, one
Callender for instance, to invent the most fcawda
louslies, and circulate the vilest falfhoods concern
ing the immortal Washington, and every other
good man in this Country, he would have been
no monarchic, but a good republican.
If Mr. Adams, with ^ll the fyeophancy of a
coward, had complimented the usurpation of the
most absolute detpot and tyrant in Europe with
the soothing appellation of 'enlightened govern,
meat,' he wduld have been no favorer of monar
chy or defp4tifm, but, for(ootb,a bold, indepen
dent republican, who Sincerely contemned Kings.,
and Emperors, and had much regard for infuriated
man, who fought, through blood and Daughter,
his long loft liberty.
If Mr. Adams had placed at the head of the
Treasury, a man who had opposed the colleaion
of the public revenue, and was naive at the com
mencement of a rebellion which ceft the United
States upwards of a Million of Dollars, he
would have been no monarenift, but a good genu
ine republican, who nobly rewarded with public
offices the basest men, because they had been of|
, moil Service to him.
I If Mr. Adams had taken off the taxes from loaf
I sugar, coaches, and other articles of luxury, which
I the rich only use, and refufed to take thetaxes from
fait, and other articles, which the poor use, he
would have been no monarchist, but a good
rep ibiican, who did not with to take bread from
the month of labor, nor to pamper the nabobs of
the South, at the ^xpence cf their eaflern fellow
citizens.
If Mr. Alims had expended fifteen millions of
dollars in obtaining a doubtful tide to an unprofit
able wilderness; if he had attempted to prostrate
, the independence of the Judiciary and persecute
those upright Judges, who were a terror to evil do
ers ; if he had Shewn an affection and regard far
criminals convicted of treason, and other enormous
crimes ; if, in feteding candidates for office, he re
filled to confider whether they were boneft, whe
ther they were capable, &c. but only asked are
they dupes and submissive vassals of my Virginian
Junto-.-If, in fine, he had been a coward, a calum
niator, a pjagiarift, a tame, spiritless animal, a man
who wrote pretty nonsense and thought it was fine
writing, who, like the Jackdaw in the fable, deco
rated hi nfelf with plumage that did not belong to
him, and thought lie made a hue ihew ; if be h#&*
been a man without religion, a statesman without
principle, and a patriot regardless of his country's
welfare, and entirely devoted to raise himfeif and
his partizans upon the nation's ruin, then these De
mocrats would never have denounced him as a
monarchist, but hailed him as a genuine republi
can, in whose mercenary (miles they fought for the
reward of their baseness.
THE HAND ORGANIST.
ONE evening lift summer, a little Italian fre
qunted our streets with a fine hand organ. His
mufie drew after him a considerable coocourfe of
boys, who teftified their approbation of his skill, by
frequently exclaiming " what a capital player !"
The little foreigner Shrugged up his Shoulders, and
remarked, in broken English, to his companion,
"Dele foolifli American link me make de music,
when me only turn de vetls." At length an arch
boy, who, it appears, had taken a dislike to all for
eigners, Stepped foftly behind the organic (for he
carried his organ upon his back) & crowned the
barrel a little out of its wonted course, when jas,
difeord and confudon inflantly cniued ; and the
enraged Italian exclaimed, "De dam boys flop de
veels."---''Wheels !' 'vociferated an hundred voi
ces, "so, Mr. Nitallag (for this was the organiU's
name, which Spelled backwards makes very good
English) all this fine music is made hy the turniog
ofwheels." Laughing and jeering en one Side,
and applause and encouragement on the ether, im
meJiarely Succeeded ; and the boys toon fell to
wrangling on account of the poor Italian. On
one fide, they contended that the music wasdelight
,ful, that the tunes were played finely, that every
note was flruck accurately, that this was all owing
to the skill of the organist, who lud boro teeght
the art ar home, but bad come to this country for
the sole purpose of charming Americans with his
music.—On the other fide, it was admitted that the
music was good ; but it was contended that the
man who carried the organ on his back, and turn
ed the crank deserved no credit for it—that the
notes and tones were governed by curious internal
machinery, of the formation of which the Italian
was ignorant, that the man who made the organ
was indeed an artist es great skill; but that it bad
now passed into the hands of an inexperienced ad
venturer, who played upon it for mere Speculation,
who was an enemy of the inventor, and who, by
his blunders, was in a fairway of ruining the ma
chine. ,
I cannot help thinking of this poor Italian and
his organ, whenever I hear the democrats boast and
bragof the financial skill of Mr. Gallatin Every
body knows that Gen. Hamilton planned, formed,
and organized the machine which that foreigner
now ofteatatioufly bears about upon his back.
I Gallatin turns the crank and makes fine music ; '
I and a crowd follows at his heels hallooing. "What
an excellent player ! What a Sweet mulician.” If
a federalift happens to throw a Tumbling block in
his way, he oomplains that he "stops de veels."
Thus he goes blundering on ; and the confequenct
will probably be, that he will make his fortune, and
render the organ ulelcls.-.. Balance.
By the Mails.
Norfolk, January 7.
Diftreffiog accounts from the ccaft. We are
truly sorry to fay that the prediction which we ex
pressed in a few numbers back, of farther dillrefs
on the coast, has been but too fatally confirmed^
Mr. Williams late of Gun-Boat No. 1 came up
to town on Friday, from whom we learn, that ho
failed in the Sloop BetUy, Capt Burton, from.
Charleston bound to Baltimore, that on the night
of the gift ult the ration Shore about 40 miles to
the Southward of Currituck Inlet. Vettel and
cargo loft—grew and paffengurs all saved.
Same night the Schooner Paragon, Ward, from
New-York, bound to this port, went on Shore, &
painful to relate there is every reason to believe th^g
the whole of the crew, with several passengers have
periled ; the reffelis loft, but a large part of the
cargo, will be saved, which we understand is ver,
valuable, and will be fold on the beach ou Wed.
nefday. -A brig, fehooner and fl >op, also went
on Shore near the fame place, and at toe fame time,
names unknown, the crews of both perilled, veff.
els and cargoes totally loft We are further inform
ed that eight or ten other veflcls are on Shore to the
Southward. ^
Philadelphia, Jan. 8.
Exlraß of a letter to a gentleman in NrW^
~ York, dated Cadiz, Nov. i^.
“ The news ycftJrday from the interi^r'ot this H
country is of aver, alarming nature. In many
places the people are in a date of inforreaion.—
Want of bread has driven the lower criffes to great
extremity and, in contequence, to tome Shocking
outrages. In one town the poorer inhabitants have
risen in a mob and hanged the governor."
New-York, Jan. 22.
Such is the extreme Severity of the weath r, that
I the navigation of the harbour and the rivers n en-
I tirely fnipended. Several persons, have eroded the
East river, by dragging their boars over the large
bodies of ice which intercepted their palLge. A
number of citizens, it is said, crossed this morning
ou the ice from the State Prison to the Jarfey Shore.(
This being the Situation of the harbors, there is no
profpea that a Supply of fuel, for the poor es our
city, can be procured from abroad.---It is, there
fore, carneftly recommended, that families, who
have a fuffi:ient quantify for the season, thould
lend a portion to the corporate in, the charitable So
cieties, or ward committees, until a Supply can be
obtained from the country.
As the weather increases in Severity, the object
of misery multiply, and croud around the doors of
those, who are aulhorifed to distribute the public
bounty.— Should the efforts of individuals be check
ed, or the charity ®f the benevolent grow cold, ma
ny au unhappy object must inevitably pctifh.
During so umifuall, inclement, a teafan, and at a
time of such extensive, aad (as refpeds the lower
class of citizens) general calamity,every heart should
be alive to the cries of the distressed, and every hand
open to administer relief to the fhelterlefs,the naked
und the hungry. " The widow's mite," by these
in moderate circurnftances will be of effeatial ben
t-r^t; s&d the liberal boomy of the attluum will wr,
cheer the abodesof many an honest family, who,
by the Severity of the fcafon, have been ftript of the
means of fubliftence, and reduced to the kecuck
distress.
“ Let gratitude in ads of goodness Show
Our love to God, in love to man below,
Be this out joy—to calm the troubl'd breast
Support the weak and faccour the diftrefs'd.
Direct the wanderer, dry the widow's tear,
The orphan guard, the finking Spirits cheer,
Tho' small our power to ad, tho' weak our skill,
God fees the heart—He judges by the will."
On Sunday afternoon, a ferry-boat coming from
Ryersb, Siat^n-lOand, loaded with wood, & hav
ing several passengers on board, was unfortunately
caught in the ice during a calm, and it is feared sh?
has drifted to fee as She was fern between tQe Nag
rows and the Hook, at dark, still entangled in the
ice. There is every reason to believe, from the
snow during the ensuing night, that all on board
have perilled—N. Y. Gaz.
Lancaster [Pennsylvania] jan. 18.
The public curiosity is no doubt considerably
awakened to know the proceedings in the trial of
the judges, and we Should be pleated to gratify that
curiohiy ; but the confined limits of our paper make
it impossible to do justice to the fnbjea,and con
vey to the reader all the necessity informant n.
This talk would engross that portion of our paper,
which is usually afugued to news, for at least four
months. We Shall, however, after the conclusion
of the trial, attempt a Summary.
The prosecution was opened by Mr. Boileau,
ina speech of conGderabL length. Mr. Dallas
has occupied neatly all the three last days in the de
fence and has not yet concluded. His speech will
be well worth the attention of the jurist, the Schol
ar, and the politician.
It is Gid that Mr. Boileau will speak again or
the fubj^a. Messrs. Rodney and Ingerfol have
not yet Spoken. Tfie trial will probably not be
ended before the end of next week-
Boston, Jan. 30.
Tribute to Com. Preble.
Aletter from an American gentleman ,
at Malta, dated Sept. 20th 1804, fays.
" The enterprize of this judicious and
gallant commander (Preble) has affeded
astonishment here. You will undoubt
edly have the fads in detail before the
public. With the small force under
his command he has Ramped an impres
sion on the barbary mind which will not
be erased this generation, and h^s restor
ed the charter of our arm's to its prop
er valueamc n^ the neighbouring nations.
As evidence of this conclusion, I extr&ft
the following paragraph from a letter ad- •
drefled to th|e Commodore, by a diftir.-
1